Happy Anniversary to us

On April 12, 2008 Steven and I became Mr. and Mrs. It was the best day of my life and I can't imagine spending my life with another man.

To celebrate our anniversary we wanted to go away someplace, but since we're trying desperately to pay off our credit cards we didn't want to spend a lot. Well, a few months ago I entered some contest to win a car. I didn't win the car, but I did win a vacation. It was one of those come here and let us wine and dine you so you buy our timeshare. We don't need one of those, but who can pass up a free vacation?! We were sold! We left on Thursday, April 10 after I got home from work and were spending the whole weekend at Masanutten Resort which is located about 2 hours from us in Harrisonburg (ok, well its right outside of Harrisonburg in a town that I can't pronounce or spell).

We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. Thursday night we got there and checked in and realized that the resort was practically deserted. Not because there was no one there, but because there was nothing to do after dark really. Kind of disappointing, but after a long day at work and 2 hours in the car I wasn't really complaining that we could really only sit around and watch TV.

Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful day and no rain even though the weather man said it would. We had decided that we'd be going on a bike ride through the mountains. We brought Steve's bike with us since he actually has a mountain bike, I on the other hand had to rent one. No problem, they do that! So we had a nice breakfast and then went and rented a bike and headed out for the trail. Which, apparently, is not actually ON the resort but about 2 miles away. 2 miles, not bad right? Well, when you have NO clue about the area it feels farther than it really is. We made it and got our bikes unloaded and hit the trail.

The first part was basically all up hill. I WAS DYING! Steve was patiently letting me do a lot of walking rather than riding though :)

After we made it up the hill we stopped to take some pictures. I secretly was just trying to get a little rest out of it but Steve obliged either way :) He's so good to me!

These pictures were taking at the top of the mountain. It was sooooo pretty up there and even after I felt like I was going to die I was really glad we decided to take this ride. I don't know how many more times I'll be tricked into this, but at least it was fun. After going up the hill we had to go down. I didn't like that all that much because the going down part was just as steep as the going up part. And quite frankly I'm klutzy so I was pretty sure I was going to fall. Luckily I didn't even though I slammed on my brakes a little harder than I should have and skidded a bit haha.

Friday afternoon we went to our sales pitch for the timeshares. We got a very nice sales lady and she drove us all over the resort. It was nice to see the entire resort, but it really confirmed our suspicions that there really wasn't much for us to do. Well there was, but we didn't really have the time. This tour was only supposed to be 1 1/2 hours long, but it lasted forever and by the time it was done the things we wanted to do were closed. We had planned on doing go-karts and mini-golf but they closed early. We did find out there was a place to go horseback riding and I actually got Steve to agree to go....but it ended up being too cold so we passed.

During our tour we went up to the senic overlook and it was beautiful! We were so high up, the view was different but just as pretty as the one from our bike ride. To the left is us at the overlook. We were going to go back to take a picture of the both of us, but it was rainy and cold on Saturday so we skipped it. It was really windy way up here and we had a to do a few takes of my picture because the wind was just blowing it around and into my face at about the same time that Steve would snap my picture! This picture below is a great view of the resort from the overlook. You can see how beautifully it is situated in the mountains. It was really a breathtaking view and its hard to imagine that these mountains are so close to use but we never venture out this way.

During our little trip we even accomplished a few things from the list. Friday night Steven and I went out to eat at this little Italian Restaurant for our date of the month (#1 - Go on a Date once a month). It was a really cute little restaurant and the food was awesome. Being Good Friday we went italian seafood and it was a great choice. We had calamari for appetizers and they were so good. They even served us fresh, piping hot garlic bread. I'm not a huge fan of garlic bread but I tried it because Steve said it was amazing. And it was. I only had a few bites because that's about all I can stand, but he really enjoyed it. Then we each ordered way too much food - we each got the Seafood Romano which consisted of clams, muscles, shrimp, and calamari (I think there might have been something else too) with a wonderful spicy marinara sauce on linguini. It was amazing. It was a TON of food, but we did our best. Neither one of us finsihed the pasta but we both devoured the seafood in the pasta! I was hoping there would be room left in my stomach for some dessert, but there wasn't. I gave up ice cream for lent and was really hoping to devour some after dinner but I was entirely too full.

After dinner we knew we needed towels for our trip to the waterpark on Saturday and we had seen a walmart so we headed that way. Well, we found Target first and stopped there. We tried to go into the mall to see if we could find me some ice cream (and walk off our dinner) but they were closing. So, no ice cream and no walking off dinner. We walked around Target though to walk off dinner and even the Starbucks was closed. Sad day :( After that it was back to our hotel to watch some TV and pass out!

