D and E Whitfield: 10 Year Anniversary

Doug and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on July 31st.  10 years!

We had the greatest anniversary, because we spent it just the two of us, doing amazing adventures to celebrate our love and our strength, to rely on one another, to appreciate how we complement one another, and to have fun.

We hiked 9 miles to Stack rock....

We floated the Boise River....

We ate and drank our way through downtown Boise and spent the night downtown.

We had the best Boise-staycation-anniversary! (Luckily Doug's mom coordinated her visit with our anniversary so we had built-in love and care for our kids while we celebrated.  The kids had such a wonderful time with their grandmother that they really didn't notice our absence at all! More photos of her visit to come...)

Doug and I started an anniversary journal when we got married.  We initially had our parents share advice with us in the forms of letters and then each anniversary, we write a letter to one another in the journal.  Heaven knows that in between each year's letters, there have been major ups and downs.  But that journal serves as a testimony to the determination and committment that we have for a successful and joyous friendship and marriage.

When we moved to Idaho last year, one of our goals was to spend more time together (without the kids).  We wanted to carve out more time/resources for travelling and exploring, for hobbies, for nights at concerts or at restaurants with friends and with just the two of us.  We also set a goal to make sure we had our own time-- "Elizabeth time" and "Doug time"--that didn't involve one another and didn't involve the kids. Doug has pursued so many athletic hobbies (and even enjoyed a mountain bike boys trip to Sun Valley last week).  And I've developed a core group of girlfriends unlike anything I've experienced in other chapters of my life.  Individually and as a couple, Doug and I are the happiest we've been.  It was wonderful to celebrate the journeys we've taken the past 10 years.

The greatest gift that we can give to our children is to love and respect one another.  Doug makes me laugh.  He builds me up.  He trusts and honors me.  He works hard to give our children and me a joyous life.  And I know that I enhance Doug's life too! It's a wonderful partnership, and I'm so thankful that this was just the first 10 years of our marriage.  Many more to come...