4th Year Wedding Anniversary

--I've updated the previous anniversary posts to include a synopsis of events that happened that year--

Our 4th year together was extremely uneventful! We worked our asses off doing the paper routes and running the APA franchise with a few photo shoots thrown in for a good mix. This is the time we brought Diego into our home; he & Aurora have the same mom. We ended up selling his motorcycle and not really doing anything except working and more working which creates a dull and boring atmosphere. oh- one semi exciting thing happened; we started the process of becoming Foster Parents and then was denied because of the charges that were brought against me and then dropped due to self defense when Jed nearly beat me to death when I was 20; yes, holding something against me from 15 years prior that was in self defense. They say they need more foster parents but yet aren't willing to work with people because of self defense? Anyways... on to happier things! This is also the year I was diagnosed with IRPCOS.

4th year wedding anniversary gifts: LINEN & HYDRANGEA

For our anniversary of Linen he got me an embroidered linen 4 years and counting wall hanging and I got him throw pillows made of Linen because he's been asking for pillows :-)

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

This post is the 13th in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!

3rd Year Anniversary

Our 3rd year of Marriage was spent rebuilding our lives & our relationship with each other... our 2nd year was full of grief; 3rd was full of healing. I could finally go to sleep without crying. We missed playing pool with our friends and were quickly figuring out who was a true friend and who wasn't. We spent many nights watching instead of playing and that hurt a lot. This is also the year that Maverick was laid off from the manufacturing plant and he started the paper route which means it's also the time frame I started mine as well to help recover some lost income. This is the year we got Aurora Nyx and Tiger Lily.

3rd Year of Marriage... Leather & Sunflowers

I knew immediately what I wanted to get Maverick for our 3rd year anniversary and I was really expecting whips or something from him... Since I no longer worked outside of the home Maverick promised me that I could get a sleeve of all of the anniversary flowers so they'd live on forever... I'm still waiting to start on my sleeve...

He surprised me with this awesome Celtic love knot necklace that's made from leather with silver angel wings. I love it!! And I got him a leather bound bible to replace his that was damaged in the fire.

 We exchanged gifts a few days early because we would be in Las Vegas for our actual anniversary date for our first League Operator Conference. It was an amazing experience. I will miss those days but I'm looking forward to being somewhere other than Vegas for our anniversaries.

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

This post is the 12th in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary

Our 2nd year of marriage together was spent recovering from our House Fire. We had just purchased a house at the end of February and it burned the middle of March taking Drake & Kai with it along with 90% of our belongings. It was spent in mourning & grief trying to pick our lives back up and move forward. Because of that we decided to purchase the local APA league and I quit my job at the Car Lot to run it full-time and concentrate on my photography to grow it as a business. We still played lots of pool and at first loved traveling to Vegas  for nationals. We would go for long rides together to try and pull me out of a great depression that I was sinking into. We also purchased a race horse with some friends ... I mean if you're going to live a in a town known for racing horses then you gotta own a horse at some point, right?!

This is also the time frame that Sapphire was born and we went on our Cruise to Mexico. Both of those events helped me tremendously in acknowledging that life goes on and we have to move forward no matter what.

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary Gifts.... COTTON & LILLY

Goodness let me tell you; THAT was a hard one!! I had no idea... every gift search I came up with had to do with clothes or towels or bed linens are something like that and that was NOT the gift I wanted to give my husband for our 2nd year anniversary. Especially since our house just burned down and we lost Drake & Kai in the fire.

He did get me a beautiful bouquet of roses & lilies then surprised me with a white sapphire necklace with matching ring. He said he couldn't think of anything either that was COTTON!

Mutually we ended up getting me a helmet (cuz mine was in the fire) and we got matching seat covers for his truck and my car. We went to Shoguns for dinner and it was fabulous!

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

This post is the 11th in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!

Our 1st Wedding Anniversary

We had this brilliant idea to only buy gifts - or to INCLUDE gifts - that are with the traditional anniversary gifts... Who came up with these, I don't know... but some years were easy and some were harder.

During our first year of marriage we spent most of our time vrooming around on his bike, I spent quite a bit of time crocheting, we played tons of pool (5 nights a week AND played in regional tournaments!), prepared amazing meals at home from scratch, and I transitioned from working at a Resort to working for a Buy Here Pay Here car lot. Maverick was the supervisor at a manufacturing company. We spent a lot of free time cuddling with Drake & Kai while playing rockband, guitar hero & racing games; Need for Speed is our fave!!

