5 Years

5 Years! I can't believe that I have been married for 5 years! Dave and I were talking about how sometimes it feels like we've been married for so short a time, but then how it feels like forever sometimes too. Sometimes we can't remember life before we were married. It just seems like we've always known each other. 

We decided that we are going to take turns from now on as we plan Valentine's Day and our anniversary. So, Dave was in charge of planning our anniversary this year and he did such a good job! I am totally intimidated to do it next year. 

So, here's what we did. 

My mom came to our house to pick up Lydia. That's right! A baby free night!! It was totally weird, but AWESOME. It was her first night away from us. I thought I was going to be a little more nervous about it, but I really wasn't! Does that make me a bad mom? I hope not. I was just SO thrilled that I could stay up late WITH NO REPERCUSSIONS WHEN THE MORNING CAME! I didn't have to wake up early with the baby, so we SLEPT IN! And boy, was it awesome.

Anyway. Mom came to pick up Lydia and she dropped me off at Dave's work. Dave had a few more things that he didn't quite get finished during the day, so he had to drive around for a bit while I closed my eyes, but I didn't mind. It was kinda peaceful, actually. He took us to the Hilton Garden Inn in Ogden. His company owns the hotel, so we got a sweet suite (get it??) for a great deal. 

This was the view from the giant window in our room. It was fun to look over the nice downtown shopping area of Ogden.

The room even had a fireplace, and yes I did turn it on in June. Why are hotels always FREEZING!? 

When we arrived at the hotel, Dave told me that I had to wait a minute while he set a few things up in the room. So, I parked the car and by the time I walked up to the room, he had everything set up. At our house, we love treats. Like, seriously love them. We are still being good since we completed our diet, but we have treats on the weekend and we look forward to them ALL WEEK LONG. Haha. So, to celebrate 5 years of marriage, Dave had gotten our 5 favorite treats and had them set up in different parts of the room. I walked around and found 5 cutler's cookies, 5 chocolate covered strawberries, 5 donuts, Ice Cream (with 5 servings) and Chocolate Milk (again, 5 servings to go with the donuts and cookies). So cute, huh?? And so tasty too! Don't worry - we didn't eat all of the treats that night. There were plenty of things that got pushed over to the next day. But yes, they were gone the next day. Haha. 

My favorite surprise though, was this.

He had typed up a long, detailed version of his 5 most happy memories with me since we've been married. It was the sweetest thing ever, and I just cried while reading them. It was so sweet and so thoughtful. It just made me so happy. 

After we ate a few chocolate covered strawberries, we headed to dinner. Dave had chosen a place called Jeremiah's. I'd never heard of it, but it is on a list he has of the top 10 places to eat that are north of Salt Lake. We're trying to explore our area up here a little more, so I was excited to try something new. It was delicious, and more known for breakfast than for dinner. We are going to go back for breakfast sometime, because dinner was so good. Dave got a bison burger, and I got a Navajo Taco (seriously! I did. Does anyone even eat those besides kids at school for school lunch??) with...........are you ready??? ........bison meat. Yep. I ate bison meat. I didn't think I'd ever do it. But our waiter brought us a sample and it was so so tasty. You couldn't even really tell it was any different than beef. Yay for me for trying something new and crazy. That's a big deal for me. :)

We're not very gifted in the art of "selfies". This is our first attempt, and it didn't turn out so good. The sun was REALLY bright.

After dinner, we just had a relaxing night hunkering down in our hotel room. We opened presents, had some more of our treats, watched our wedding video (my very very very favorite thing to do on our anniversary! I love remembering that day!!), and then we watched Mrs. Potter (which was really good. Neither one of us had heard of it before. It was a recommendation from the lady at the video store, and so I decided to try it. I'm glad I did!). We stayed up LATE and SLEPT IN TOO!! It was such a fun, relaxing evening.

The best donuts in the world are from Banbury Cross in Salt Lake. Dave woke up extra early that morning to drive ALL THE WAY TO SALT LAKE to get these donuts for me before going into work. Seriously?? How can I top this next year?? I need to get thinking!

Dave got some exercise shoes, a magazine about D-Day, and some movies. I got some new Jane Austen movies. Our big present to each other was our new porch swing (stay tuned for a post about this).

Thanks to my mom and sister for watching miss Lydia Jane, and an even bigger thank you to Dave for making the day so special for me. I hit the jackpot when I married Dave, for sure. He is the best man I've ever known. He works so hard to provide for our little family, and is the best husband and father I could ask for. He loves me unconditionally and always makes me feel like I am his number one priority. He takes such good care of me and always makes sure that I am happy and comfortable. He is such a sweet daddy to Lydia - she's so lucky and she doesn't even know it yet. Thank you Dave for the most incredible 5 years of my life! I can't wait for what the next 5 and the rest of forever hold in store for us. I know that whatever the future holds, as long as you are with me, then we can do anything. I love you! :D