This is our picture for #3 - Take a good picture of us each month. This little creek we found on our resort after we dropped our bikes off. I took a few pictures of it because it was so pretty and then we decided we wanted one of us. I think we took like 4, the first two I looked funny because the sun was a little bright and I was squinting without my sunglasses. Then I forgot to smile. Finally we got it! Trial and error but we made it :)

Saturday morning we woke up to a cold and rainy day. It was ok though because we had already decided to spend the day at the indoor waterpark! I was stoked. I love waterparks!!! Especially the slides. So we got up and got ready to go. It was kind of strange getting ready to go play in a pool all day when it was so cold and rainy outside.

After we got ready we went for some breakfast and then were on our way. The waterpark was at the very front of the resort so not very convenient to walk - but with the weather we wouldn't have anyway.

We got there pretty much as soon as it opened because we knew it would probably fill up big time on this nasty day. We were right! The first thing we did was hit the lazy river and it was so nice and relaxing. Until of course the huge bucket of water dumped on my head. It wasn't bad, it was just unexpected. After that we hit the water slides!! Steve and I did a double tube and went down a few and man were they great! We each did one without a tube and while those are fun, our backs hurt a little from bumping down the slide with nothing more than bathing suits on!

After a little time in the waterpark we decided to take a break and go to the arcade! That was so fun. We played a few games and actually spent quite a bit of time there without realizing it. They had a deal or no deal game for tickets (not money, boo!) that we got kind of addicted to. By the time we left we had over 500 tickets. And yes, we were cashing those suckers in! We browsed the prized and decided that we'd come back because we wanted a prize we didn't have enough tickets for.

Back to the waterpark we went. We were starving and decided on lunch. After lunch we were getting ready to get back in when they closed it down because some kid threw up. That sucked but it wasn't really for too long. After it was opened again we went back in and were acting like kids again!! It was really a fun day and I'm glad we went! They had a really cool promo thing there where people come around and take pictures of you throughout the day which was pretty cool so we of course signed up and while there was no obligation to buy we did anyway :) So this is Steve and I hanging out in the lazy river :) I'm glad I bought them because I forgot our waterproof camera (from our HM!!) and was really disapointed about that!

Saturday night we went out to see Crowded Streets a DMB tribute band because our friends play in it and it was nice to have something to do Saturday night. After we got back to the room we opened cards and presents!! Steve was so good to me this weekend and he bought me a card for each day that we were there. I on the other hand went with our traditional 2 cards for practically every holiday we celebrate thing. Steve just wanted me to have something to open every morning :) We decided to go ahead and exchange gifts Saturday night since A) it was after midnight and B) we'd be rushing around in the morning trying to get ready and get the car packed and checked out before 11. I was ok with it because I really like presents and I was dying for some cake!!

I got Steven a autographed baseball base signed by Jason Giambi. It also came with a picture of Jason signing the base (that would be the paper part). I kind of cheated by not really going with the traditional paper gift. I was looking for something autographed, Yankees, and paper and when I came up this and it was actually in our price range I couldn't pass it up. Plus, they only had one so I went for it. Steve went traditional paper and bought me concert tickets to WMZQ Fest!!!!!!! I was sooooo excited (see my excited face!). I am a HUGE country music fan and I pretty much only have 1 radio station and that is WMZQ. I've been trying to win tickets since they started giving them away and got REALLY close one day but totally blanked and didn't win them so Steve (not being a really big country music fan) is going to suffer through an entire day of country for me!!!

After cards and gifts it was time for cake!!!! Steve wasn't as excited about year old cake as I was but really I just love cake. My mother really, really, really wanted our cake to be good for us after a year in the freezer so she basically fort knox'd the sucker! It was double wrapped in wax paper, then triple wrapped in saranwrap, and then double wrapped in foil. This is me when I had just gotten to the saran wrap and hadn't discovered the wax paper yet.

As you can see I was uber excited to cut this cake after I finally got in to it! We cut our cakes upwards to bring us good luck (thank you Bruno!) so that's what I'm doing here.

And here is where we discovered that year old cake is actually pretty good!!! Even though Steve isn't a big fan of cake he said it was pretty tasty! I was just excited that I wasn't disapointed after waiting an entire year for this cake :)

This our let's take a good picture where we're not shoving cake down our throats for our Anniversary :)
Thanks for an amazing year baby! I can't wait to see what the rest of our lives bring us :)