Celebrate Good TImes, Come On!

Imagine the perfect anniversary.

On a beach.

In a foreign country.

With warm weather, not a cloud in the sky. 

Just you and your man.  

Wouldn't that be just perfect?

That's what we had for our 5 year anniversary.  Well, almost.  The part about just me and my man actually included our two kids and about 30 other friends (who were also on the beach), but it was still great.

It's neat to think that Brooks and I will always get to say that we were in Saudi Arabia for our 5th anniversary.

We celebrated earlier in the week with a fantastic dinner, just the two of us, while some friends kept the boys for us.  We got to enjoy a 2 hour meal and talk just the two of us.  It was WONDERFUl!  A new restaurant opened, called Red Dragon at The Yacht, in our town and it's really nice.  The food is "expensive" but it's GOOD food so you don't care the price.  The place is incredibly clean.  I even use the bathroom facilities in it.  That's saying something!  Haha.  The food is so good we got appetizers and dessert.  We even ordered special teas.  Guys, really, this place is a BIG deal to us who are use to eating at hole in the wall joints.  They even use cloth napkins!  Woo hoo!  We made it to the big leagues with this place.  Ok, anyways.  

When we got home from dinner, I found this bag sitting on my pillow.  Yes, it had the cute, blue box with the pretty, satin white ribbon.  Inside was a beautiful, silver heart shaped necklace that I love.  It was a complete surprise. Brooks did GREAT!  I got him a massage for our anniversary.  He loves getting massages and actually asked for that. 

On the actual day of our anniversary, we went out to the beach for a neighbors birthday party, who I made the cake for and just hung out.  It was a blast.  We got to spend the day with our boys, ate at the restaurant on our compound, and relaxed.  It was a fun and memorable day and an anniversary that we're sure to not forget.

Happy 5 years babe!  

5 years

Five years ago today, Brooks and I said I do to one another and became husband and wife.

We got to celebrate Wednesday night with a pre Anniversary dinner just the two of us.  During our meal, we started reminiscing past memories and thinking about all the places we've been and things we've done together.  We quickly realized a lot has happened in the past 5 years.

We've lived in an apartment, a subdivision, and now a compound.  We rented our apartment, purchased a home, and now we live via Brooks company.

We made our first car purchase- Brooks' car (I already forgot what he drove... isn't that horrible!)

We've visited people or took vacations in the following states: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, Missouri, Nevada, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma.

We've been to the following countries: Jamaica, Belize, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, & Qatar.

We've had 2 kids.

And a dog.  (Maggie's still in the family though)

We found a church that we called "home" and loved spending almost 2 years with an amazing church family.

There are many, many more things that we've done, seen, experienced, gained, etc but of course I can't pinpoint all or even choose ones to highlight (it's late at night over here and I'm tired).  All I know is that the last 5 years have been an adventure and I'm excited for the journey that we've been on.  

I love you Brooks Lee Perry.  Thank you for being my best friend and for loving me unconditionally.  I love you more then words can say!!  You're my favorite!!

Anniversary Celebration

Brooks and I had our 4 year anniversary over a week ago, but we actually celebrated it a little early (I forgot to post about it).  Since we've lived in Houston after getting married, we've made it a tradition on our anniversary to spend the night at the hotel where we stayed the night of our wedding.  So, this year was no different, especially since this was going to be our last year in Houston for a while.

Brooks and I were fortunate to have one of our best friends, Stephanie, ask us if she could watch Gavin for the evening, and let him spend the night with her, so we could get away.  We knew that Gavin loves his Aunt Steph and he does very well adapting to new places so we agreed and went off for our weekend Anniversary celebration.

Brooks did a little research and found a cute restaurant that was actually across the street from our hotel.  It was called The Grove and it looked out to Discovery Green, a large park in downtown Houston, near the George Brown Convention Center.  We had a delicious dinner (with dessert) and were stuffed by the time our meal had ended.  After wards, we went back to our hotel and actually went swimming in their indoor pool (Brooks LOVES to swim and every year we'd forget to bring our swim suits) and just relaxed.  The next morning, we got up and went to a couple's massage.  That was my gift to Brooks.  When he went to China, he would get a massage almost every day because they were very cheap over there and he loves getting them.  I thought he'd enjoy another one, plus, at this time, we had been doing a LOT of work on the house and we both just needed a break.  The last time (and only time) we've ever had a couple's massage was on our honeymoon so it brought back memories from 4 years ago!

We're glad we went and took the time to celebrate our anniversary.  Here are a few pics from the last few anniversaries at the Hilton Hotel.

On our first anniversary, we brought the top of our wedding cake and ate it up!

We also exchanged presents!

This was our 2nd anniversary.. I was 9 months pregnant (since I was on bed rest for our actual anniversary in May, we went in August to celebrate me getting off bed rest and to have one last weekend alone before Gavin came. 

**I just realized we didn't get to go last year. The NBA playoffs were going on at the Toyota Center the month of May, therefore, prices were INSANE!

Happy Anniversary Babe!

Happy 4th Anniversary to THE most amazing, caring, loving, respectful man I know!  It's been a blessing to have spent the last 6 years with you and I'm looking forward to many, many more years together!  Thank you for loving me and constantly living God's grace in our lives!  I love you more today then I did this day 4 years ago!  I can't imagine what it will be like in 15 more years!  I'm excited to see what the next journey in our lives will bring, but I'm grateful that we will be walking through it together!  I love you HUBBY!   

sooooo TRUE!