Surprise Anniversary Date!

^^Sighhhh. It's so perfect here in the summer.^^


^^Showing off my new chopped cut and my new necklace Steve got me for our anniversary! I loooove it!!^^



I'm awful at surprises, I really am. But when we decided to push back our anniversary getaway for a couple weeks, I knew that I wanted to do something simple on our actual anniversary day. And I wanted it to be a surprise! I had been telling Emma that the 5 year anniversary was the "wood" anniversary (I have no idea who came up with this random list but every year gets its own "thing.") Emma suggested we carve our initials into a tree, which seemed liked such an obvious thing to do; I don't know why I didn't think of it! I thought it was a perfect idea, so I had Steve's parents take the kids for the afternoon and I stole Steve away.

I didn't tell him where we were going and I think he really liked it. I think guys like not being the ones in charge every once in a while. I think he also liked the suspense of it all since I never surprise him. Like ever. We drove to Coeur d'Alene since we're all sentimental about that place ;) and I took him on a little hike without ever telling him exactly what we were doing.

I had packed my trusty little swiss army knife that I've had since I was about 10 years old and that is so dull, it's pretty pathetic. When I finally found the right tree, I told him what we were doing and basically had him do all the work :) After carving our initials, which is harder than you would think, I had him sit down and read this blog post because he hadn't seen it yet. He got all teary eyed, hugged me and kissed me and told me he would never forget this anniversary. I know I'll never forget it either. I remember having this feeling: where we were, right there and then, it was exactly where I was supposed to be. It just felt so right to be with him there, doing something as cliche as carving our initials into a tree. I had this feeling like I was right on track with my life. There was no where else I would have rather been and there's no one else I'd rather spend my life with.

So happy I could share this memory with you, Steve. ♥