The night before Molly's wedding my mom prepared a feast. We got a big chunk of the family together including my Grandma Erickson, Aunt Barb (dad's sister), Aunt Jacquie and Aunt Barb (Mom's sisters), Aunt Barb's grandson Carter, my sister-in-law Stacey and her three kids Max, Sophie, and Calvin, my brother David and sister-in-law Trisha and their youngest child Matthew, my brother Paul and his fiance Nichole, and my sister Molly and nephew Greg came over late. And of course my parents and Isaac and I. I think I named everyone that was there. Mom slaved over her fabulous lasagna, Isaac and I brought the salad (really it was all Isaac), and we had pumpkin roll for dessert, which is one of my favorite autumn treats.
Our anniversary not only marked 4 years since our wedding, it also marked exactly 20 weeks in our pregnancy. The halfway point! We got a little early anniversary gift and found out that we're having a boy! This is from his 19 week ultrasound. We also have an 11 week ultrasound in which he looks like a tiny, little peanut, but a very cute peanut.
We celebrated our 4th anniversary in September. This was my year to plan. I think I explained last year that Isaac and I take turns planning and we have a lot of fun surprising each other. So I made plans for the weekend before our anniversary (I was working nights the night before and the night of our anniversary). I ordered a little mini cake from our wedding bakery made exactly like our wedding cake. I made reservations at the restaurant at Belhurst Castle. I barely beat Isaac home from work and raced him right back out the door. We made it to the Belhurst Castle just as the sun was setting. Belhurst is a beautiful old 1800's castle located right on Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region just south of here. The whole first floor of the castle has been turned into the restaurant. The surroundings were just what I was hoping for, very exquisite, old thick wood everywhere. The food was eh, overpriced and not enough taste. I keep telling my mom that she needs to cook for them because her cooking is a million times better. We had a quiet dinner and they gave us dessert on them for celebrating our anniversary with them. Of course I picked the chocolate cake which was bigger than a dinner plate and made up for the lack of flavor in my dinner. And I can't believe I'm saying it, but it was almost too big, I couldn't finish it and I tried! We stayed at the Belhurst that night in a lovely room with a fireplace and a view of the lake. I woke up to see a sailboat gliding by on the sparkly lake outside the window under the brilliant blue sky. It was just wonderful! All of our pictures are from that morning walking around the castle's grounds. We actually met another couple there celebrating their first anniversary. They actually thought that Isaac was a photographer there for a wedding and asked him to take their picture. That gave us a good laugh, I guess it was the suit and the giant camera that gave the impression. I must say I think he's pretty good though. Sadly we didn't have forever to wander around and enjoy the surroundings. We took in what we could and then we made our way through cozy back country roads to the Palmyra Temple. I made reservations to do sealings at the temple that afternoon. I thought it was a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary, to meet at the same place where we were married and sealed to each other for eternity four years ago. Inside the temple was the most peaceful part of our wedding day, that still stands out clearly to me. It was so special to have our family and closest friends there with us. My mother helped me get all ready. And our fathers were the witnesses to our marriage. The sealer gave us wonderful advice. And I couldn't stop smiling. I was so happy and I still am, in fact, I think I'm even happier now. 
