20th Wedding Anniversary

Since Mommy loves the Blog, I thought I would post a special news announcement. As of right now, 12:00 am 11/11/09 Mommy and I have been married by dates 20 years, two whole decades. Can you believe it? It is hard but you should because it is!! I have to admit it does not seem like such a long time. Someone asked me today do I have any 20 year old kids since we have been married 20 years and I said "No" because we thought it was a good idea to get married before having our kids. I do not think anyone else is really thinking about this but I have to admit I am amazed. 20 years is a long time. It has been a good time too. We have had our ups and downs, but I have to admit mostly I remember the ups.

I remember us playing Mario Brothers when we were dating when Larisa was babysitting. I remember going to Bill Knapp's for dinner as our special treat when it was still in operation. I remember living in the Bauss' basement, then Wymount Terrace, then the Living Center in Lansing, then Berry Tree in Lansing, then at 444 Triangle Ave in Dayton, then in Scharbillig in Germany, then on Am Hufacker in Preist, then in the Residence Inn in SC, then in Toftrees and now at 191 Stoney Point Dr. in State College.

I was driving home tonight and I was praying, thanking Heavenly Father for Larisa and I had a similar feeling about her that I had when we were dating and she was at school and I was trying to decide if we should get married. I was driving home from my anatomy lab at Michigan where I had just done a cat dissection, sorry Hannah and I was praying then too and asking Heavenly Father if we should get married and I had this overwhelming feeling like it was the right thing to do and that no matter what we were going to be alright. And we have been.

We have had a lot of hard things to face. Living in Utah, without our families around, low money, new babies, sickness of all kinds, tiredness, stress like crazy trying to get through college, into medical school, into residency, to my first station in Germany, then to finding a job in America and switching jobs in Pennsylvania, worries about our children and their college.

We have had lots of great times though: Fun together while dating going to the Airport with cake and ice cream from Bill Knapps, the U of M Botanical gardens, Tallahassee, the water park near my house, the Howard Johnson pool in Ann Arbor, EMU campus at midnight on New Years Eve, Mountain Jacks, Jackson, Michigan. Cool trips to Moab Utah, San Diego and Sea World with two detours through St George Utah when our transmission gave out twice, Las Vegas, Albaquerque, Louisville, KY, trips to Tallahassee, FL; trips to Orlando, FL; then in Germany to Paris, London, Bath, Stonehenge, Venice, Lucerne, Engelberg, Normandy, Rome, Pompei, Sevilla, Jerez de la Frontera, Madrid, Toledo, Milano, Verona and the Colliseum and Aida, Vesuvius - oh wait that was only Nate and me, Munchen, Berlin and the Jewish Museum and the Berlin Philharmonic, Maui Hawaii, Salzburg, New York, Washington DC, Pittsburg.

We have always been involved in church. Every Sunday meeting, youth nights, youth activities, scouting activities, primary activities. Larisa as a Primary President and counselor, Larisa as organist and Primary Chorister, Larisa as YW President, RS counselor, Webelos Leader, Institute teacher, RS teacher. Me as Activities Committee member and chairman, Cubmaster, Asst Scoutmaster, YM Secretary, Young Mens leader, Bishop and Counselor, Stake Presidency counselor.

Our cars have been varied - A Pontiac firebird, a toyota corolla, a toyota previa - maroon and white, a honda civic, an audi, two toyota siennas, a toyota carina, a mercedes 190, a honda s2000, a 1969 buick lesabre, a 1970 monte carlo, a honda element.

We have had 20 + years of kisses and hugs and handholding and I still find Larisa so Beautiful and Attractive.

We have had front gardens with tomatoes, German gardens with Strawberries and tomatoes and beans and carrots, PA gardens with decorative plants, pumpkins, watermelons, cantelopes and strawberries.

We have landscaped our German house, our Dayton house and our PA house with plants and bushes and trees.

We have had four great children together, Ethan 18, Mark 16, Johannah 13 and Gloria 10. We have had so much fun together with the kids, playing games, doing double underdogs, Halloween Hide and seek, Pirattitude Life, Risk normal and 2210, Staedte und Ritter, Siedler von Catan, Nertz, Spades, Apples to Apples, Chess, Stoneage, Candamir and a host of others.

We have had special funny things from Micheal Juru, to Goin Bananas, to Italian talk, to Gollum talk, to Rambourgini, Lambourgini, Goatergini and others.

We have exercised together with this culminating in the AF marathon, the Prague half marathon, the SLC marathon and half marathon, powerhouse gym, the fitness center at Mount Nittany medical center, the Indianapolis Marathon, the Dublin Marathon and this weekend the Richmond Virginia marathon.

We have had many friends: The Evans, the Basilles, the Bauss', the Mathesons, the Morans, the Cantwells, the Joneses, the Simmons, the Speegles, Han und Inge, Peggelee, the Carlsons, the Peines, the McGruders, the Kreiners and the Clarks to name a few.

We love our extended family but they have driven us crazy at times, but we still have always loved them and are grateful for them.

We have had a lot of pets over the 20 years: Carrot, Findus, Hershey, Kit Kat, Oreo, Jake, Range, Scout, KiKi, some canaries - I think one was named Ginger and Fred and some others. Now we have Roxy, Dash, Cherry and Pearl but we recently had Dodge. We also had Micheal Jackson in a cage but that did not last long.

We have seen millions of movies and shows, we love to watch TV and movies and some of our favorites are Breaking Away, the Replacements, the Changeling, Opportunity Knocks, Alias, Angel, Buffy the Vampire slayer, Survivor, Friends and Lost.

There is so much to say about 20 years. I just want to say I love Aris and plan on having many more years of love and happiness and fun.

I have been thinking about what I can do to let her know how much she means to me and I do not know what to do but I will keep trying to let her know how much I love her.

Love,

Juanito Kay