Best Moments

Hubby and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary in less than 2 weeks. Life gets hectic and crazy, and around your special days you start to think about all that you have experienced and shared together. So I thought I would share some of our very best moments in our years together.

Our wedding was a blur, as I am sure most would agree. Our honeymoon however, was like a dream! We traveled to St. Thomas and proceeded to spend several days in swim wear, lounging the beach with umbrella drinks and avoiding iguanas at all costs. I took naps in a hammock on the beach, while my sweetie snorkeled. We shopped, we ate way too much, but my most favorite memory is how much we just enjoyed each others company, completely relaxed. No decisions to be made, no jobs or families to think about. We just laid in our lounge chairs and soaked up the sun and loved being near one another. It was perfect, exactly how a honeymoon should be.

When we returned, we came back to our newly built, apartment. Both of us had only lived at home with our parents (we married at 21) and although we didn't have much to fill up our new pad, we didn't care. When I think back, we had a full sized bed, a 13 inch tv, our clothes and wedding presents. That is it. We had the best time just lying on our living room floor eating chicken because that is all I knew how to cook at the time and talking for hours. We shopped often and picked out pieces that we dreamed of filling our new place with and it was such an exciting experience to feel like a real adult. We had our own place! It was amazing!

Hubby and I both had great jobs and while our apartment was brand new and in a new trendy part of town, we knew our next move was to our first house. I searched with my Mom for fun and when I felt like I found a great deal, I set it up so Hubby could walk through it with me. It was a 3 bedroom ranch with all hardwood floors and an unfinished basement. An older couple had built the house together and shortly after, the husband passed. It was an older house at the time, but it felt barely lived in. We both saw the potential and decided to put an offer in. Next thing I know, we are moving our stuff (I say this lightly, because I think we only added a couch and a huge tv to our list to this point.) into our very own house. We had family over for a painting and pizza party and spent all of our time making it our own. I loved that house.

Something about owning your own home makes you feel like you need something. We weren't quite ready for babies, just yet, but a puppy? Yes! One day, I came home with a 8 week old Brindle Boxer puppy. He was adorable and my very first baby boy. We named him Pele'. He was a perfect fit.

This house is also where we conceived our first two boys. We never had the chance to bring Judah home, but one of my best memories, is bringing my itty bitty Izzy home. Born at 32 weeks, 8 weeks early, we were able to bring him home at the 35 week mark. I was scared to death and didn't know how to care for a preemie. I remember walking in with our little carrier sitting him in the living room and Hubby and I staring at each other like, "What do we do now?" Don't worry, it only took us a few minutes to figure it out. Soon enough the house was overflowing with baby stuff. My favorite picture of all time is when Izzy was probably 10 lbs (around 3 months) and sitting in the front yard in the grass. He looked so tiny and now when I drive by that house I just picture my little baby feeling the sunshine and grass for the first time at that house.

Remodeling... it was a tough job, but after months of hard work, Hubby and my Dad finished off the basement into an amazing area. We had a room for storage and laundry, a 4th bedroom and bathroom and a large entertainment room. It was so fun to have friends over to hang out and we really enjoyed that space.

Before you know it, we've been married 7 years and our little Izzy is now 18 months. Grammy came to visit to stay with Izzy while Hubby whisks me back to St. Thomas for a second honeymoon. It was just as glorious as the first, but we were even more in love. We visited St. John, snorkeled a underwater trail, shopped til we dropped, enjoyed boat rides, kayak trips, hiking, delicious food and each others company. It was wonderful.

A few moves and years of pre-med schooling later, we find out we are pregnant with our third little boy. I remember being hugely pregnant and potty training Izzy who was 2 at the time, sitting in a chair in the driveway watching him ride his tricycle and snuggling extra during the day since Mommy had no energy to do anything else.

Last year we took our first family of 4 vacation that wasn't to visit family. It was all about the kids and we did so many things. In St. Louis, we visited the children's museum, the arch, did some shopping and spent some time downtown. Then we finished up our road trip in Chicago where we hit everything you can imagine. It is our favorite and I could totally see us living there some day. I love those memories. Two little guys with no pressure, time line and only focused on fun. I will never forget the four of us in the giant Ferris Wheel overlooking downtown Chicago. I didn't want it to end!

We have made so many great memories since Asher was born. Family vacations, Friday family movie nights, sports outings, nights with friends, but my most favorite are the moments he doesn't know I see. Catching him go in after the kids are asleep to give them one last kiss. Reading them stories or teaching them something only a Daddy can teach.

I love picturing Hubby and Izzy holding hands as we walked him to his first day of Preschool. Then Kindergarten and now First Grade. OH it is going way too fast! What better highlight in marriage, than watching the babies you made together grow? Um...nothing.


Over the years he has given me so many things I didn't deserve, trips and hugely expensive presents that he had saved for months for. Fancy steak dinners at Mortons or surprise overnights at our wedding night hotel, and of course the 2nd trip to St. Thomas. I don't think there has been a single anniversary that he didn't completely blow me away. Oh I forgot to mention the one with a tiny blue box and white ribbon with TIFFANY DIAMOND EARRINGS! Oh yeah...he is that amazing. Even more than all of that, the best gift he has ever given to me is his faithfulness and love. We have been through a lot. A. L. O. T. over our 11 year marriage. I love that I still get love notes left for me in the bathroom randomly and thoughtful gifts of things he heard me mention months before (he does listen!) One of my most treasured gifts, a love note he wrote to me and framed. Or maybe it is the photo book he made for me with all three of my boys inside and sweet sayings fill the page. Or maybe it is the large photo canvas he gave to me of my pregnant belly with my Asher. Then there was the NYC trip, (a trip we have discussed for years) that he planned as a surprise with our amazing friends and handmade a card with clues as our Mothers Day gift.

Hubs is an excellent at fulfilling my love of surprises, gifts and affirmation. God truly knew the kind of man I would need to get through this life and I am ever so grateful that he created him just for me.

Eleven years, it's been a flash in one sense and in another I feel like we have been joined for a lifetime. Hubby, I love you with all of my heart and I am thankful for each and every day I have spent with you by my side. Happy Anniversary!