5 years down...

While everyone was watching the Royal Wedding, Ammon and I were off reminiscing about the first day of our lives.  Ammon loves surprises, and I'm horrible at them, so naturally Ammon planned a surprised anniversary trip for us, and I was trying to piece everything together the entire month I knew he was scheming.  

Since this would be the first time leaving Emma with a babysitter for more than a few hours, I was a little nervous.  I wanted to make sure that she would have a fun time too.  Luckily, Ammon thought of everything: his parents came all the way from Salt Lake just to entertain Emma.  She loved every second of it!  She didn't even cry or throw a temper tantrum once!  

We took off heading West on Friday morning and were in Las Vegas a few hours later.  I was hoping that we weren't going to stay in Vegas...it's not the most romantic destination.  :)  We did, however, get to do some shopping (which is heavenly without Emma)!!  After the mall, we went to see the Bellagio flower exhibit, which was A-mazing as always.  It's my favorite place to stop.  Sadly, it was beyond windy, so the water show wasn't going.  Here are some pics...

Yes, this is a re-creation of a piece of art, but with flowers, of course!

My new favorite flowers...

The theme was a Springtime carnival featuring butterflies??  :)  Who knows...but it was gorgeous!

My second new favorite flower...

Who knew tulips were so cool??

After a fabulous dinner in Las Vegas, we headed to St. George!  I was so excited!  Before we left, I was hoping that we were going to go to Sedona (because we both love red rocks, and it's surprisingly romantic), but since we started heading West instead of South, my second choice would have been St. George.  We had a fabulously romantic hotel suite, which was the perfect place to try the new bath bombs I had just purchased.  Nothing like being pampered, right?  :)

The next morning, Ammon asked me to navigate him toward Snow Canyon.  I was a little hesitant, because I'm not exactly nature girl.  However, I trusted that Ammon wasn't going to just ditch me and go climbing for a few hours.  :)  Naturally, he delivered!  We went to a massive sand dune.  It was gorgeous scenery, perfect weather, and a beach (let's be honest, I never go in the water when we go to California)...without a 10+ hour drive!  I was in heaven!  For those of you who know me, you might understand better if I tell you that it was like opening a new tub of butter and being the first to take out the swirl!  There were hardly any people, so hardly any footprints in the finest red sand you've ever seen.  We lay [Ammon said this is the correct form of "lie"] out, had a little picnic, then drove to see the other landscape...it was so relaxing!

Those are our footprints...

"The last set of footprints were when He carried you"...or the second person walked in the first person's footprints so we could take the shot.  HAHAHA

I mean, seriously, is that not the coolest picture?

After our "beach" adventure, we lay out by a real pool (although it was only in the 70s and too cold for me to  get into the heated pool), read books, took naps, and relaxed!  Once we awoke to the reality of rumbling tummies, we went to the temple to await our dinner reservation at The Painted Pony.  

And had to take a picture with Brigham Young, naturally!  :)

The Painted Pony is a "real" restaurant.  In other words, they have a real chef and charge a lot more.  Look how amazing my French Onion Soup looked??  Don't worry...it tasted even better!  :)

I forgot to take pictures of our entrées.  We were too hungry to remember to wait. Ammon had THE most tender meat. You didn't even need a knife to cut it!  I had scrumptious ravioli.  This is our dessert...the perfect blend of sweet and tart!  YUM!

Sadly, we had to leave early the next morning so we could be at our 1:00 church (Did I mention we have new callings?  Ammon is the 1st Counselor in YM and I'm the Nursery Chorister/fill in for the Primary Chorister when she's sick.), and so Ammon's parents could make the long drive back home.  Thanks again, Dave & Karen!  You were lifesavers!

It probably wouldn't have mattered where we went on our trip.  We just needed a break to talk uninterrupted, a break from our stressful lives, and a break to fall in love all over again!  5 years down...an eternity to go...