Celebrating 10 years

On the 1st of February, we celebrated 10 years of marriage together.  Over a year ago, we had decided (ok...I had decided, and Marty went with it) that it would be really fun to renew our vows and celebrate with our family and friends.  To be honest, half the reason I wanted to do this is that I realised we hadn't been invited to a wedding for a while - most of our friends are all married now...and I wanted a good fun party with everyone we love at!  The other reasons I really wanted to renew our vows is that nine of our 10 years of marriage have been in the Hawke's Bay, with some different people in our lives now.  I wanted them to share our 'wedding' love with us, to be part of our celebration of us....oh, and I was looking for an excuse to add an eternity ring to my collection on that left hand! hehe.

It was interesting in the huge variety of responses we got to this idea.  Some people were just so excited for us, proud that we are making marriage a valued and celebrated thing.  Others scratched their heads and looked at us a bit funny but were keen on a chance to dress up and dance the night away.  A few made passing comments that dampened the spirit of things and a few said nothing at all...but the majority of our loved ones were positive about this fairly uncommon ceremony.  Hey, we have 'growing older' parties yearly, let's take time to have a 'growing together' party and remember the promise of lifelong love we made each other was my stand!

Anyway, we had a blast on the night.  With Granma and Grandad on children duty for the weekend (THANK YOU!!!), we could concentrate on setting the hall up with candles, tables and getting my hair done by a great friend. The girls have been talking about being 'flower girls' for over a year now, and were SO excited to be part of things.  They begged us to let them walk up an aisle, but we wanted things less formal then that, so they settled happily for doing an opening "fairy dance" to the song I walked the aisle to all those years ago!

You can watch the ceremony here on YouTube...(it was too big for my blog) - it is 20 minutes long so feel free to skip bits if you don't have time!

I love my Marty.  Isn't he fantastic?  We really have grown up together and been through a heck of a lot together.  It was easy to declare my love to him again that night....with even more honesty, wisdom, love and conviction then I did 10 years ago.

We made this event potluck dessert, so that was easy...and there was HEAPS of food.  With 80-100 guests, we perhaps should have let people know they were allowed to bring food back to their tables though - or maybe everyone just preferred to stand around the food tables in the foyer.  Either way, dessert was yummo (although i didn't eat much as I was busy playing hostess).

Later on, it was time to kick off the dancing - not quite so easy now that everyone had vacated into the foyer!  We got the ball rolling with a slow dance to "our" song (Now and Forever by Richard Marx) - which I had totally forgotten to practice for...leading to a repeat of our wedding day with a bit of shuffling around the dance floor.  Once the dance music kicked in, I didn't leave that dance floor until the end of the night.  On the way home, I felt terrible that I hadn't talked to some of our guests actually as many didn't come back through to the dance area, but I do hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I was! Those who did get up and dance looked like they had as much fun as I was having.  By the end of the night my feet were bruised and sore, but I was happy.

At Granma and Grandads

One of the most lovely things about our anniversary is that Marty's parents had agreed to take our children for the WHOLE WEEKEND....the first time we had left Luke and about 2 years since our last night without the kids.  It was just blissful.  There is something super special about having no agenda, no nappies, no kids to feed and dress and sunscreen and clean up after.  Being able to walk out the door so quickly was odd, leaving me feeling like I had forgotten something (or someone)!  We enjoyed our weekend so much, just taking the time to chill out together, stroll through the shops hand in hand (without telling kids off for running away or touching things), enjoy a few meals out in peace and watch movies uninterrupted.  As I said to Marty, this could actually be our normal state in another 20 years.  Something to look forward to!

We even hit the driving range (and agreed it is time for me to get back on that golf course one afternoon soon) and I hopped on MY BIKE for a wee impromptu ride!  Yes, me.  On a bike.  Seriously, first golf, now cycling.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  It was rather pathetic, wobbling along unsteadily on the mountain bike I last rode at 17 years, I had to laugh at myself.  We would love to take the girls out on a ride now that I have made this first step, but need to find a way to do this with little Luke...anyone got a toddler bike trailer gathering dust we can borrow?

During a leisurely brunch before picking the kiddies up, we agreed that this was perhaps our best anniversary weekend ever, even nicer then going out of town, as we could enjoy our own home and city  and didn't spend half the weekend travelling and packing.  So a HUGE thank you to Granma and Grandad (the kids didn't even want to come home) for keeping the kids happy and allowing us time to recharge as a couple before the busy year kicks in.  We hope to be able to do this a little bit more often then every 2 years now.....babysitter dependent of course! (hehehe)