Our Anniversary Celebration

Ryan and I celebrated 3 years together on January 10th. Where does the time go? Sadly, Ryan was in Washington, D.C. on that exact date so we had to find another time to celebrate. So we picked the weekend after our anniversary to toast to another year as a happily married couple. (However, Ryan did surprise me at work with this wonderful bouquet of roses on the 10th!)



Most of that Saturday we lounged around with Lola, went on a walk and just hung out together. But when 4:30 rolled around Ryan instructed me to go upstairs and close the door and don't come out until he says its o.k. I knew he was up to something, but I wasn't quite sure what. Since I had left my phone and my computer downstairs in the living room, I didn't have much to keep me occupied. So I decided to get out of my jeans and sweatshirt and gussy up for our evening, even though I knew we'd be staying in. :)

About 40 minutes later, Ryan gave me the green light to come on down, and this is what awaited me.

Ryan had rearranged the fireplace room to include an intimate dinner setting for just the 2 of us. What a guy! :)

He then let me know that he was going to be cooking dinner for us that evening- new york strip steaks, potatos with a side of buttered corn.

But before we could dine, we needed to open up a bottle of wine that we had been waiting to drink for over 5 months! We purchased a bottle of Jessup Cellars Pinot on our Napa Valley trip that we knew we'd indulge in on this special evening.

And with a little bit of chocolate and some parmigiano reggiano, we were set for appetizers :)

Ryan lit the candles on our mantle, and we sat and dined/chatted for a couple of hours.

And then it was present time! Ryan's present to me was of course his delicious meal and the roses he sent on our actual anniversary. So I decided to surprise him with a few framed pictures. We had talked about adding frames up the stairs to our 2nd floor, and when we saw the state welcome signs online one night, we knew we had to use them in our home. So I got Ryan 3 8x10 frames that include the states special to us. South Dakota where Ryan was born and raised, Nebraska, where I was born and where we met and got married, and Minnesota, our home now and where we adopted Lola. I also got him a special frame that shows a sunset on a Minnesota lake, as I know he has been wanting more Minnesota images in our home.

Lola helped me present them. :)

It was such a nice evening to hang out, have fun and just enjoy the years we've spent together.