11 years

Justin and I celebrated 11 years of marriage this weekend.  It was very telling of our life stage... we went to Lowes, painted the kitchen, and went on a family bike ride to check out a new park.  Hopefully we will find a babysitter soon and be able to actually go out on a date.  ;)  

Justin surprised me with a new bike!  We don't usually exchange gifts so I was shocked!  He had gone into the garage to get the bikes ready for our ride.  When I came outside, this beauty was all set up and ready for me to ride! What a guy.  

We rode 2 1/2 miles to this awesome park!  It has a 'nature playground' with lots of fun things for the kids to play with.  

I LOVED this card Justin got me.  True words right there, folks.

Claire was so precious... she knew it was our anniversary and said she was working on a surprise for us.  

She designed her own wrapping paper and inside was this cute decoration she made for us to hang up on the wall.  

I love that she used her resources to create something special for us.  

It was a good, full day.  So thankful for this man, who has journeyed through so much life with me.  Somehow at age 21, I knew what I was doing when I said 'I do.'  Best.decision.ever.  

Cheers to 10 years!

10 years!  In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that we said, 'I do' but in others, it feels like we've always been together.

                             August 9, 2003 

We've lived a lot of life and adventure in these ten years and we've gotten pretty good at adjusting to new circumstances.  It seems like we're always the 'new' people in every situation we are in!  Hey, at least it keeps life interesting!  God has been so faithful and I'm so thankful that His promises are true.  There have been many ups and downs along the way but I just can't imagine living life with anyone else.

We got to reflect and celebrate our anniversary with a two night getaway to Savannah.  (thank you Nana and Papa! more on that later..) It's amazing how refreshing it is to get away.. even just for a couple nights!

Ready for some fun!

Savannah is so beautiful!  Despite the 105 degree heat index, which was super rough for this preggo, we had fun exploring the city, eating good food, enjoying our bed & breakfast, and touring some historical places.

I *almost* passed out as we were touring one house but thankfully I found a chair in time and got some water... I'll blame it on pregnancy & super hot temperatures!



We toured the city in style.. on this sweet carriage ride!  I've always wanted to go on one so it was fun to actually get to.



Someone even asked if we were on our honeymoon!  :)  Such a fun time of celebrating!

9 years

Happy 9th Anniversary, Justin!!  What an adventure it as been.  I was reflecting this morning on the nine years we have been married and all of the unexpected, amazing adventures we've been on.  The theme throughout our 9 years together?  Change.  I mean, we've moved across state lines five times in nine years.  We've never done a local move.. not even a move within the same state.  Nope, we go all out! We've made six different dwellings our home - three apartments and three houses.  We've held 14 different jobs between the two of us (I'm not kidding).  I mean, seriously.. CHANGE has been a constant in our life together.  In the midst of all the change, the lesson we continue to learn is that God is faithful.  And that we can trust Him in it all.  There is absolutely no one I would rather be on this crazy journey with. 

Justin, I absolutely love living life with you - learning to adjust to new places, learning how to love each other more, learning to parent our girls together, learning what it means to follow Jesus as a family.  Thank you for the best nine years!!!  Can't wait to see what the next nine years hold.  I can pretty much guarantee it won't be boring!!  ;)   

Anniversary Surprise

Justin and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on August 9th.  (How can it be 8 years already?!?)  He totally outdid himself this year with an amazing surprise for me.  Here's how it all went down...

He told me he had arranged for our friends to watch the kids while we went out to dinner.  We dropped them off and headed downtown.  We had a delish meal at Hearth.  While at dinner, I told him about how much I think the two of us need a getaway from our sweet kiddos soon... something fun and romantic.. and just the two of us.  Earlier that day I had actually gone online and looked at bed and breakfasts in Galena.  We went there for our 1st anniversary and I kept thinking about how fun that would be to go there again.  Little did I know Justin already had a surprise getaway planned to that very place!!!  So, we are talking about that and I'm telling him how fun it would be to go there. 

