Laura Is 26! (and her ticker still ticks!)

I love birthdays, and I especially love Laura's birthday. I don't need an excuse to spoil my lady but it's nice to have a day (or a few days usually) dedicated to my wonderful wife.

This year was especially special as it was our first as wife and wife, and because everyone really seemed to make an effort. My family threw a surprise dinner for her, her work made a delicious sticky toffee pudding cake, her parents had already bought her an amazing laptop (indispensable in the months leading up to the wedding!!) but managed to be extra prepared and leave cards when they visited a few weeks ago, and Facebook messages from her awesome little bro, my sister and our Scottish family as well as all her wonderful friends made my lady beam from ear to ear! Even sat at the airport waiting for a delayed flight......but more on that later!

Thank you to everyone who left her a message on our social media sites, you may have seen we were cycling our way around Amsterdam on the actual day so that's why this is a slightly belated post!

What a year 25 has been for the lovely Laura though - we tied the knot, legally and then not-so legally in front of our amazing friends and family who had traveled from so many places to be there, we will treasure the memories, the photos and videos from the day forever! If that wasn't quite momentous enough, it was also the year we bought a house! I can't quite believe we are almost ready to celebrate our one year of owning it, it has flown by and has been such a great journey making the house our home. Now all that's left to do is officially move in :)

It's almost as if we are all grown up and while 26 still seems young, well, you will always be young to me, it is the age I know that will bring the stability and contentedness that we have lacked this year. I fully expect it to also bring so many more wonderful experiences in new places and in exploring our new home city. If Amsterdam proved anything it is that exploring with you is such a joy. We really should do it more! In fact, let's definitely do it more.

So to my wonderful wife, you are and always will be an inspiration to me - that cheeky smile and positive outlook are enough to make the coldest, darkest, slowest drives to work better and your hugs are enough to make me feel at home and loved after the hardest days.

To see you stay true to yourself and regain some of that admirable confidence has been a pleasure and I am so proud of everything you have achieved. To bonuses at work to helping run events - although you are still not forgiven for not knowing who Alan Shearer is or for letting your company almost drown Davina! This year you have met challenges face on and handled them in such an impressive way - you have hiked, biked, organised and managed more people that I could even count including our entire wedding party! I am in no doubt that left to me there is no way 18 of our friends and family would have made it to, through and out of Vegas intact! That, my girl, was ALL you!

As you start your 26th year, I just wanted to say that I love you more than anything, I am so excited to see where this year takes us and whatever it brings I can't wait to face it together as wives!

Bring on your 26th year, I can't wait to see what happens next :)

Love you with all my heart