Monday, September 20, 2010

One Year: 9-19-10

xoxo Happy One Year Anniversary to Us! xoxo

Thursday night, we had dinner at The Mansion in Longview, using a gift certificate that Paul acquired from Pastor Appreciation month from 2004.  Our gracious server honored the certificate, and we were one of two couples dining that evening.  We topped the evening off with the movie "Date Night."


Friday, we skipped town and went to Washington Square Mall where we got to treat each other to a little something special, even if it was just the "necessities". :)  Then, we drove to Cannon Beach, ignored the drizzle, got soaked on our walk to Haystack Rock, flew a kite, took lots of fun pictures, and dried out at Bella Espresso sipping delicious white mochas.  We christened our new journal that was purchased and hand painted in Thailand by journaling about our favorite memories from our first year of marriage, and making goals for our future.  We topped the trip off with clam chowder bread bowls at Mo's.





(Paul liked my new perfume... that I got for free!)















Saturday, we made breakfast for some friends who helped us wire our heat pump, and then we lazed around the rest of the day.

Sunday, our actual Anniversary, we spent at church, then at a surprise 80th birthday party for one of Paul's mentors, who also happens to be his uncle.  Then, we took Morgan to Willow Grove and enjoyed the beach by the Columbia River.  For dinner, we recreated our wedding meal (with the gracious help of Sandy, Paul's secretary) which I enjoyed for the first time a year after the fact.  I was too sick to eat any of it on our wedding day.  :(  We even ate our cake which had been stashed in the freezer for such a time as this!









I gave Paul a special scrapbook I'd been working on for us.  It's a compilation of emails, cards, memorabilia and pictures from when we first met through our first year of marriage.  I don't think I'll do this every year, but I was surprised at how much I'd saved since we started getting to know each other.



I cannot, for the life of me, get this picture to rotate!  Anyway, this is the first email  Paul ever sent me.

My journal entry right before we started dating...

Cards Paul gave me on my mission trip to Chile, to open periodically throughout my 2 weeks.

Thailand vacation; our garden


I also added our Anniversary cards to each other for the last page of the scrapbook:
Paul's card to me

My card to Paul

I can't wait to show this to our children and grandchildren someday!

2 comments:

ryan said...

Awesome! And the picture at the top of your page is super great.

Congrats on a full first year of marriage. I liked how you made goals together for this coming year. It's a good idea that I won't forget.

So I spin my ketchup bottle in circles as I toast El and Paul... to many more years of adventure and learning together.

Jolene Brown said...

Congratulations on your first year of marriage! You guys are precious and I love how you celebrated. What special memories you are making.

And you Miss El, are stunning! What a beauty inside and out! :-)