Hi! I'm Sarah, What's your Name?

I spend countless hours a week after work perusing the internet in hopes that my favorite blogs (see side panel) have been updated, I get so excited to see what else is happening in their lives and when I realize its not updated, I get a bit sad…and then it hit me. I HAVE A BLOG! What in the world am I doing not updating mine? As usual, it’s a combination of we’re busy with this, and busy with that, but I am not going to bore you with those cockamamie excuses – let’s just get down to business, shall we?

Where do I start? January 11 was Parish and my 5th year anniversary of our first date. Some may think it’s elementary to keep track of that stuff. It may be, but not with the story that we have. Milestones like this are meant to be celebrated. We’ve accomplished so much together (more than we could have without one another) in those 5 years and are only looking forward to what else we have in store for us in the future.

Here are some fun facts about us (and I promise to keep this short, because I could go on and on)

- On January 2, 2004 we saw each other at Buffalo Wild Wings and literally smiles just peered on both of our faces. I had never felt butterflies like that before, still do.

- On January 11 we went on our first date (Bri, you might remember this) – he serenaded me to “You’ve Got That Lovin’ Feeling” by the Righteous Brothers, had the women in the bar in hysterics, and we received endless compliments about our chemistry – on a first date? Who knew?

- In the first Valentine’s Day card he gave me, he wrote – “who would have thought we’d go from playing basketball with Ben to a romantic evening on Hwy 10. He used to come over to my parent’s house (on rollerblades) and shoot hoops with me, then we had a poor man's getaway in St. Cloud at an establishment on Hwy 10.

- The first time he ever said, “I love you” to me was the day after St. Patrick’s Day. He drove to my house at 7 a.m. and caught me before I left for work. What a day that was!

- The first time I ever said I love you to him was a slip up. We went to a Gary Allan concert, and we were on our way home. I meant to say that I loved it when he wore his hat backwards, but I slipped and looked at him and said “I love you.” I said it first.

- Parish was my 8th grade crush, and promised my parents that he would be back in 10 years to marry me. We got married 10 years, 2 months and 14 days later.

So 5 years after our first date, and 2 years and 3 months into our marriage – he surprised me with an upgrade of my wedding ring! I am still in awe of this wonderful man that I am proud to call my husband.

In other Barten news –
We have a new cousin!!
Clayton Lawrence Reintjes was born at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2009 to my cousins Dan and Lisa. He was 8 lbs, 8 oz, 22 inches long. His siblings are Gavin and Brooklyn (you may remember those little cuties from our wedding).

We had a pretty low key Valentine’s Day. We went to a wedding (our old neighbor Sherri and her fiancé Mike tied the knot) for a little while and then headed home to snuggle up and watch some movies. The night before that, Parish and I watched JJ and Kallie McDonald – how sweet are they!

Parish is looking forward to Hockey State – he and his buddies are planning on painting the town for a night in Minneapolis. I am looking forward to relaxing as much as possible this weekend – we had WAY to many people sick at work and I am so thankful that I have fought it off and haven’t caught this bug yet – I know, can you believe it?

Oh - and Parish's mom and grandparents are coming the first weekend in March. We can't wait to spend some time with them.

Have a great weekend!!