Fernandez Family of Five: Our 15th Anniversary...

Tony and I celebrated 15 wonderful years of marriage on Sept. 20th. Our Anniversary fell on a Thursday this year and we had a very busy evening that day. So, Tony took me out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory while the girls were in school. We had agreed not to get each other gifts and the lunch was going to be our only celebration (so I thought)!

Tony had a Chick-fil-A breakfast meeting right before our lunch and Joe was at the meeting as well. Tony has been throwing around the idea of taking a course with Joe to get their concealed weapon permits. We had been talking about it previously that week therefore it was fresh on our minds. I tell you this information because it leads into the following story. During our lunch, Tony brought the subject up again and said he and Joe talked about the class during their breakfast meeting. He said they had decided to go ahead with the course and the only day that worked for both of them was Saturday, Oct. 13th. He said the course would be ALL day long and was asking if I was Ok with that. I replied, "Well, do we have anything going on that Saturday?" I sat there thinking (usually I would pull out my phone calendar but we were on a date, so I was hesitant to do that). Tony finally pulled his phone out which prompted me to do the same. When I opened up my calendar to Oct. 13th it read, "Tony and Kaylyn in the mountains." I read it aloud and said, "What does that mean?" I then scrolled to the Friday and Sunday of that weekend and saw the same thing written. I looked at Tony and he did not say anything. I then realized what was going on and I asked, "without kids!!??" He shook his head yes and then of course I had a bunch of questions, "Who is keeping the kids, who will pick up the kids from school on Friday, what will we do about Riley's soccer game, what about my church responsibilities??" In which Tony replied and was music to my ears, "It is ALL taken care of and Joe and Abby have offered to keep the kids all weekend." I just started to cry right there in the restaurant. I was so surprised, excited, and shocked I had tears of joy streaming down my face and a huge smile I could not hide! I had that huge smile on my face the rest of the meal (day) and could not wait to call Abby and thank her (and Joe) for this wonderful opportunity! What really made it even more special was that Tony went to all the effort to re-arrange the schedule, got everything covered for that weekend and also planned our whole trip (that is always the hardest parts). After our wonderful lunch, we enjoyed the outdoor section of the mall for a while because it was a gorgeous day.

Our Anniversary celebration did not end there, although it could have! We had dinner plans with a bunch of friends the next evening, Friday, but 4 of the couples had to cancel. We had already arranged to have a babysitter so we decided to go out for a steak dinner at the "Chop House." Tony's employees had given us a gift certificate last Christmas and we had not used it yet. So, we went out on Friday night too and had a fabulous steak dinner.

Tony is an amazing husband and father to our girls and I could not be more blessed. I pray that our girls find husbands like him someday. These past 15 years have been wonderful and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him! I love you Tony!!!!