Happy 1 Year Anniversary Jason!

I cannot believe it's been a year since Jason and I were married.  It feels like a year when I really think about all that has happened since then but I remember every detail of our wedding like it was yesterday and I hope those memories will always stay with me.

Originally we probably would have planned to spend our anniversary out of town with a special anniversary dinner on Saturday night.  But instead we were invited to VA and Rich's wedding in Michigan so we decided to make an anniversary weekend out of it!

Already by Friday night I was in anniversary mode full of romance!  Because of the way our weekdays worked out, Friday was date night so we used a Groupon and went to a semi-romantic dinner.  Saturday during the day I had VA's bridal luncheon to attend (which was lovely!).  Jason and I had the afternoon freed up but while I was at the luncheon Jason and Cooper went for a walk and Cooper managed to roll around in a bunch of sand burrs and he got them ALL over.  Those suckers did not want to come out and since they were all over him and poking into his skin, we had to get them all out immediately.  So our afternoon was spent finding a PetCo and getting a comb, detangler and scissors so we could spend the rest of our free time holding Cooper down while combing and cutting them all out. Man did they hurt, they were not your average burr!  With a lot of patience from Jason, me and especially Cooper, we were able to get them out and get him to doggie day care just in time for us to have a few minutes to rush back to our hotel and get freshened up and ready for the wedding.

As I already blogged about here...the wedding was just beautiful.  I am sure it was a million more times romantic because I was already in wedding mode reminiscing about our own wedding weekend just a year ago but it was the perfect place to be on the weekend of our anniversary.  I spent much of the evening reliving the night of our wedding night and remembering every detail of our own special night. For the purposes of our anniversary, I especially enjoyed our time together looking at the sunset and talking about our own memories of the year before.

Sunday morning when we woke up I was very anxious to get Cooper but it didn't make sense to pick him up so he could sit in the car while we went to breakfast.  We had a nice romantic morning meal at IHOP. ;-)  Then we had to go to Meier since neither of us had bought each other an anniversary card yet.  Also very romantic. But then we were off to get Cooper and spent the rest of the afternoon hiking at Grand Mere State Park which was just awesome.  The beginning started off a little rough as we were hiking some monstrous bluffs in sand and I didn't have the right shoes on with the sand leaking in making my shoes about 3 sizes too small.  But once we found the right path we had a lot of fun just walking and talking and me finding acorns to collect.  Cooper was very tired from being at daycare but he also enjoyed all the Michigan sniffs and being with us.  It is so fun having our dog (the best dog!) with us on our first anniversary hike!

We headed out just in time before the rain started and drove back to Illinois with a low key night planned.  We were both pretty exhausted from the wedding (and climbing what I felt was like mountains in Michigan) so we came home and ordered the "Jason and Stephanie Special"...pizza from Giordano's and our favorite salad from Lou Malnati's.  We poured what I thought was like a champagne but ended up being a sparkling white wine from a past Michigan trip we'd taken which was kind of nice to relive that memory.  We opened up the cards that were mailed to us and our own and watched our wedding video together. We didn't do some grand dinner or anything extravagant but it was absolutely perfect and the best way to spend our first anniversary.

 I feel like so little has changed in just a year of our relationship, but in all honestly, it's been a year and we've already had many changes and adjustments from the life of singleness that we used to have.  There's been many compromises made and many adjustments, especially with living with one another and with bringing a puppy into our marriage, not to mention the decision to move to Colorado once we sell our condo.  There's been a lot more ups than downs of this first year but even with the downs, we've done it all together and it's really helped to shape our marriage and who we are and strive to be as a couple.

I am so thankful that I get to call Jason my husband.  He has been a wonderful provider for our family this past year while I've tried finishing up grad school and I have loved seeing how we have grown together as a couple.  I look forward to many many more years of marriage where we can continue to get to know each other and continue to become one. I love you Jason, thank you for a wonderful first year and beautiful anniversary date!