Zac and Lori Have a Birthday and an Anniversary + New Pergola

May 2022 was one of the busiest months of my life.  Zac and I went to Florida on a business trip, Whitlee got baptized, Tanner got his mission call, Ian had a birthday, the twins graduated, school ended... and brought ls of projects and finals in its wake... and at the very end of it all, Zac and I got a birthday, which we celebrated over Memorial Weekend.

Neither Zac nor I like cake and so every year, we are on the search for the best birthday dessert.  This year, I decided I wanted an Oreo Ball Truffle cake and Zac was immediately all aboard.  We both love Oreo truffles.  Ashlyn is always up for a creative baking challenge and has an amazing talent for making food look pretty, so she made our cake and did an amazing job.

Memorial Day Weekend is usually when we un-winterize the cabin for the year and with the warmer weather and the cabin being opened up, it was finally time to finish the bathroom remodel project in the master bedroom at the cabin.

It turned out beautifully and we were all super happy to finally have this huge project wrapped up!

When we got a hot tub last year, our hammock spot was permanently taken.  And though I love the hot tub, I was sad to not have a place to snuggle up on the hammock anymore.  I mentioned to Zac that perhaps it was time to get rid of our half-broken swing set, which the kids never played on anymore and was always full of wasps nests.  I wanted to put up a hammock stand over by the trampoline.  But never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined he would design and build this for my birthday!!!

This beautiful Pergola with bunkbed hammocks became a wonderful place for our family to gather and talk and enjoy our time together all summer long.

The week following our birthday, we celebrate our anniversary.  This year for our anniversary, I told Zac, I wanted to go fishing.  I didn't want a date in a restaurant or a movie theater.  I just wanted to go somewhere where we could enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery and have time to talk and have some quiet time.  I packed us a dinner and we set off to find a good fishing hole... and finally came to the conclusion that everything I wanted was at the cabin, so on a whim without even packing an overnight bag, we went.  We called the kids and told them we wouldn't be home that night and had the first night we have ever spent at the cabin without kids.  We fished and played games, ate snacks, and watched a movie.  It was magical.  And ended up being one of the best and most romantic anniversaries.  It may just be a new tradition.