August eighth was a wonderful day, and I'm happy to say that I remember much of our wedding day. Thanks to my mom, Julie, maid of honor (Katie B), and lots of other family and friends, the day went smoothly. :) I often think back to walking down the aisle with my dad by my side, seeing Heath's face the for the first time that day, looking out into the crowd of beautiful, smiling faces during our ceremony, and singing "Be Thou My Vision" together. These are just a few of my favorite moments, and I will forever cherish them.
In establishing our anniversary tradition, Heath and I decided to do several things. First, we decided to watch our wedding video. (This was kind of a no-brainer.) While watching the video, we realized again how meaningful our ceremony was to us. Our minister, Jason Anderson, was Heath's youth minister for several years; though I have only known Jason and his sweet family for a year and a half, he words made the ceremony so personal and sentimental to us both. Thank you, Jason. You did a wonderful job. :)
Now comes the second tradition... celebrate by eating a fancy meal. The picture below was taken on our honeymoon, in Riviera Maya, while sharing our lovely "Special Honeymooners Dinner". So, we would really like to celebrate every Anniversary dinner at that same table, in that same location, even eating the same food. But alas, we are young and a bit on the poor side, so we cannot. smile
Fast forward.... this picture was taken at Andina, one of Portland's finest Peruvian restaurants. The food was incredible and very adventurous for us! We had "tapas" which is basically ordering 4-6 appetizers for your table and making that your meal. We tried cheeses from around the world, filet with a quail egg on top (no, we weren't that adventurous...), and two different types of fish that were to die for. I'm salivating as I type. Heath and I had so much fun trying these new things together. At the end of our meal, we had the restaurant to ourselves (our reservations weren't until (9:30p.m.) and our waiter treated us to free dessert! It's that sweet. Apparently it was mousse and chocolate of some sort imported from the Amazon. delicious!
Please note that I'm wearing the same black dress. Hope I can wear it for a few more years! :)
Our third tradition is eating asweet treat. Yes, I know the tradition is to eat your wedding cake topper on your one year anniversary. Heath and I had our gone about a month after the wedding. We cheated a little bit, but it was sooooo good. So instead of the cake topper, we visited a local cupcake shop for our sweet treats. If you are in downtown Portland, visit Saint Cupcake. We recommend the coconut cupcake with cream cheese icing. yum!
Our last tradition is to go on a vacation. This is my personal favorite. It doesn't have to be to somewhere faraway and fancy, just someplace new. Our adventure to Portland has brought so much growth to our relationship. I love traveling and exploring with Heath; I'm so glad I married my best friend. :)
So, to celebrate our one year, we headed to Oceanside, Oregon. We rented a house overlooking the coast, and even saw whales while eating dinner out on our balcony! It was beautiful.
The Oregon coast is much different than any other beach I've ever been to. The water is much too cold to play in, and it seems that small rocks take the place of sand. We had fun walking though, and just enjoyed the peaceful ocean sounds and breeze. I also took about 1,000 pictures... I'm trying to put together a "stop-motion" video of our time here in Portland. It's a bit of an undertaking, but I'm excited to put all the pictures together.... check back in 2 years for the final product.
All in all, our time in Oceanside was a perfect getaway for Heath and I. It provided time to grow and learn more about each other. I'm thankful for this past year, and everything we have learned. I'm excited for the years to come.
With one year down, does this mean we are no longer honeymooners? :)
