Happy (early) 9th Anniversary

A man asked me a few days ago if I was excited for this baby to be born. Well...I said.  Of course you are, he responded.  I smiled because I really meant well...

You see, I know what's going to happen.  I'm going to get fatter than I am and then I'll have a newborn and newborns are pretty much the worst creatures on this planet.  I have this overwhelming sense of doom like my life will soon be over.  

Add to that my new-found decision to like North Carolina more and enjoy some of its beauty (I got sick of listening to myself complain about all my Utah friends and family enjoying the greatness that is Utah and realized that North Carolina has nature too so I should enjoy it), so one thing led to another and Greg and I took a little early anniversary trip/baby moon this week.

Luckily for us, Greg has a magnificently flexible schedule so we could go on Monday and get discounted everything.  And my mother-in-law was kind enough to watch the kiddos.

We left Monday just after putting Henry down for a nap and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Asheville in complete silence.  Either we've been married too long and run out of interesting things to say to each other or we've been married too long and are exhausted by the number of children we have. You pick.

We stayed in the touristy part of Asheville called The Village.  It was very fancy.  Even the McDonald's was gilded gold.

We checked into our European lodge-themed hotel complete with new age, ultra trendy music and then headed out for dinner.  It was delicious.  The mashed sweet potatoes, which isn't usually my thing, magical.  And the zucchini salsa so fresh and so clean.  I'm not usually much of a foodie, I go for easy yet edible at home, but every once in a while an over-priced, farm-to-fork meal is just delicious. 

After eating too much, we walked around the village for a while before going back to The Corner Kitchen for dessert.  I did feel a little silly going back to the same restaurant for dessert, but I'm a Roberts at heart apparently, and prefer a break between dinner and dessert.

We were back in our room by 8, because we're old and lame.  I suggested that we find something else to do since we could because we didn't have to worry about the kids, but we decided we were just too tired.  We watched a bit of TV and I feel asleep around 10.  Ideally, I would have slept through the night, but my children have trained me to wake up at 2 am, so I woke up at 2 and then slept all the way in to 7:20.  I felt great.

We ate breakfast at the hotel.  I got some delicious grits.  Again, not usually my thing, but when somebody else makes it....

Then we were off to the Biltmore House.   It's a giant house and 8000 acres of gardens built by one of the Vanderbilts back in the day.  It was very Downton Abbey and I couldn't help but think, "What a waste of space" for the most part.  Some of the "hallways" were bigger than my house and there were at least four living rooms.  How do you decide which living room to live in?  I'm a little into the tiny house movement.  Though I must admit, I was a tad bit jealous of the 4 pantries and kitchen the size of my house.  I love our small house, but I would like a pantry big enough to store a year's worth of food.

After walking around until I should have gone into labor and getting lots of funny comments from the millions of old ladies also visiting the house, we decided we ought to head home and relieve my mother-in-law.  But not before driving down to the hippie part of Asheville for some more delicious food, mixed with lots of second-hand smoke.  Thanks hippies for killing the fetus.  Just kidding the fetus isn't dead.

We drove home in near silence again.  I'm going to say it's because Greg and I are secret introverts.

As we drove I thought to myself, "Man this is just what I needed.  When I get home I'm going to be such a kind, patient mother."  Five minutes after walking in the door, however, I was back to usual self--Get in the shower.  Clean your room up.  Get in bed.  By Thursday I was lamenting to myself how I just needed a break.  I might need to make some significant life changes.

Anyway, we had a good time.  And while I did have to remind Greg how many years we've been married, we're looking forward to many, many more.  

I thought I was looking really cute and small this day.  And then I looked at this picture.  It was a sad time for me to have my perception of reality completely shattered.

On a hill over-looking the Biltmore House