10th anniversary. May 2, 2013.

We had wanted and planned on going on an awesome trip to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary. When we bought our house and our savings went down with it we decided a roap trip along the California coast would suffice.  Then the reality of the home and landscaping projects hit us, so Chris took off a few days work and we worked on the landscaping instead!

He surprised me by taking me out to dinner at The Sandpiper, a seafood and steak restaurant along the Snake River in town.  He had called ahead and had the waitstaff put out a nice tablecloth and candles.  I thought that was really sweet.  We ordered steak and shrimp and splurged on a scallop appetizer.  It was delicious.

Shawnae watched the kids for us and when we got home we were surprised at the door with this sign (made by Brady)

                   

Once we got up to our room there was a little spread with chocolate cake and sparkling cider.  It was so cute!

9th Anniversary.

Chris and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on May 2nd.  Neither of us knew that the other was in "cahoots" with our friend, Tiffany to surprise each other!  That girl can keep a secret!  I surprised Chris at work with 9 silver balloons, each one having a scroll tied to the bottom of the ribbon that was a favorite memory of mine or a letter I wrote to Chris with a picture of us that year.  

Where it all began...BYU-Idaho, Rexburg, Idaho

Engagement photos 2003

Married 1 year - 2004

At Rodizio's in SLC during Conference Weekend that we attended

Married 2 years - 2005

We had Brady is February of our 2nd year

This is actually the best picture I have of Chris and I during that year

Married 3 years - 2006

We moved to Maine DURING the week of our 3rd anniversary!  Chris had just graduated from college and we had no idea what the future held!!!  This is us on a camping trip in one of my favorite places, Camden, Maine at the Mt. Battie tower overlooking the harbor.

Married 4 years - 2007

We spent this anniversary down in Philadelphia, visiting Chris' sister Nickie and her husband Nick.  Chris' mom also flew out for the week as we were also throwing Nickie a suprise baby shower for her first baby!

Married 5 years - 2008

Expecting baby #2, Olivia!  We went out to waterside Portland for Brazilian food.  Nothing compares to Rodizio's or Tucanos!!! Later that summer we spent a weekend in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Chris' work retreat with Enterprise where we were treated to a harbor cruise and dinner.  We were lucky because we were able to spend this weekend with our good friends, Jared and Tyneal, as he also worked for Enterprise at the time.

Tyneal and I were the two pregnant ladies on board!!!

Married 6 years - 2009

We had recently moved back to Idaho and Chris' parents took the kids so we could have a quiet evening and day to ourselves.  We went out to a steakhouse for dinner and explored the local canyons and waterfalls the next day.  What a beautiful, unique area.  I had come to appreciate Idaho and it's beauty!

Married 7 years - 2010

Went out to a "fancy" dinner at Canyon Crest and spent the next day relaxing without kiddos in tow and,went to a movie!

Married 8 years - 2011

Expecting baby #3, Zachary and moved from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls for Chris' promotion to Branch Manager of Idaho Falls, Airport and Rexburg.

Married 9 years - 2012

I picked Chris up from work and we went out to Olive Garden (his pick) and had a very yummy dinner and much needed one-on-one time.  Then we headed back home where a surprise awaited both of us!!!

I had set out mason jars from the front door leading into our bedroom and all over the bedroom, which Tiffany helped with and lit for me just prior to us getting home.  She and her husband, Aaron took the kids for the evening so we had plenty of alone time!!  VERY ROMANTIC!

When we got to our bedroom Chris had his surprise waiting for me...a dozen red roses and a new frame with a letter to me inside.  It was so nice to have an evening to ourselves, to rekindle our feelings and remember why we chose each other.

Chris, last nine years have held many joys, laughter, sadness, the birth of our beautiful children, many moves (including two cross-country!), job changes, job loss, trials, challenges, journeys of self and as a union, travels, building our first home together, sacrifices, blessings, and so many rewarding memories.

Thank you for staying by my side, even when I was willing to leave yours.  Thank you for having patience with me, even when I had no patience for you.  Thank you for committing yourself, your time, and for working so hard so our family can not only survive but thrive, and so I can have the opportunity to stay at home with our children.

Thank you for loving me through "thick" and "thin" (and everywhere in between!)  Thank you for being willing to make personal changes as I make mine and we make some together.  Thank you for listening, even when I would not hear.  Thank you for your hugs and kisses, even when I did not give mine as readily.  Thank you for being you, and for letting me be me.

I know that we can make the "YOU" and the "ME" continue to grow into a stronger, more unified "US."  I look forward to the next year, and the next 10 years, and so on, ahead of us.  I look forward to the life that we will continue to build together and how we will continue to build ourselves.

Love, Hannah






P.S. Chris had been "hinting" at me for some time to cut my hair shorter as he prefers it that way...so the day of our anniversary I finally did it and surprised him!  He got to take a new lady out that evening!

Before:

After:

Finally...our Anniversary meanderings...

We began our weekend by dropping the kids off at Chris' folks house and then going out to eat to the Chinese Buffet down the road (I know, lame lame lame...anyhow we shouldn't have bothered because the food all tasted the same and totally wasn't worth it. Oh well, you live and learn!)

Then we headed back to Twin Falls and grabbed some of Chris' favorite snack (Peanut Butter M&Ms at Target) along with some pillows and some other snacks from our house and headed over to the DRIVE-IN!!!! Chris and I hadn't been to a drive-in since one of our first dates so that was a lot of fun! We played good old SKIP-BO while we waited for the movies to begin. First we saw WOLVERINE and then 12 ROUNDS, both great shows!!!

