iCreate: Happy Dance. Happy New School Year. Happy Anniversary.

We sold the Cavalier! HAPPY DANCE! And a deep breath as far as finances go. The motorcycle is still for sale though.

So, if you haven't noticed, we've been MIA. Hopefully things will really start settling down now that school has started. Well, busy still, but more schedule oriented which means that I can handle it better! We've had family reunions, vacations, baby blessing, good times, bad times, laughing times, stressful times, during this summer. So, here we go in starting a new school year, a MASTERS one.

As of more recently, Wednesday was our anniversary. We did sealings at the temple that morning, a tradition which we love and a perfect day to do them on. Love the reminder. Corey surprised me with a bed and breakfast in Lava Hot Springs. Lions Gate Monor. It rocked. We stayed in a Phantom of the Opera room. Again, it rocked. I don't have any pictures so I'll try to paint you a picture in your mind.

First of all, the entire house was decorated and furnished with an old victorian vibe. The furniture was all hand crafted and imported from mostly Indonesia. Everything was beautiful. We got a tour of the house before he showed us our room. I didn't even know what kind of room we were staying in (surprise, remember). Then he said The Phantom's Liar, and pulled back the bookcase to reveal a secret passageway into the basement. Classic phantom, right?

I could see gold candle holders, red roses, black ribbons, and a portrait of the phantom with the purposeful dim lighting. Then we walked down a black spiral staircase. It was metal so every footstep echoed like we were entering some kind of a dungeon. I could hear the sounds of trickling water in the distance (just a CD player, mind you) as well as the famous Phantom theme. It set the mood perfectly.

As you get down a little farther, you can see a wooden bridge over the water (ok, so the floor was just painted black, but with the reflection of dim lighting, I really wondered at first). The bridge goes next to the tub which was the coolest tub ever. Air jets. Lights. Heated back rests. The faucet where the water came out to fill the tub was in the ceiling. The 10 foot ceiling. So you turned the water on to fill up the tub and it came out of the ceiling. Just don't let it get you in the back of the head.

So, continue on the wooden bridge past the tub and you walk under archways to Christine's room. A king size, four poster bed, feather pillows, candles everywhere, white and red flowers. A TV of course, just for modern sake. French style red velvet love seat and chair with ornate details on the arms and back. A beautiful glass chandelier. Christine's big dressing room mirror, and when you turn on a little switch you can see the phantom in the mirror, just a little, like when The Angel of Music sings to Christine. They had the music box with the monkey playing the symbols as well. And it played Masquerade. A collector's piece indeed.

Then you walk a little further and see a red velvet rope (like in the movie theaters for traffic control) with a sign on it that says 'Box 5 Reserved.' When you pull it back and step in, you enter the theater room. Surround sound. Antique organ. More candles and flowers. Dim lighting. Another red velvet ornate love seat. Another flat screen TV. This was where we watched the Phantom of Opera, the movie, that night. With the surround sound and the sub-woofer, my heart almost skipped a beat as the chandelier was lifted and that music started. BOOM!

The bathroom had a beautiful, big shower. The shower head was in the ceiling. Again, 10 foot ceilings throughout. Very cool. And as you turn around to look back to where you first walked in the room, you see a mural on that back wall of a long walkway in a cathedral type building. Just going off into the distance. I felt like I should check to see if the Phantom was hiding behind one of those columns, watching us. You never know.

We had breakfast the next morning with the other couples who stayed there. We all sat around this big, gorgeous table with the tall Victorian type chairs and ate a very good breakfast while visiting with everyone and enjoying their company.

Man, I married a good one.

And thank you Justin and Natalie for watching Nathan.