365

Ben and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary this weekend. It was a fun weekend filled with all my favorite things; Ben, family and friends, surprises, delicious food and geocaching! The only thing missing was chocolate! ha

I started off our Anniversary Weekend by surprising Ben when he got home from his half day at work on Saturday.

I went with the traditional paper themed gift for our first anniversary.

I wrapped Ben's present in the same wrapping paper used to wrap our bridal party's gifts.

Then made a fun accordion style card and topped everything off with a banner.

365 days of sweet wedded bliss

I made this fun card using envelopes and the paper used for our wedding.

There were three pockets and to bring in some more fun from our wedding Ben filled out a Mad Libs in the first pocket.

The second pocket held the rest of the Mad Libs and the third pockets held a note.

I had a ton of fun making this card!

I even used the same stamp used in our wedding invitations.

Here is all the decorations I used to surprise Ben.

Then I covered everything up!

While Ben was in the shower (after a day of wrestling pigs), I quickly set up the room.

I used our table markers to create 365

365 Days as Mr. and Mrs.

Our table markers from our wedding added a fun touch!

Here is a close-up of the banner I made using our wedding paper and ribbon.

I hope to use this for years to come!

As an extra special surprise, I set up the X-box so Ben has a way to relax at the end of a long day.

I then put in the slideshow our photographers gave us.

Ben was so surprised and it took him a few minutes to take everything in!

But then he got down to business and opened his card and present.

Checking out the card!

He loved his present!!!

It is a stretch to call it a "paper-themed" gift but I couldn't pass up a good online deal!

Ben and the canvas of the big kiss!

(Check out Ben's new glasses!)

The rest of the day was planned by Ben.

He surprised me by taking me to one of the places I wanted to visit this summer, Frederik Meijer Gardens. 

We could have spent an entire day there but only spent a few hours. We didn't see everything but enjoyed what we did see!

They have 70 foot greenhouses!

Here we were in their tropical greenhouse!

We even saw coffee and chocolate trees!

Ben touched the water wall before noticing the DO NOT TOUCH sign! 

Our favorite location was probably the Children's Garden.

We had a ton of fun playing with all the fun activities in the Children's Garden.

In the Farm Garden, Ben found Hops growing!

And I found one of my friends from Narnia!

Then Ben took me to Lowell, MI to try a new restaurant, Flat River Grill.

They have a lot of organic food and locally grown food that they use in their cooking.

The price wasn't too terrible and the FOOD WAS EXCELLENT!

There was something for EVERYONE!

Ben's M-21 Patty Melt: half pound angus burger, melted swiss, charred onions, olive mayo, roma tomatoes, bibb lettuce, grilled marble rye

My Chicken Michael: two sauteed chicken breasts, shrimp, bearnaise sauce, garlic mashed yukon potatoes, sugar snap peas

The restaurant was on the Flat River and there was this fun boat on the river too!

The swans stopped by to beg for food greet us on our walk.

This was the restaurant we ate at. We enjoyed eating outside!

It reminded us of our honeymoon!

 Our anniversary wasn't complete with out geocaching!

Ben found one at this location and I found the first one.

Ben knew I love covered bridges so he took a pit stop in Ada to see their bridge.

It was beautiful and we enjoyed our walk through the quaint town.

Sunday!

Our 1 year anniversary!

After church, Mom, Raena, Ben and I went to Detroit to go to IKEA.

It is my ALL time favorite home furnishings store.

We bought a coffee table, side table and some other fun goodies.

Then we found an Aubree's near by!

It is our favorite restaurant back at school and we wanted to try this one out.

It was strange eating at a different location but fun!

Evidence of our adventure!

365 Days!!

Yeah, 1 year anniversary!

Where DID the time go?