Our 1st anniversary gifts was SUPER easy for me!!

PAPER & CARNATIONS

At work I received a Puppy Carnation bouquet. When I came home from work he had made dinner for me and had opened a bottle of wine from our Honeymoon. Afterwards we exchanged gifts.

 Of course I'm going to get my Baseball Fan tickets to see the local team play!
He took a copy of his fave photo of our wedding day and got it printed & mounted for me.

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

This post is the 10th in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!

The Epic Road Trip... Our Honeymoon

The other day I came on and apologized for the sudden stoppage of content. We were going to move and then decided not to... well, I decided I might need to catch up!!

We left off with our Wedding Day... Our Honeymoon starts now:

After a fun filled and slightly crazy day we ended our Wedding Day and started Honeymoon in our fantastic cabin on the mountains!! When we left the reception hall we went down our cabin and "settled in". I got a text from one of them up at the hall asking where we wanted our gifts; in all the crazy of first dances, cake smashing, and super fun... we forgot to open the gifts. And we were HUNGRY. We tried to eat during the wedding reception but you know so busy entertaining guests and thanking them for coming out to witness our union.

We headed to the hall and it was already storming pretty good. I was wearing my pajamas with my super cute flipflops I got for the wedding! We wanted to help clean up but they insisted we not and go relax so while Maverick & company loaded up the car I loaded us up on Cake and Mac n Cheese and all kinds of goodies!! When we got back to the cabin Maverick said "go inside and I'll bring it all in; just unlock the door"... Well, it's piss ass pouring down rain, it's a COLD rain with small chunks of hail in it - storm was a coming that's for sure!! So I SPRINTED down the stone cobble walk way and slipped on the 2nd step to the cabin and BUSTED MY FACE & mouth on the porch... broke a tooth!! What a way to end your wedding day!

These buggers are SLIPPERY WHEN WET!

We stuffed our face with cake, mac n cheese and other random goodies I snagged that were left over. I was a little sore but doing okay! I was NOT going to let it ruin my night... and we didn't... hee hee hee...

Day 1 of Epic Road Trip aka The Honeymoon... We woke up and packed everything up in Maverick's truck that we didn't want to take with us. Mumsy & Hollywood was going to take back to our house for us. We finished off the cake and mac & cheese for breakfast and we hit the road! We drove from Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas to somewhere in New Mexico. We stopped at several museums and site seeing places. We drove along Route 66 when we could. It was a great day!!

Day 2... We drove through the rest of NM in the direction we were going, traveled through Arizona and ended up in Nevada for a night in LAS VEGAS!! Yes, Las Vegas; it was our first time for either one of us to visit Las Vegas and we were so excited! Before we got to Vegas you know we had to stop at the Hoover Dam and that was an experience! I've been back several times since then but the first breath that gets taken from it will always be in your memories forever. We got to Vegas just before dark and decided to go on an adventure!! Our hotel was the Plaza Player's Club at the far end of Fremont Street from Las Vegas Boulevard. WE WALKED through Fremont to LVB, down LVB past the Luxor and started back towards Fremont. We finally found dinner and then got a bus trip back to Fremont. By the time we got back to Fremont St it was dead - if that tells you anything about how long it took us. When we finally got back to the room we crashed until check out.

Day 3... We wanted to explore Vegas in the daylight and do some gambling so we took to the casino in our lobby and played some slots. Then we drove the strip a few times and finally headed to Sedona, AZ - our final destination!

Day 4... Sedona was so much fun!! Our first day we spent eating, wine tastings, we took a train ride! It was an awesome experience and the desert is very beautiful.

Day 5... the Grand Canyon!! We woke before the sun rose and headed out to a little bluff that we saw and watched the sunrise together. Then we made the trek to the Grand Canyon. We were there ALL DAY. It was breath taking. Words can not describe and pictures hold no justice to it's majesty.

 

 

 

 

Day 6... Unfortunately we had to leave and go back to reality. Day 6 was nothing but driving so we could get home and to work. It was not the same leisurely drive we had in the beginning.

We got several souvenirs and keepsakes! I would love to go back to Sedona again to visit. It really is a beautiful place, the people are so friendly!! And they make the most excellent wines!

 ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

This post is the 9th in a series of posts that will chronicle milestones and anniversaries. We're coming up on our 5th year Wedding Anniversary & this summer marks 10 years of our relationship officially beginning... I hope you enjoy!!