5 Years

Saturday was our 5th wedding anniversary. The past few years it had worked out oddly to where Ty was on a work trip over our anniversary. I say oddly because it was the only trip he took all year and it ended up falling over our anniversary each year, totally out of his control. It didn't matter because we still got to celebrate together when he got home, but since he wasn't traveling on our anniversary this year and it was our 5th one, we wanted to make this year special. My parents sent us an anniversary card with $50 so we could go out for a date and Thomas said he'd watch the kids for us while we were out. So we had Saturday evening all planned just the two of us. I still wanted to celebrate with the kids so we had a special candlelit dinner Friday night. I, spur of the moment, decided to put some decorations from our wedding day out on the table. We had the crock pot meal I had already planned for the day, but added a special dessert. I had a Cheesecake Factory gift card I'd been saving to take Ty for cheesecake as a date and it had never happened, so I loaded the kids up and we headed out to pick up to-go cheesecake for dessert. Carter picked vanilla bean, I went with Oreo, and Ty chose a peanut butter fudge. Sweet Elise got to try a bite of each and then I gave her a spoonful of whipped cream. It was fun to surprise Ty when he got home from work.

Family picture before our special dinner.

Bird cage and candles were decorations at our wedding and the picture was just for fun.

After dinner I put on my wedding dress and Ty took a picture of me posing similar to a wedding day shot. Then Carter took a picture of me and Ty together. We went ahead and did our traditional anniversary dance to our first dance song and then watched our wedding video a day early. We weren't sure yet what time we would be going out for our date the next night and wanted to make sure we had time to do both of those things. Ty and I danced our first dance to Whatever It Is by Zac Brown Band. There are so many special memories tied up with that song. When the song first came out, Ty and I had been dating for a few months. He asked me if I'd heard the song and I hadn't so he told me it made him think of me and had me listen to it. Then they played it at the bar we went to that night so we had to dance to it. A different night quite a few months later, we were sitting around with friends and the song came on. Ty started singing it to me and then said, "You know when I sing that line 'She's gonna be my wife,' I mean it." It was the moment that broke the ice and started our conversation about marriage. I can't hear the song without getting butterflies in my stomach. Slow dancing to it with Ty in the kitchen each year as I wear my wedding dress is the best anniversary present. This year I requested we also dance to Thomas Rhett's song, Die A Happy Man. Later I got to thinking about it and realized I've added an extra song to our anniversary dance each year. We've always danced to 2 songs, but the second one has changed each year. I thought it would be fun to document the different songs each year so I can remember later on down the road and maybe make us a special anniversary mix for our 15th! From what I remember it has been:

2012- Feet Don't Touch the Ground by Stoney LaRue
2013- Born to Love You by Ben Harper
2014- I Don't Dance by Lee Brice
2015- Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran
2016- Die A Happy Man by Thomas Rhett

Left: wedding day (obviously), Right: 5th anniversary

Me and my handsome dancing partner/life partner!

Saturday morning Ty worked a half day which isn't really a half day as it is 6 hours of work, 6am-noon, but they call it a half day. I took the kids to the free family day at the art museum which was amazing. They had a special insect petting zoo. It was the most fun we've ever had there. That evening I made smoothies and quesadillas for the kids and then Thomas took our annual family picture for us before Ty and I headed out for our date a little after 5pm. We decided it would be best to go early so we could be home in time to put the kids to bed and then we could have the evening to enjoy some drinks on the couch. It was so nice getting to go out with Ty just the two of us. When we got back Thomas told me since Elise was wearing a cloth diaper he just threw her poopy diaper out in the yard. I thought he was kidding but it turned out since our toilet in our main bathroom hasn't been installed yet so we don't have a diaper sprayer hooked up he wasn't sure what to do with the diaper. I couldn't stop laughing, it was just too funny! He also hadn't realized it was our anniversary until he was messing around on his phone while Carter watched a show. He thought we just randomly decided to go on a date and had no idea why we were taking a family picture even though Carter was holding a "5" candle. He definitely added some comedy to the evening! It has been a wonderful 5 years and I look forward to all the years to come!

I told Carter we were going to dress up for our picture and he insisted on wearing his suit.

I had to hold Elise's hand down so we could get a picture without her thumb in her mouth!

And I just can't help myself, I have to do a collage every year. I love seeing how our family has grown and how the kid(s) get bigger each year.

Read my post from our 4th anniversary here, 3rd anniversary here, and 2nd anniversary here. I wrote a post about my wedding day memories here and Ty wrote one about his memories here. I also wrote a post about my wedding week memories here.