Celebrating 5 Years!!!!!

It's hard to believe that Jeff and I have been married for five years already! Time sure does fly when you're having fun! We celebrated our anniversary this past week, and what an awesome adventure we had! I planned our trip as a surprise to Jeff. He had no idea where I was taking him or what we were going to do. Before each event on our trip, I would give Jeff a clue in an envelope, and he would have to try and figure out the clue to know where we were going. (A great big "thanks" to my friend Ashlee for helping me come up with all these clues! I was so caught up with planning the activities, meals, packing, etc. that I was totally drawing a blank for clues! She came up with these in less than an hour, and it definitely added to the quality of the trip! Thanks, Ash!!) (Also, a great big thanks to Jeff's mom for watching little Jordyn for us!)

Clue #1

Let's go back to where it all began.

We started our trip wearing our Sunday clothes. When Jeff read the clue, he knew that we were going to the Salt Lake Temple, where he proposed to me a little over five years ago. When we got to the temple, we went in and did an endowment session. This was our first time back to the Salt Lake Temple's live endowment session since we went and did it the first time. It was awesome to re-live that experience.

Clue #2

Why take a walk down memory lane when you could ride through memory grove?

This was a carriage ride around Temple Square and through a little canyon in Salt Lake called Memory Grove. Unfortuately, we accidentally left the camera in the car, so we didn't get any pics of this part of the trip. But it was definitely a memorable experience.

Clue #3

Where is Heaven?

I gave this clue to Jeff while we were on our carriage ride. He knew right away that we would be eating dinner at The Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The restaurant has an awesome view of the Salt Lake Temple, not to mention the incredible view of Salt Lake City. It was a very romantic buffet-style dinner featuring prime rib, all sorts of different salads, and more desserts than I have ever seen at one setting in my life!

Clue #4

Way up in the pines, away from it all

we'll stay in a cabin, we'll have such a ball!

We spent the night in Anniversary Inn's "Mountain Hideaway" suite. This room was amazing! It was a rustic log cabin setting, with a HUGE jetted tub enclosed in rock, complete with waterfall! The bathroom was cute too - it was painted as a little outhouse with a moon shape cut out of the wooden door! When we walked in the room, music was playing, and there were battery-operated candles all around the tub. What a relaxing way to spend the evening. Breakfast was yummy too - they served a ham and cheese croissant, a warm fresh cinnamon roll, yogurt parfaits, hot cocoa, milk, and juice. I didn't even have to get out of bed!

Clue #5

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but my dear it's so delightful.

Midway is the place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

After we checked out of the Anniversary in, we headed up Parley's Canyon. First we stopped in Park City and did a little shopping at the outlet mall, ate at Arby's, then headed over to Midway where we checked in at the Homestead Resort. When we checked in, they gave us our vouchers and directions to Soldier Hollow's sledding hill. This was both mine and Jeff's favorite part of the trip (well, favorite of the outdoor activities anyways, lol!). We didn't even have to hike up the hill - just ride the tow all the way up then race down to the bottom!

Clue #6

I'm taking you to the center of the earth where it's warm and we can relax!

Back at the Homestead Resort, we went swimming in their Crater! This is a natural-made hotspring which developed hundreds of years ago. The water inside is 90-95 degrees year round and is 65 feet deep. It was so cool to swim around in this thing while experiencing natural healing from the minerals.

Clue #7

This trip has been a blast, I couldn't have spent it with anyone better.

Our last anniversary excursion will be a scenic ride accompanied by a letter.

Of course, being so close to Heber City, we had to go ride the famous Heber Creeper. We took a two hour ride around deer creek reservoir. While we were on the train I gave Jeff a letter that I had written, thanking him for being such a wonderful husband. We also saw some bald eagles! What an excellent way to end our trip. We had so much fun together and I felt like we were able to reconnect and remember why we love each other. Happy anniversary, Babe! I love you! Here's to five years and an eternity to come!