I Love You!

8 years ago, Jeff and I were married in front of a small group of family and close friends in a little log chapel in Gatlinburg, TN. 

I think the best part of our marriage is that we're friends.  We love each other.  And we like each other.

We weren't able to get a baby sitter this past weekend so we turned Saturday into a family celebration day.  Teagan and I spent the morning together doing girly stuff- getting our hair done and going out for sushi.  Then Jeff took Teagan and I took Zach and we set out on a mission.

We've never done the "traditional anniversary gift" thing.  We're not big on gifts around these occassions in general.  But this year was different.  We looked up the traditional gifts for 8 years and found out that it's bronze in the US, salt in the UK, and the modern gift is linens and lace. 

We didn't set any rules- only that the kid with us has to be involved and we use those traditional gift categories as guidance. 

We came home at the end of the afternoon and I pulled out my memory box of things from our wedding and shared that with the kids.  Then we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Came home and exchanged gifts before having a family movie night (Lion King and we even served refreshments- popcorn and jelly beans).

Our gifts:

He got me a clock with a bronze colored rim that says "live, laugh, love" around it.  He got me bath salts.  He got me chocolate- one of which has sea salt in it.  He got me a cotton cami with lace trim. 

I got him a small candle that smells like clean towels.  I got him a card and gift bag that had bronze colors on them.  And I got him a crock pot cookbook (he's been cooking dinne rmore often lately- this was actually Teagan's idea), a box of kosher salt, a book titled Salt: A World History, and season two of Good Eats (which has Alton Brown on the covering sprinkling salt).

It was a great day.  It was a fun day.  It was a family day.  And I look forward to many more of these days to come! 

Happy Anniversary, honey!  I love you!