He agrees and says, "Well, how about tomorrow?"  (This is on a Tuesday night, by the way.)
I was confused and just said, "What??"
He said, "Well, I took the rest of the week off.  (Pause) And your your parents are watching the girls. (Pause) And I booked two nights at The Steamboat House Bed and Breakfast.  We leave tomorrow morning!

I instantly started crying (why is this always my reaction??). :)  We dropped the kids off Wednesday morning and spent 48 hours with just the two of us.  A-MA-ZING!!

Because having no kids in tow allowed us to be spontaneous, we decided to stop at the Field of Dreams movie site since it was on our way.

We got to Galena in the early afternoon and strolled through some of the shops.  We had a late lunch, checked into the darling inn, enjoyed wine and cheese happy hour, and then had a super yummy dinner.

The next morning we got up at 6:30 (so much for sleeping in...) and went for a run along the river.  The weather was gorgeous the entire time we were there and the run in 55 degrees felt great!  We got ready for the day and then ate the most amazing breakfast that the innkeepers prepared for us... triple berry french toast, sausage, dark chocolate muffins, strawberries with chocolate sauce... YUMMY!

We did some more shopping and then headed a couple of miles out of town to the Galena Winery and Vineyard.  We shared some wine and toured the vineyard.
 

The handsome man who planned all of this fun! :)

After the vineyard tour, we had a romantic dinner at The Sunset Grille.  Per our innkeepers' recommendation, we called the restaurant and asked what time sunset was.  They said 8:02 so we made 7:30 reservations.  We sat on the patio, overlooking the river, and watched the sunset while we had dinner.  It was perfect.

We had another delish breakfast this morning and then headed to Grammy and Babu's house to pick up the girls.  We were happy to see them and so thankful for parents who are willing to take care of our kiddos for a few days!  Thank you, thank you!

I feel refreshed and renewed... and more thankful than ever for my hubby.  :)  Happy 8 years, babe!

Six years

Justin and I celebrated 6 years of marriage yesterday, August 9th. I can't believe it's been six years. . . in some ways it seems like we've been together forever but in others, it seems like just yesterday we got married.

I'm so thankful God brought this man into my life. Thank for Lord for Foundations of Education (the class where I spotted Justin, before I knew who he was.. I just thought - wow, that guy is so cute!!) and then the 13 hour van ride to Colorado when we "just happened" to be sitting next to each other, (Thank you, Rachelle, for getting car sick and leaving an empty seat next to me while you sat up front! :))

In six years of marriage, we've:

• Lived in 4 states
• Held a combined total of 11 jobs
• Owned 2 homes and lived in 3 apartments
• Become expert packers and movers
• Vacationed in Cancun, Arizona, Branson, Galena, Wisconsin, Gatlinburg, Gulf Shores, Florida, and several places on 2 Caribbean cruises
• Experienced the excitement and anticipation of 2 pregnancies
• Experienced the pain of losing our first baby to an ectopic pregnancy
• Experienced the joy of welcoming our daughter into this world
• Begun to learn to surrender our "plans", knowing that God knows us more intimately than we could ever imagine. He gives and takes away. He is good.
• Felt God's loving arms around us as we navigate our way through this life together.

I can't wait to see where God takes us in the next six years. Happy Anniversary, babe!! I love you.

Anniversary

Yesterday Justin and I celebrated five years of marriage!! Woohoo!! It was fun because this was the first year since our wedding that the 9th fell on a Saturday, so it was fun thinking about all the things we would have been doing throughout the day. We just purchased a new couch for our basement (pics to come soon..) so we spent the afternoon setting up our new couch and area in the basement. We exchanged cards, and as usual, Justin's brought tears to my eyes. He deserves major props in this department - I'm a HUGE card person, since my love language is words of affirmation, and Justin near fails to pick out a super sweet and meaningful card. I'm always crying before I even get to the part he writes in there and that never lets me down either. After exchanging cards, we went out for Spanish style tapas at Devotay in Iowa City... delicious!! (By the way - thanks to our parents whose generous anniversary checks covered our meal!) Our night was complete after we came home and watched our wedding video. It's so fun to have that to help us remember our wedding day. Overall, great day!! Looking forward to the many more we have ahead of us!