Celebrating 5 years . . .

with old traditions,

- soup

- 5 acts of service each

- pumpkin cake

- the traditional gift for 5 years is wood, so I made this for taylor with the words to our wedding song.  
  ben harper says it best:

we've never done traditional gifts. i just felt like i should for 5 years for some reason. 

- temple sealings (a month later. thanks to our fab friends who let us crash their anniversary trip this past weekend and watched B for us)

a family getaway to Utah,

Before and After

- gorgeous fall scenery

- a 10K run in the mud dressed as a bride and groom (i made a tutu and veil for the occasion :)

people were congratulating us yelling, "best honeymoon ever", "aww newlyweds", "race to eternity", etc. it was awesome.

 and new traditions,

 candid thanks to Kathy. Tay saw this picture and said, "aw we really do love each other". indeed.

- a video date night:

this idea was inspired by my dear friend who lost her husband last year. she wrote a blog post months ago about the importance of recording "the little things" about your spouse . . . the sound of their voice, the shape of their hand, their favorite things, etc. 

so we decided to do a video date for our anniversary. we each wrote down 5 questions for each other through out the day and then interviewed each other on camera. it was so much fun. the next thing we knew, we had babbled on for about an hour, re-living the first date, first "i love you", favorite marriage moment, favorite foods, etc. i even broke out into a moving rendition of "total eclipse of the heart". it was that good.

 i think it will be a fun thing to add to our celebration, fun for posterity, and a fun way to document how we change from year to year (as if i don't take enough pictures already). thanks, M, for the great idea, and for inspiring me every day!

so happy to be mrs. benson. i love our simple traditions.

i love any tradition, and would love to hear yours, especially as the holidays approach us. care to share? i'm always looking for new ideas.