A 5-Date 5-Year Anniversary Celebration

July 14th was our 5th anniversary. The first milestone one. With a 9 month old baby we weren't able to get away and celebrate big. But that's A-OK because we came up with a plan that was just as special as any weekend trip.

Our shirts are from Emerson Grace Boutique! #momlife #dadlife

We started in late June by discussing things that define marriage to us. We individually came up with words that finished the statement "Marriage is..."

Some of our answers were: teamwork, romantic, fun, adventure, family, growth, humor, and love.

We then got creative and thought of dates that could embody each of these words. Finally, we narrowed it down to 5 and scheduled them throughout the month for a fun and festive 5-year anniversary.

Date #1 -- Marriage is Adventure

 

For this date, we chose to take a drive around the lake near where we live in our '72 Chevy Blazer.

 

It was a beautiful day but also hot. Thankfully we have automatic AC with our convertible rig.
Such beautiful scenery all around the lake.

 

This date only cost us the gas to drive for a couple hours.

 

Date #2 -- Marriage is Romantic

On our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner. We both love sushi and the first time I ever had it was on our honeymoon in Cabo. Nate read reviews and found a great place in a nearby city. We ordered 5 different rolls and it was AH-Mazing! First...it was the most beautiful sushi I've ever had and oh man it was just so good. We would try one roll and go "oh this is our favorite." Then try another and say "mmm, no this one is!" 
 

 

Definitely a fun experience and romantic dinner out since it's not something we eat often. What's more romantic than raw seafood!?

 

Our most expensive of the 5 dates, but hey, it's a our 5 year anniversary so we get to splurge a little!

 

 He likes my hair straight and I like him clean-shaven so tonight was a win-win for us both! 

 

Date #3 -- Marriage is Humor

On the same night, we went to an improve comedy show after dinner. We have gone to The Blue Door several times over the past 5 years. It's an inexpensive ($7/ticket) entertaining date night that we enjoy a lot. Tonight was no exception and we also laugh so much.

 

 

Date #4 -- Marriage is Fun

 

 Just north of where we live is the largest theme park in the Pacific Northwest. I used to go here many times during the summers growing up and Nate had been several times in the past as well. Neither of us had been in probably 10 years though so there were several new rides to try out. We realized after ride number one that we are both a lot more sensitive to motion sickness than we used to be! We didn't get sick, just queasy enough to cross a few things off our list without even going on them. Our favorites were the 2 newer waterslides that are for 4-person rafts.

 

This date was free thanks to a friend who works there. He gets several day tickets each summer and never uses them all so offered a couple to us.
 

Date #5 -- Marriage is Family

 

Our final date included our son. We had professional family pictures taken for the first time. We haven't gotten them back yet so this is all I could post for a picture...my arranging several different outfit combos to decide which looked best. This is the one I went with by the way.

It was a lot of fun but I'm not very confident that we will get several frame-worthy pictures. For no fault of the photographer...she was awesome! No...it our kid. He is Mr. Serious around new people. He wasn't grouchy or whiny or shy. He just was stone faced and refused to smile in the slightest. So you have him on the one extreme and then Nate and I were over-smiling to try and get him to smile! So I'm sure the dichotomy is hilarious. But that's okay because that's what real life is like right now and we captured it and will love looking back someday saying, "Oh Easton you used to be so stoic in a new situation and dad and I were big goofballs trying to crack you." And yes, I will still pick one to frame and put somewhere in our house. It just may not be a 20x30 canvas on the mantle! haha
 

 

This date was also free. The photographer is the mom of one of Nate's former basketball players from the last 7 years. She offered to take family pictures for us once Easton came along and insisted that our money was no good with her because of all that Nate had done for her son. So sweet of her and I cannot wait to see them!

 

 

So that's a wrap on our 5-year anniversary celebration. I had a lot of fun with the plan we came up with and think it was a great way to enjoy multiple things that encompass our relationship. Here's to the next 5!!!

 

What fun anniversary dates have you had? What has been the most memorable? Any great recommendations of cheap or free dates?

1 Year Anniversary

Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe a whole year has already gone by since our wonderful wedding day! It has been a jam-packed year--a year of growth, memories, love, laughter, big decisions, and good times. Some days I look at him and think, "am I really married to him? I really get to spend every day with him for the rest of my life?" As I said in my vows a year ago, "I am so thankful that sometimes too good really does come true."

We originally planned to go on a hot air balloon ride with the Living Social deal he gave me last year on our one-year-of-dating anniversary. We tried to go last year but had to keep canceling because of the weather. Then the season ended and the guy told us he would still honor the deal this spring. So we waited all winter and when May came we called, and called, and emailed. We finally found out online that the place was closed for business! BOO!!! Now what?

Well thankfully we had another option. Last fall, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a New Teacher's Reception and they gave away some cool packages. I won one of them! I think this was the first time I ever won a giveaway. We got 2 tickets for a day cruise on a river near us and included lunch. So I got online to book and when I saw this cruise only happened on Sundays, I knew it was meant to be!

Our pre-sunburn faces.

We did put sunscreen on, just not enough. Oops. I hope my rudolph-red-nose gets all better and doesn't peel by this next weekend--I'm in my friend's wedding.


At this point in the river, it really looks more like a lake. We found out that it used to be a lake on each side and a river in the middle. All three bodies of water were very separated until the river at the other end of the lake somehow caused the water level to rise (I can't remember what the Captain said as to how...a dam or something). The poles are to show the river's course and guide the boats through the deeper parts of the water.

Some parts of the river made me feel like I was on the Jungle Cruise as Disneyland! So then I told my husband a little bit about that ride (he's never been to Disneyland--we are hoping to change that this year!).

It was a gorgeous day for this cruise, perfect temperature and nice breeze. We had a fun time relaxing, taking in the sights, talking about our first year of marriage, getting burned without noticing, and discussing our next year of marriage. I am so blessed to be married to this Godly, wise, hardworking, handsome, funny, listening, caring, supportive, encouraging, awesome loving man!

 After the cruise, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a floating restaurant. This is the same restaurant where we had dinner the night he proposed! (Sorry the picture is so bad. We just had my little point-and-shoot camera and the sun was bright outside.)

Our dinner: salad bar with boysenberry poppy seed dressing and 

then I had macadamia crusted mahi mahi, and he had prime rib.

We were so stuffed from the big lunch on the cruise, we both brought half our meals home for lunch tomorrow!

When we got back home, we took some pictures. I saw this idea on Pinterest awhile back where a couple held a picture of them on their wedding and took a picture. Each following year they hold the picture that they took the previous year. I thought this was fun and wanted to do it. So we grabbed our canvas picture and the tripod to take some pictures. Then I had a little editing fun. :)

 

 

After pictures, we said our vows to each other again. We both wrote our own vows. It was really special to hear and read them again!

And then, thankfully I remembered that we had our cake! 

I almost forgot and that would have been so sad! I took it out of the freezer a couple days ago and put it in the fridge to thaw. Ever since the small piece I ate on our wedding day, I have been waiting for our anniversary to have some more of that delicious cake!!! It was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling and white chocolate frosting! A friend of a friend made it for us. Here is what it looked like on our wedding day.

It tasted just as good as I remembered! Again, we were so stuffed so just ate a couple bites.

We had such a fun and food filled day! Hooray for our first year of marriage!

What did you do for your first anniversary?