Love is Patient: Five Years Have Flown By!

On March 1, 2013, we celebrated 5 amazing years of marriage!!! I cannot believe how fast the years have flown...but each and every one of them have been the best years of my life so far. I've learned so much about love, life, and myself. Cody has taught me so much and helped me grow in ways I never thought possible. He has made me a better person and I could never repay him for that. I am so thankful and blessed that I get to spend the rest of my life with such an amazing man and also call him the sweet daddy of our precious babies...no matter if they two legs or four!

Surprisingly...for 5 years...we didn't really have huge plans. We took two big, amazing, awesome, and fun vacations last year...so we decided to just go out to a fabulous dinner and spend the day together. I took that day off from work so that we could spend some time together during the day. Our anniversary was on a Friday this year...so it was a perfect way to start the weekend! Cody still had to go to work, but I slept in until he got up, ran a couple of errands, then met him at the gym for a mid-morning WOD. After we worked out together, I headed home to clean up and eat some lunch and Cody got home about mid afternoon. We just hung out and watched a movie together before we headed out to dinner. Cody made reservations at a wonderful place called, Rancho Loma in Talpa, TX a few weeks before our anniversary. It's a tiny town right outside of Coleman. The restaurant is actually a ranch house that's been converted into a restaurant...but the owner still lives upstairs. There's also a couple of rooms you can rent for a bed and breakfast stay...it's amazing out there! Rancho Loma is only opened Friday and Saturday nights and the menu is set at the beginning of the week. Our reservations were for 7:00...but we left the house around 5:30 so we could get there a little early. I'm gonna list the courses as best I can remember and hopefully get it pretty spot on...but it was heavenly! All 6 courses of it!!! 1st course: crostini with a soft cheese spread drizzled with a balsamic reduction and topped with pine nuts; 2nd course: white bean soup drizzled with truffle oil; 3rd course: quail legs with a spicy chili glaze; 4th course: leek and avocado salad drizzled with a balsamic reduction; 5th course: duck breast drizzled with a spicy chili glaze and sweet potato tamale; 6th course: Mexican chocolate torte. Are you drooling reading that?!?!? I am...I remember exactly how everything tasted and how absolutely amazing each and every bite was. We also bought a bottle of alcohol free wine so that we could have a toast to celebrate our 5 year anniversary...it was pretty delicious! And seriously...I can't even describe how absolutely amazing dinner was. I want to recreate every bite of it just writing about it! It was all so fresh and flavorful. The portions are small...so you can enjoy every bite and not be stuffed when you leave. Because they set the menu the week of that Friday and Saturday when they serve it, they buy the food just a day or two before. So, everything truly is as fresh as it can be. We would both eat there every weekend if we could! What's also so wonderful about this place is that when you make a reservation, the table is yours for the entire night. If it takes you until 10:00 to finish dessert...then fine! I do think they close at 10:00 or 10:30 though...but there are no hours on their website. There are 24 tables in the restaurant and an outdoor patio with an amazing fireplace that looks off into the ranch...which is a total of 300 acres. In between courses, if you want to get up and walk around to let your food settle...then that's perfect! They'll bring your next course when you come back, if you're ready for it, and then you can do the same if you so choose after that course. It was a little chilly when we were there and the fireplace wasn't going outside, so we stayed inside throughout our entire meal. But, all the courses were spaced out with plenty of time for the previous course to settle so you were more than ready to taste the delicious food that was the next course!

I really can't say enough about how amazing this place is. When we got there, we were greeted by the owner's two precious pups. He was coming out with them to greet us as we got there. When he walked us into the house, he introduced us to the chef and the waitress who were all so very sweet. We had a couple of glasses of our "wine" before the first course came out and it was nice to just walk around and look at everything and then sit at our table and relax and talk before the meal started. From start to finish, we were out there for about 2.5 hours and every bit of it was absolutely wonderful. It was so laid back, with the most amazing food, and the best company I could ask for. We've been through a lot in 5 years: buying our first house, getting my teaching job, 2 hail storms, Cody becoming an owner of ClearFork, 3 precious puppies, me getting my Master's degree, paying off some debt, watching Michael through his high school sports career, some amazing vacations, precious time with family and friends, Cody's surgery, and now a sweet baby on the way. We've had lots of ups and downs, but every single moment brought us to where we are today and I am so thankful for every single moment and for the past 5 amazing years we've had together. I'm so excited to see what our future holds and we are both ecstatic about becoming parents. God has been so good to us and we could never thank Him enough for all He has done in our lives. We are truly blessed. I love you Cody Michael Kelley!!!