Celebrating 10 years of Marriage

Matt and Darlene

Celebrating 10 years of Marriage

10.9.99

Matt and I decided at the beginning of our marriage not to give each other anniversary presents. Instead, we made the decision that we would make an investment instead, and each year we get away from it all and go on an anniversary trip.

This year we selected Hotel Fauchere, a Relais et Chateaux establishment, situated in the Delaware Water Gap National Park Reserve. It was a special splurge for our ten years, and we did it with help from our parents ...especially as babysitters!

Us:

Our room:

Every year we carry on the goofy tradition of an anniversary mirror picture:

Matt delighted and surprised me with this amazing bouquet:

One of our first events on the day of our anniversary was to spend the afternoon, just the two of us, at Patisserie Fauchere, having organic (read: DELISH!) coffee and a solid truffle cake (a nod back to our solid chocolate, truffle, - and decidedly NOT white - wedding cake):

mmmmmmmm:

cute enough to eat:

if your mouth is not watering, you may not have a heartbeat. {and if you ever go to this place, the cream puffs (on the second shelf, far right) were heavenly. All 3 times we got one}:

gone:

The evening of our anniversary, we experienced a wonderful dinner at the Delmonico Room (named after the creators of the Delmonico steak):

At our dinner, we shared a 1999 bottle of Eiswein that was a gift from Matt's dad:
On Saturday, we explored the Delaware Water Gap waterfalls and nature trails:

Oh! And we shared a fantastic panini and marinated olives from Fretta's Italian deli. Wish this place was on my streetcorner! SO. GOOD:

hikers:

We stayed for 3 days, 2 nights, and finished up a relaxing getaway by taking the backroads and stopping at the Delaware River's water's edge. The leaves were beautiful.

Of course, we will never forget how beautiful the leaves were on October Ninth, ten years ago.

And forgive me for not eloquently typing what the last ten years have been like being married to this amazing man....

words cannot do it justice, of course.

But I can tell you that we have a love that stands the tests of time, trials, and triumph.

And as we grow closer to God, we grow closer to one another... and that makes our marriage even better now than it was 10 years ago.

******

I love you, Matthew.

Happy 10 year Anniversary.

Toujours.