north carolina, day 4 & 5. the beach and celebrating.

back when we were naive, in love, and child-less, we decided that a wedding 2 days after christmas was a genius idea.  10 years later, we realize that if we want to celebrate the day we promised to each other, it would most likely never take place on the actual day, but more likely several months either before or after it.

since most of our anniversary celebrations consist of a nice dinner and a couple of hours on our own, we decided that on our 10th, things would be different.  {which is a decision i'm grateful we made ahead of time--seeing that i took care of barfing children on our actual anniversary.  our already-set plan gave me something to look forward to amid vomit-filled laundry.}

and so, when carmella called to let us know she was engaged and we were invited, we decided to leave the kids with family in utah and celebrate our ten years the way we had planned so long ago:

less naive, still in love, and child-less {temporarily}.

we had less than 48 hours staying in the beach house on topsail island, NC, but we made those hours count.

a beautiful book.  my mind swallowed it up in 3 days, 

and left me crying on the plane as i read the chapter of her father's death.

we spent hours talking just like this.  about our past, present and future.

me reading excerpts from my book.

meanwhile, the sun spent hours turning our previously fair skin a nice shade of red--

despite our efforts with sunscreen.

face time with the kids, showing them how we could walk out of the doors

of the condo and feel sand beneath our toes within just a few feet.

after the phone call ended, we promised each other to bring 

these 3 pieces of our heart back with us one day.

 we went out to a fancy dinner one night.  

if i were asked what meal i would bring with me on a deserted island, 

i would strongly consider this bruschetta.  

i am a lover of bruschetta, and this one beat any i have tasted before.  i still dream about it.

what happened to ben's eye?  who knows.

the tourist shop, where ben told me to endure some form of psychotherapy while posing for this picture.

humidity!  my skin was in heaven, my hair was, well...

when i woke up in the morning, ben took one look at me and just said, 

WOAH.

and just like that, it was over.

as rain began to pour over the beautiful beach, blending into the waves, 

we found ourselves in the rental car on our way back to durham 

for our last night in north carolina.