Happy Anniversary!

Alex and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on April 8th. It was definitely not a repeat of the fun and romantic weekend of last year. Instead, we spent the Saturday before running from activity to activity and getting ready for company and Easter dinner. We did manage a nice dinner and a movie that evening, however. Of course, we woke up on our anniversary morning (Easter) freezing on a deflating air mattress (my in-laws were in our room). *sigh* It makes a good story, if nothing else.

Alex and I exchanged gifts at our dinner out (we didn't want to do it with anyone else around). I thought I'd done pretty well, including keeping with the "iron" and "candy" suggested by the 6th anniversary. A tie (Calvin Kline steel brand), cuff links with the NYC skyline (our honeymoon spot), and some Godiva chocolates (why does Godiva seem so much more romantic than Sees?). I opened my envelope from Alex and read the sweetest note. Sidenote (haha, no pun intended): that's actually our favorite part of anniversary gifts...a tender reflection of where we are in our marriage each year. I secretly hope our kids read them some day, so they think we're as cute as my mom and dad were.

Back to the story... I opened a piece of paper and saw that Alex had purchased a counter-depth fridge, armoire style. I laughed and laughed. You see, we've done quite a bit of little projects around our kitchen, so it was starting to bother me how much our fridge stuck out and how much I disliked the black sides. Of course, buying a new fridge to replace one that worked perfectly well is totally ridiculous. I guess, though, that "totally ridiculous and unnecessary" are common adjectives for anniversary gifts. And really, a pair of diamond earrings wouldn't benefit the whole family, so actually my fridge is pretty practical. Right? Right??

Because of a super lame half wall, we have to lift our appliances up and over. Sheesh. Some guys and a couple of missionaries were nice enough to help us complete this Herculean task last night. I, of course, forgot to take official "BEFORE" photos, and I didn't think it would go over so well if I asked them to lift the fridge back over, so I could do so.

Here's the best shot I could find of our old fridge:



And my new baby:

It seriously makes such a difference in the kitchen...more room to move, and because the doors are smaller, someone can get in the fridge without taking up half the kitchen. I can also see the crispers at eye level, which should save us a lot of money, as those have traditionally been where produce hibernates until emerging moldy and rotten with my exclaiming, "What? We had spinach?" I still, of course, have a lot of manual reading to do (as in, take the manual out of the plastic wrap). There's a water filtration system and programming available. Um, ok? There's also a drawer called "The Cool Drawer." I imagine bringing home groceries, and the various items clamoring to be selected for this exclusive club. When I put those uncooked tortillas from Costco in there, I swore I heard them pronounce, "Yeah, you know that's right."