Our first wedding anniversary.

Eugene spent tons of time and energy planning an absolutely amazing surprise getaway for our first wedding anniversary. I took plenty of pictures to help me remember this on our fifty year wedding anniversary. :) So I guess I’ll tell the story through photos. {Prepare yourself for a long post!}

He kept the whole thing a secret until Saturday evening, which was so precious because we really don’t keep anything from each other, so when we do, it’s very tough to keep things secret. Finally, Saturday night, he told me he booked us a private cabin in Hocking Hills {about 2 hours away from where we live.} We went to church Sunday morning and then headed on our mini-vacation.

How darling is this little cabin?! And we had something like 20 acres of nothing but trees on all sides. Peace. And. Quiet.

When we got to our cabin, we were really excited – it was really remote and private, super clean {a huge plus in my opinion}, had plenty of space to cook, relax, and rest, and it had a fire pit, fire wood, a beautiful view, and a hot tub! The picture above is the cute kitchenette, below is the living room area…we started to watch Facing the Giants here, but then we realized we had already seen the movie {a classic Jane mistake!}

Below is a picture of the cabinesque hallway leading to the restroom & bedroom.

The bedroom was very comfortable and we loved that we could head straight to the hot tub from our room.

  

We both decided that we hope to have a porch swing when we buy a house someday. We sat here on Sunday afternoon and watched our wedding video, prayed, laughed, held hands, {I cried…no surprise there}, swayed on the swing, and enjoyed the quality time together.

I can’t tell you how amazing Eugene was this weekend. All the planning and work he did for us floored me. He remembered everything {which, for him is unbelievable!} and he was so kind and pampering to me. My heart literally hurts when I think about what a wonderful husband he is to me. God has certainly blessed me with a great man to be my best friend. The picture below is basically what I felt like doing all weekend – just smile at the great husband I have & grin at all the things he planned and did for our anniversary weekend. I love him {so much.}

Sunday evening, we explored the grounds around our cabin…

… and met some new creatures.

The sun was beautiful coming through the tops of the tall trees during our walk.

We spent quite a bit of time relaxing in the hot tub, listening to the birds in the trees. We talked about things we want to remember from our first year of marriage, things we never expected to happen, things we were proud of, things we wish didn’t happen, things we hope happen every year.  Eugene and I talked so much this weekend {I loved it!}, not much TV or distractions…just us.

I just thought the leaves were pretty against the sky above.

Then Eugene {aka pyro man} took on the challenge of making a bonfire with the wet pieces of wood one of the earlier tenants left.

It took us forever, but between the two of us, we finally achieved enough flames to roast a marshmallow.

 

Then, because it’s what you do on your first anniversary, we ate some of our wedding cake. The very center wasn’t so bad, but the outsides tasted a bit like stale freezer! {I highly suggest wrapping it in many many layers of saran wrap and foil after the big day – we only did one layer of each.}

I woke up Monday morning to hot cinnamon rolls, which we ate on the porch swing.

 

More hot tub time, then we packed lunch and said goodbye to our darling cabin. We hiked Old Man’s cave together.

From Old Man’s Cave we drove a few minutes and then hiked Ash Cave.

 

 

We then spent some time in the sun at Lake Logan and ate our lunch and a nearby picnic table. From there, we headed to some shops of antiques and Amish furniture. And from there, we started our drive back home. Oh, what an amazing 36 hours alone with my husband!

Since it was also Eugene’s dad’s birthday weekend, we got cleaned up and headed straight to his parents’ place to celebrate {and pick up the pup, whom I missed very much.} We love our time with his family, and yesterday was no exception.

Good kabobs on the grill, and oreo/ice cream/caramel dessert. Happy birthday to a great father-in-law!