UNFORGETTABLE Anniversary!

Damon and I celebrated out 10th anniversary on the 18th of December. Damon had a surprise up his sleeve for a long time and I literally had no idea what it would be. He far exceeded my expectations! He took the day off work and had every little detail in place to make everything perfect. The night before he had found a babysitter and spent the afternoon in the kitchen cooking dinner. Lasagna, a baguette, and my friend had made us French pastries for dessert. Little did I know the dinner was a setup to the big surprise the next day. He thought the dinner would be a good clue to the surprise, but I never caught on.

So the next day Bailee went to school and Trey was at my friends house. Damon pulled into the parking lot of Kohlers Grocery Store and told me to get out of the car because the surprise was in the store. Of course I didn't buy that but we got out anyway. I had told him the day before that he better not be giving me Ogio luggage for my anniversary gift. Well, he opened the trunk and what do you know, it was full of very girly Ogio luggage that I had my eye on before. I died a little inside cause I felt so bad! To my relief the real gift was inside the bags. Phew!

I opened the luggage and it was full of books from Europe. There was also a little homemade map my friend Amanda had made with a little airplane going from Spain to Italy to France. She had helped Damon alot with the planning. In the other suitcase were 2 tickets to Madrid, Florence, and Paris for a springtime vacation. Before I post the vacation pics I just had to explain all that my hubby had done to surprise me.

To backtrack a little, ever since I was little I had a dream to go to Paris. Something about the bustle of the big city, the architecture, the art, history, the language, the fashion, just called my name. As soon as I could learn a foreign language in school I started taking French to prepare me for for when I actually could go on that dream trip. I also studied alot of art history. I took French until I quit college when I got married. We had planned a honeymoon to Madrid where Damon served his mission, and then used the money for a down payment on our first home. Very smart choice but we missed out on our honeymoon. We then planned a trip to Europe for the 10 year reunion of the Madrid temple and also talked of a quick visit to Paris while there. We planned on that for about 5 years and then when we were only 1 year away from the trip Damon informed me there was no way we would have the money in time. I'm not gonna lie, I was very disappointed. Little did I know Damon was saving up for my dream trip. He wanted to give me the honeymoon we never had to celebrate our 10 years as husband and wife.

As you go through married life and the day to day grind, it's nice to have reminders of what started it all in the first place. Damon didn't need to spend thousands to give me that reminder. The work he put into planning, saving, and yes, even his willingness to spend every minute doing only what I wanted, means the most. As I planned the itinerary he wouldn't even give me his input. He just kept reminding me the trip was a gift for me and it didn't matter what activities he would choose. When I saw the tickets, particularly the ones to Paris I started crying. What he did for me was like...wow...this guy still loves me!

My anniversary gift for Damon was a new wedding ring. He lost his during a business trip several years ago. We had it custom made because we couldn't find anything he liked. I'm so pleased with how it turned out because it is totally Damon. I love seeing him wear it and seeing that reminder of the commitment that we've made to each other. I'm so happy with the life we share and all that we have ahead of us to look forward to. I love you Damon!