The next day:

After a leisurely morning of sleeping in (and being suprised with breakfast in bed by Chris) we decided to get in the car and start driving! Our first stop was in the countryside outside of Wendell, Idaho (about a 20-30 minute drive from our house)

BOX CANYON PRESERVE:

When we got there (after missing the parking lot and turning around)

we followed a mile long path down through fields...

tumbleweeds...yup, we're still in Idaho!

as you can see it looks pretty boring....

and then we saw this:

For those of you who may have trouble reading this sign it says:

DANGEROUS CANYON RIM

USE EXTREME CAUTION

PARENTS PLEASE CONTROL YOUR CHILDREN

Chris and I got a good laugh out of that and then after walking a few

more yards we came upon this:

That's a canyon....out of the middle of nowhere...and it's a long way to the bottom! I was reminded that Chris is deathly afraid of heights as he wouldn't even go near the edge and freaked out every time I stepped an inch closer to take a picture!!!


The blue water is natural hot springs and the reason why it's so clear is because the water bubbles up from underneath the ground (they are called blue hidden springs)

The water was so pretty and made such a beautiful noise- it was hard to believe that just seconds before we'd been strolling down an old dirt road

And then, back to the sagebrush for our walk back to the road...

Along the way I decided to take some pictures of the old pivots in the fields. I really love photography and especially capturing graphic images that you don't see by just looking at an object normally. I try to capture with the lens the details of what actually makes something what it is...what I wouldn't give for a Nikon D60!!! (hint, hint!?!?)

Since I'm a COWGIRL WANNABE and a JOHN DEERE fan

I thought these pics came out pretty cool...

And then we went to BUHL....

(all I could think of was "Buehler, Buehler..." when the teacher from "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" was taking attendance!)

Along the way I made some friends and they let me take their picture...

Once we got to BUHL there wasn't much to see and not many options for lunch and since Chris was "STARVING" he ate at Arctic Circle while I tried some Mexican Food from Senor Habaneros (I should have had the burger and fries!)

...

From there we drove WAY out into the "Williwacks" as we say in Maine...just to see the "Famous" BALANCE ROCK

There "she" is in "all her glory" sitting alongside some old forgotten

highway in the MIDDLE OF NO WHERE!

They hardly had a sign marking her existence!

Reportedly this beauty "balances" on a width of only 3 feet...something like that....

... another trek and up the hill we went...I told Chris that I was going to go to the top and have him take a picture of me standing beneath it- he couldn't let me show him and his fear of heights up so he made the daring climb of death to have his picture taken as well (it only took him a half hour sliding down on his bum and holding on for dear life to get down!)

.

I made it down in about 5 seconds!

Chris facing "the enemy" as he prepared to climb to the top

I occupied myself with picture snapping while he made his arduous climb

And here he is, at the "Top"...I feel okay that I'm slightly teasing him about his fear of heights and his wussy attempt to face his fear because he has tortured me over the last 7 years by making me watch scary movies with him (I have an over-active imagination, which paired with scary movies doesn't mix well with me when I often wake up during the night and can't sleep...)

...Anyways, I climbed to the top next and took a picture of "the view"

That's me, under the rock...I was hoping for a close-up but I guess I wasn't specific enough

when I asked Chris to click a picture...

After we got back down to the car we drove into a little park down the road that has some picnic areas. I almost killed myself while scaling a smooth-faced rock just to get this pic

On the way back into "civilization" we passed by this AWESOMELY PERFECT VINTAGE FORDand Chris was nice enough to oblige and pull over so I could spend the next 15 minutes walking around someone's front yard clicking pictures.

Here's some of the coolest ones...

This wheel was actually on the back left wheel of the truck!

The truck had obviously been "patched up a little" since the front half was FORD and the back half was an INTERNATIONAL truck bed...I've always wanted a INTERNATIONAL SCOUT (and a VW BUS!!!)

As we drove out of BUHL towards the HAGERMAN Valley we were followed by a beautiful wide rainbow (this was the best shot I could get as we were going about 65 mph)

THOUSAND SPINGS, HAGERMAN:

Back before this area of the Snake River had a power plant which has diverted a lot of the natural springs there were literally thousands of springs that spouted out of the rock walls of the canyon. Today there are still several large springs cascading down the rock:

We drove all around Hagerman and saw some pretty reservoirs and a few interesting sights.

Hagerman is actually the site where they discovered the "Hagerman Horse" which is in the Smithsonian-

We also went to Devil's Washbasin to see this waterfall that is unfortunately hidden from view along the highway because the Interstate goes right over it (wouldn't you think that they could have moved the road over a few hundred feet?!)

Because the river is so narrow between the canyon walls right here is creates a lot of force when the water is finally squeezed down through the waterfall (hence the name Devil's Washbasin)

We ended our wonderful weekend together by eating some delicious "steak nuggets" (small pieces of very tender and juicy steak) at The Montana Steakhouse right around the corner from where we live. The food was delicious but they really should hire a different interior decorator!

...

Then we went home and TRIED to rent a nice sappy love story to watch but couldn't find anything from the "Black Box" in our lobby so we ended up watching the Will Smith movie, "SEVEN POUNDS" which was good but SLOW and somewhat DEPRESSING!

Oh well, off to bed for another wonderful night's rest and a morning of sleeping in!!!

...

(Thanks mom and dad Graf for watching the kiddos!!!)