5 Years.

Paul and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on July 26th. Five years!

We woke up to a nice omen, a praying mantis on our outside window.

I tried to be cute a make Paul a little arrangement of memories from each of the years of our marriage but he was mostly confused until I explained that it was in the shape of a 5 (Audrey was confused as well - this picture makes it look much clearer than it was in person).

I have really loved sharing a life with Paul these past 5 years. I think we have grown and improved together and I really feel like we are hitting our grove.

 

Thanks Audrey, for taking our cheesy "number" picture.  Next year we will have to use two hands!

After Audrey's camp finished up we headed to Shippensburg. Paul chose our dinner stop and I was NOT thrilled about White Castle being our anniversary dinner. Truth be told, he took me on a nice lunch date to Sushi early that day, so I was really just joking about the anger.

Audrey loved the mini-sliders and kept giggling at their cuteness.

We made it to Shippensburg and waved goodbye to the Goates as they set off to drive through the night on their trek West.

We stayed in PA and made an anniversary trip out of it and did some backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. The weather discouraged our plans a bit so we didn't sleep on the trail as planned, but we still got in 10 miles of beautiful hiking. It was a perfect way to spend some time together in quiet, beautiful, nature.

We love the forest.

(PS - Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4)

Julio

The day after we got back from our trip West, we got right back into our lives here in New Jersey. I played in the Best of the Beach Lacrosse Tournament in Bayville, NJ, then Sunday the community band I'm in played in Highland Park prior to the firework show. Paul was the best supporter at all events.

Trust me on the following. Go with the Quaker.

We got a new, custom made bags set for Talksoft.

We went to a Yankee's game with Karl and Sheri's family. 

(Sorry Demi).

This Italian Stallion was often more entertaining then the game itself. 

"It's too hot, I'm gonna catch some rays."

So many sweaty people.

 My first trip to Grand Central, I don't know what took me so long to get here. The ceiling is the best.

Best little restaurant in little India.

I will never understand why my pictures in NYC always look so muted and dull, time to whip out the real camera for my next trip - the iPhone just isn't doing it.

This little church was such a pretty site. Copper roofs, red brick and lots of green trees and grass.

Spotted the new bike-share program. Twice the price of the Boston one, typical New York.

Happened upon this great statement necklace store.

The boys wouldn't come inside and kept making fun of the weird jewelry inside and how excited I was.

All sorts of Mormon (musical) love around the city.

Paul and I have spent many evenings outside reading books. This night we wrote poems by Passion Puddle and felt at peace with the world.

We also tried to go to Piscataway concerts in the park but the city decided it was too hot outside and moved the Voo-Dudes to a different venue, we stayed and enjoyed our picnic (complete with St. John's root beer from my co-worker) anyway.

I got a Happy Anniversary present from Paul - a disc-break mountain bike of my dreams.

We went on a 5:30 am ride the next day and it rode like a champ.

Other bike rides have happened, including our favorite green towpath.

The last of the fireflies were admired every night. They lasted well into August this year.

We got to have our niece, Audrey stay with us for a week while she went to a women in engineering camp at Rutgers. We went on a dessert adventure each night. Ice cream with the Harts, Rita's, Jamba Juice, sometimes our adventures also included reading by Passion Puddle and catching fireflies.