Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Fort Night

My apologies if this is one of those posts that you read and suddenly you feel like you know too much about a couple. But this was one of those memories that reminded me of what a sweet husband I have.

When Noah and I were dating - after the spring thaw warmed my shoulder a little :) - he asked me out on a Saturday night. April 8th. This is important. There will be a quiz later. I had a feeling that night would be a little different, and I was lookin' pretty fine (thank you, wisdom teeth diet). We had some dinner, played a little bocce at the park and ended up at Noah's place where we built a fort and watched A Series of Unfortunate Events. Enter: our first kiss. In a fort. Sweet.

We don't have any photographic evidence of that first fort. But a few months later, Noah came out to DC where he popped the big question. The next evening, we planned a romantic dinner and stroll around Old Town Alexandria, but a summer storm literally rained out our plans - walking in the rain becomes unromantic when the subjects look like drown rats. So what were we to do with our rained-in evening? Indeedy. Build a fort.



(Our July 2006 fort in DC. These mattresses were ALL extras in my closet. Why did we need all these mattresses?)

We decided that evening to commemorate "Fort Night" each April 8th by building a fort. You would think I had NOTHING to do with that plan, because every (well, both) April, Noah's stellar memory delightfully catches me off guard. I came home the other night to one sweet fort...



(Our April 2008 fort in our SLC place.)


(Our April 2007 fort in our first apartment in Logan.)

I think these pictures will be fun to document over the years. It'll be fun to see where we are, where life takes us, how our hair and fashion sense morphs, how we rope our kiddos into the mix,how creative we get with fort buildin' and if we're still going strong on the fort plan.

Until next year.

14 comments:

Jaci said...

lol! that is so fun. I think the Udy household has a lot in common with you two. ;)

melissa said...

You two are so adorable I can hardly stand it.

Kami said...

Oh I remember that huge mattress fort! I'll never understand why we had 300 mattresses in our apt. either...but they sure came in handy! Forts, sleeping forty house guests, trading out squeaky ones for less squeaky ones...good times!

Brandon and Erica said...

A few items of business for you:
1- We feel privileged to have received a comment from BOTH you and Noah on our blog. I have tried to talk Brandon into leaving a comment on your blog too, so we could be even. But, he apparently feels like he already reads too many blogs (because reading my posts is already too much for him to handle)
2- Noah IS romantic! I mean, seriously...some would say that April 8th might be an insignificant date in the Riley family...but NO...it's fort night!
3- I think this little tradition is adorable. And, was most impressed by the overstock of mattresses for your first fort. You must've felt safe in there.

jess said...

I think that is so cute! Those will be great memories to cherish!

Amy said...

What a fun tradition... the random ones, unique to your own family are the very best kind of traditions, I think!

Ash and Dev said...

I have to say you that Noah really is romantic and what a cute idea. It sounds kind of like something Deven would want to do. He's always asking me if he can make a couch-bed with our couches when we watch movies and I keep expecting him to say, hey lets just make this into a fort. See you soon!

Heather said...

Adorable!

Writer J said...

sweet! I can only hope for such a tradition when I get married :D

Kate said...

That is so funny! I love that idea, very very cute!

lauren said...

those are some flawless forts. even better than i imagined. i think you two are seriously too cute. yay for great husbands!!

Cyndi said...

What a fun and cute tradition! I love it. I want to do that...it looks like so much fun! So sweet that Noah always remembers to do it...what a good husband.

Paco Belle said...

Oh man...I remember I used to build forts in my cousin's basement all the time when I was a kid. We would use every chair, folding table, the piano, the pooltable and anything else you could hang a blanket on. It woul cover the basement, and we had our own "rooms." Wow, that is some serious nostalgia. Thanks for the memories.

aaron and allee said...

You two are adorable!