Quite the eventful weekend for Shan and I. First on Friday we celebrated being together for our first whole year! It is hard to tell if it feels like a year or not, because for so long it seemed like we had been together for years instead of merely a few months, but time goes by so quick and before you know it you’re at a year. But it’s been a great year, probably the best of my life, and i couldn’t ask for anyone more special than Shannon to have in my life. She’s shown me what love really is, she’s given me a new purpose and a promise for a bright future when it was looking pretty bleak at times. She’s qualified the hope that you can find that special someone that I was positive I would never find. I know in my heart that i will be with Shannon for the rest of my life, and this firs year was an excellent way to start it.

We celebrated by re-creating our first date, 364 days later (the earlyness will be explained later.) This included dinner, ice cream, walking around Target, and then a movie. Dinner was good, though slightly more annoying this time due to the crowded restaurant and a busy waitress. Ice cream was good, even though it was much colder this year than last. We didn’t buy anything at Target, jus tlike last year. And we went to ‘V For Vendetta’, which is based on a comic book just like ‘Sin City’ was last year. By the way, they are both excellent movies.

This all happened on Friday and on Saturday we were called to Shan’s hometown to celebrate her mom’s recent marriage with a small reception. (Which explains why we couldn’t celebrate our anniversary on it’s exact date, had to be there for the moms) Well, the small reception I was expecting turned out to be a huge get-together with music, tents, a pig-roast, a porta-potty, a slushy machine, a keg or three, tons of food, darts, and roughly 3 thousand hundred people, most of which we didn’t know. But it was a good time.

Then we went out to the local pizzeria/bar to help celebrate Shan’s sister Emily’s 21st birthday. This ultimately resulted in a round of karaoke. For some stupid reason, I figured Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” would be a good choice to sing. Umm, no. Worst. Karaoke. Ever. Luckily Shan’s sister Kelli came up with me so I didn’t have to be totally embarrassed by myself, but it was a horrifying experience. I’ve had my share of karaoke, and it’s never gone that terribly bad. Wow, that song is…oh my.

But we escaped that to run home to Shan’s sister Andrea’s house to sleep. This resulted in perhaps the worst before-bed experience ever when we were besieged with mental patient cats, hyper dogs, 3′ x 3′ blankets, sliding couches that formed giant cracks in our makeshift bed, no pajamasa resulting in my sleeping in my jeans, Shan’s upset stomach, and other things so horrible I’ve blocked them from memory. But after convincing ourselves that it’s ok, at least we have each other, we were able to get some sleep. But I was this close to finding the nearest Super 8.

We made ammends with the house by welcoming cereal into our stomachs int he morning, then headed over to Shan’s mom’s help clean up after the party. Here we scored free pop, margarita mix, pretzels, and the most important of all, a free tarp! It’s a huge tarp and it’s all mine!!! How or why I’ll ever use it, I do not know.

Then we were treated to a scrumptious dinner at Shan’s dad’s house, where I enjoyed playing trains with Shan’s little brother, and giving her sister Delaney horse rides on my back.

Then we came home! All in all, a busy weekend, and we’re both tired as heck. It’s been very hard for e to recap all of this by sitting down and writing so much. I’m not used to all of this! But hopefully it’s the first of many more often updating, and things, or whatever I’m trying to say.

Ok, that’s enough. The end!