Back in my younger days, and where NOT to eat

I was much skinnier, and I didn't have any gray hairs. We got married in the Salt Lake City Temple and we were sealed by my grandfather. I honestly don't remember much from the ceremony.



But I do remember that I had arranged for us to stay in a honeymoon "suite" in the Doubletree Hotel that was next to the Delta Center (I don't think it's a Doubletree anymore, though.) Our room was supposed to come with a bottle of complimentary champagne (I asked if we could have soda or something else instead and they agreed) and there were supposed to be chocolate-dipped strawberries, too. We were also supposed to get a free movie in the room, and free breakfast. Well, we never got our soda, our strawberries, and they charged us for the movie, so we decided to cut our losses and didn't even try to get breakfast. I wrote a letter demanding justice and got a reply that they were sorry for the inconvenience. Whatever! Oh, and the hotel was having plumbing trouble, because the jacuzzi tub in our bathroom was full of rust-colored water when we tried to take a bath.

Despite it all, we still managed to do what every engaged couple can't wait to do. (insert wicked grin and wink)

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we spend the night in Idaho Falls at the round hotel that overlooks the river and the Idaho Falls Temple. Much nicer room, and the breakfast was free, and the room was much cheaper, if I recall correctly!

We spent Christmas and the next couple nights at Frugaldad's parents' house and had our first reception. We had reservations at a lodge in Jackson Hole to spend a couple nights. Well, there was this huge snow storm and an avalanche on Jackson Pass. The roads were all closed that direction, so we decided to just head back to Provo early. The next day was New Year's Eve and we decided to head to Southern Utah for a drive through the mountains and we rang in the New Year in a motel in Cedar City. Then we flew to Houston the next day for the reception with my family.

Looking back at the foiled attempt at a honeymoon, our attempt at having some time together on our tenth anniversary just went along with everything else. We arranged for all of the kids to play with their cousins for a few hours while we ran errands and went to lunch. We started at the fabric store (I know what you're thinking. We really go all out for big events like our tenth anniversary) because I needed a couple small piece of rip-stop nylon to repair some tears inflicted by the Frugaldog in two coats. I should have known things were headed south when they were short-handed at the cutting counter. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I finally got my two 1/8 yard pieces cut and paid for (sixty-seven cents), and we headed to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. (I'm not even going to bother linking you to them. You'll see why.) We arrived shortly after 11:20. They told us it would be a 20-40 minute wait. Surprised, we agreed hesitantly, because we didn't really want to go somewhere else. We took our little pager and headed next-door to the mall. We didn't even make it to the doors, however, when our pager buzzed, and we were taken to our table. I thought, but looking back I should have known better, that since we were seated so quickly that lunch would be a breeze. We had never eaten there before, and were a little surprised at how close the tables are to each other. They really have you elbow to elbow with the neighboring table. Our waitress came after not too long and gave us the menu. Which was huge. It is spiral bound and at least 1/4 inch thick. We decided on an appetizer, ordered it, replied that yes, we'd like bread too, and we waited. Then we ordered our lunch.

And we waited.

And we waited.

The people next to us got their food.

And we waited.

The people on the other side of us, who ordered their lunch right before us, got their food.

We mentioned to the waitress that we were still waiting on the appetizer. She said she'd check on it, and then the manager came out and tells us that he just checked and our appetizer would be out shortly.

Which it was.

No sooner had a waiter put down the appetizer, that another one brought our lunch. The lady at the neighboring table, whom we were starting to be close friends with, you know, with the proximity and all, said that we should say something, that the appetizer shouldn't come at the same time as the food. Which we agreed with. Somewhere along the line, someone dropped the ball. Whether it was the waitress or the kitchen, ultimately the waitress should have done something about it. We ate the appetizer while we ate our lunch, but didn't finish it. And didn't box it up to bring it home because we knew it wouldn't reheat well. We thought we should order dessert because after all, we were at The Cheesecake Factory. The waitress asked if we wanted menus again. When she finally brought them like 5 minutes later we were getting really tired of waiting. She left us alone again for a really long time. We decided that we should just skip dessert after seeing how long it took the tables on either side of us to get their cheesecake. We asked for the bill. It came to $38.57. Since we knew we'd be there until dinnertime if we waited for her to process our credit card, we left $4o cash with the bill and got out of there as quick as we could.

I can't decide if it's even worth my time to write a letter in complaint. I know I'll probably end up with a free dinner or something, but I'm not sure I want to even go there again.

Then we wrapped up our hot date with a trip to the grocery store.

The day wasn't a total loss, though, as Frugaldad gave me a gold twisted-rope necklace that he bought when he was in Singapore in September and managed to keep hidden from me.

Marriage certainly isn't always what I expected it to be, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Anniversary Frugaldad, I love you.