I hate sappy postings but . . .

It's true, I really do have the best husband. I feel very blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. Not only does he have a wicked sense of humor, he is sweet, kind and caring. I am not the easiest person to live with, as my family knows, but he is patient with me. I do not know the words to describe how much I love my Brian. I adore him, and feel so blessed to have someone who loves me the way he does. Last weekend we had a "get away" weekend for our third anniversary. While we were out, Brian surprised me with a very special gift. It was a combination of an anniversary present and a thank you gift for helping him get his Master's degree. I want to share it with you all. And I want to thank Brian for loving me. I'll always be your Ju-monster. ;)

Let me tell you a story . . . .

As Brian and I were planning our wedding three years ago, he had issue with the fact that would could not take our wedding cake with us when we left the reception. So, my mother and I plotted in our usual fashion and got him a groom's cake which rocked Brian's socks. We packed it up after the reception and loaded it in the car to take with us on our honeymoon so that Brian could eat all the cake he wanted. Just for the record, the cake was chocolate with raspberry filling, which I wouldn't allow for our actual wedding cake because I was afraid of getting chocolate on my dress. Anyway, the groom's cake was AWESOME-made by my awesome friend Erica who is a professional decorator. She also make our wedding cake. She's the best! So, happily married, we head off in to the sunset with our chocolate cake in tow. We arrive at the loverly cottage where we stayed the first couple of days and the cake went in to the fridge for safe keeping.
Flash forward two days, we're driving to Park City to enjoy the rest of our long weekend honeymoon when we see a billboard for Gandolfo's chocolate cake and Brian says, "Mmm, chocolate cake, I want some of that." We turn to each other and say, Did you get the cake? No, did you get the cake? Yeah, it was still safe in the fridge back in downtown Salt Lake City. So, since we didn't want to turn around and drive all the way back, I called the nice lady who owns the cottage and told her that her cute little family could enjoy the untouched chocolate cake that we left in the fridge.
Now, flash forward two years. It is our second anniversary and I have gone to the friendly neighborhood Albertson's to have Erica make a replica cake to give to Brian on our anniversary. Well, little did I know that she had transferred stores. I put my trust in the new cake decorator there and that was a HUGE mistake. When Mom and I went to pick up the cake, it was nothing like I had asked for and looked sort of like a 3 year old had decorated it. (No offense to any 3 year olds.) I broke down in to tears. I couldn't take the cake, I talked with the store manager and told her my frustrations and she apologized, but I was still without cake as I had planned. So, we ran to Sam's club and bought a super decadent chocolate cake. It still wasn't what I wanted though.
One more flash, (you tired of time travel yet?) to Friday afternoon. I take off from work early so that I can get some things done as we are planning on "going out of town" for our third anniversary. After tracking down Erica at the friendly neighborhood Albertson's in Provo, I had her make a smaller version of our groom's cake to surprise Brian with. I drive down and pick it up and it's exactly what I wanted. She really is the best! I drive all the way home with cake in hand and I'm very excited that I finally got it right! Now, I should know better. But apparently I don't. My thought process went like this: I should take the cake in to the house first because it's hot out here. I have lots of bags to carry in too. I'll just grab the bags first and maybe I can get everything inside in one trip.
Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. I have thrown my messenger bag over my neck and shoulders, have about 4 grocery bags and my purse in my left hand, and I lean down to the passenger side floor to pick up the cake. I had it firmly in my grip for a least a moment, I'm sure of it. Then, all goes awry. Somehow, I lost grip on the cake box, break a nail low enough to cause significant pain, and the cake ends up upside down on the floor of my car. Luckily, it's still in the box. I quickly grab it, close and lock up my car and run in to the house. I drop all the bags on the floor and set the cake box gently on the table. I just stood and stared at it. Finally, I get up the nerve to open the box. Granted, it could have been worse, but I was devastated. I started to cry as I took my phone out of my pocket. I called Brian and all I can manage to say is, "That's it, I'm not trying anymore." (This was probably not the best thing to say to someone who tends to take these kind of statements to the extreme. He begins thinking about whether or not he's done something bad enough to make me leave him. Silly Brian.) He's quiet while I try to get the rest of the words out, but at this point, I'm crying pretty forcefully. So, then I recount the events of the afternoon. My drive to Provo, my excitement in getting the perfect surprise, and my disappointment in dropping the cake on it's head. "I give up, I'm not trying anymore." This is all I can manage to say at this point. Over and over, in fact. Brian, bless his sweet heart, is trying not to laugh. I realize the humor in the situation, but am currently too distraught to recognize that fact. He calmly says, "Honey, it's ok. We'll just make a new tradition. Every year for our anniversary, we'll destroy a cake." This makes me smile, whilst the tears are still streaming, and I say, "Fine, but next year, it's your turn."
The cake was still edible. It made it's way to our little destination spot for the weekend and we dove in with forks and milk. The remainder of the cake is in my fridge and we'll slowly finish it throughout the week. But I'm not trying to surprise Brian like that for our anniversary ever again. Like I said, "I give up!"