Our 4th Anniversary!!!!

Wow! I can't believe it's been 4 years. They have flown by. They have been wonderful years full of many memories. I never ever thought I would be more in love than the day I married my best friend. Oh, how wrong I was. Life does that. Life opens new doors and takes you down roads you never saw in your future. Life is good. My love for my husband has gone beyond my wildest imagination. Much of that is because we are now parents. I love being married to Philip. He is my prince charming. He is my blessing.

My husband...no one loves him like I do

I can remember our wedding day perfectly. June 25, 2005. Eden Gardens State Park, Point Washington, Fl. 6 in the evening....well, really 6:15 b/c traffic was so terrible and folks were still arriving so the pastor (Dr. Taylor) decided to stall...I had idea of the time so it didn't matter to me. I felt on top of the world. Everything was as I imagined ever since I was a little girl playing dress-up and hanging a pillowcase on my head for a veil. My Daddy was in his dress blues ready to hand me over to the love of my life. My dress was perfect with the long train and extra long veil. No one would ever have my exact dress b/c I had the company combine two separate dresses and add a new detail so it would be just for me. I was barefoot outside in a garden. (That part was my one constant dream of my wedding day..to be barefoot outside) My family was there. My friends were there. My guy was waiting. My closest girlfriends were up there waiting to stand with me...all 10 of them and all barefoot too! My precious little brother was my ring bearer. My other brother was a groomsman. I had two young cousins that served as jr. bridesmaids and had the most adorable flower girl. Everything was perfect. The setting couldn't have been more Southern. I felt as if I had stepped into paradise. I can remember tearing up before walking down the aisle and Daddy putting his hand on my hand and saying it would be okay, that he would get me down that aisle. As soon as I started walking and could see Philip, the tears went away and I became this giddy little girl bursting with happiness. I giggled and smiled all the way down the aisle! Once Daddy handed me over I could just feel the excitement building. I held it together until I said my vows...then I cried softly. (Later in the video you can here my little brother, Holden, who was the ring bearer, say to Hunter "Hey, Why is she crying? Lauren, don't cry") Our wedding day was perfect! I could not have asked for better weather, considering it was the end of June in Florida. There was such a nice breeze. The bugs were a little bad, but I was oblivious. We had such a fantastic time together at our reception with all our friends and family. We left our reception by boat and drove off into the Bay under a stary night. Thank you to everyone who was there to celebrate with us...I find myself reflecting back to that day so often. It's one of the best days in my life.

Father and Daughter walking to the wedding

So, this year for our anniversary, the traditional gift was "fruit or flower". I bought and planted 2 tomato plants for Philip to add to his little herb garden. He's been wanting some tomato plants for a while, so it seemed perfect. He gave me a rose garden!! Well, I get to go pick out the roses I want and then he's going to plant them for me here at our house. He said he wanted to have me pick out the type I want, but then he's doing all the work :) How sweet! I've been saying for years that I want a rose garden...to which he would say "I never promised you a rose garden." and then smile. I think he knew what he was doing all along.

We also exchanged a "just for you" gift. I bought him some new old fashioned tumblers and engraved our initial "J" on them for him. I am excited about this new little toy I found. It's an Engraving tool that will work on glass, metal, wood, etc. It's the coolest and easiest thing to use. I'm looking forward to many cool projects!! Philip gave me some "pamper me" gifts that are perfect!! He picked out a wonderful smelling spa bath soap and a body duster (well, that's what I'm calling it). It has perfumed dust powder at the bottom and the softest dusting brush that you just swish all over you. It's absolutely perfect! There are days when I feel like all I smell like is Baby Magic and cookie crumbs :) :) He also gave me a book I've been wanting to read: Bringing up Boys by James Dobson. I'm already loving this book!

During the process

The finished product

We celebrated our anniversary by going to dinner together that night. We dropped William off with our friends Jenny and Patrick so he could play with his sweet little girlfriend Jillian and her baby brother Jackson. We walked down to Rosemary for dinner at the new place Paradis. It was delicious!! We even indulged at had dessert! YUM!! If you are ever in the area, you must go! I attached the link to the restaurant so you can check out the menu.

It was a perfect summer evening.

Headed to Dinner...Mr. and Mrs.

Our Family

Gram and Grumps came in town on Friday to keep William for the night while we escaped to Apalachicola for a getaway. We arrived in Apalachicola that afternoon in time for the Friday night Cocktail party at The Gibson Inn, which is where we stayed. Every time we go to Apalachicola I feel as if I have stepped into a novel and I'm the main character. It's such a quaint little place so full of life. I love the streets and shops and restaurants. The calmness of the town is catching. You can feel all the stress of life just melt away as you drive into town. You've just gotta go! So...after cocktails, we headed to our room to settle in and change for dinner. We headed down to the water to eat at Boss Oyster. I told Philip to find a place where he could have some oysters and I could just enjoy the view. This place was perfect! I loved the crab cakes. They were the best I've had (but not as good as Philip's). Philip had some Gouda baked oysters that he said were amazing as well as the Bay scallops. Dinner was great. We sat outside right by the boat docks and listened to the water gently crashing. After dinner we just walked around a little until we found The Oasis. It's the only night life there. The place was great (except the smoke smell). By the end of the night they had turned the music to all Michael Jackson. I fought the urge to sing along until I couldn't help it. I had to join in. Again, so not me, but when the mood strikes...

Headed out to Dinner Friday

Saturday morning we slept in. It was perfect! We packed up our stuff and headed on out to check out the shops. I love my husband. He went in every shop with me and just piddled the day away! We found a pizza stone, a glass ice bucket, a surprise ice tray for W and some local art. We enjoyed some local food for lunch from The Grill. I had the Bay Scallops and PJJ had an Oyster Po-boy. Yummy. After lunch we drove over to St. George Island to check out the beach. We decided to just walk a bit and ended up walking about 45 mins. The beach was beautiful and gorgeous. Yes, we live at the beach, but here, there were no houses along the dunes. It was just beach as far as you could see. Again, felt like a novel. And the shells!! There were millions and millions of perfect little shells. Philip patiently walked with me and filled his pockets with shells. I was a bit bummed b/c I didn't carry my camera w/ us on the beach, so you will just have to take my word for it. The weather was perfect! I was in heaven in the sunshine, walking in the sand and listening to the waves. We wrapped up our little getaway by stopping a local produce stand to pick up some goodies. We found some cucumbers for me, pinkeye's, peaches and green peppers. I just love produce stands!

All in all, this Anniversary was perfect in every way!

Thank you Philip for a wonderful 4th Anniversary. Thank you for loving me.

Thanks to Gram and Grumps for keeping our precious little boy and taking great care of him so we could escape and relax together.