Five Years!

November 1st, 2003. Five years ago was our special day! We were fortunate to have a beautiful wedding with all of our friends and family. It is fun to think back to that time. It seems like so long ago!! Boy, have we come a long way! When we got married I was working full time as a pediatric nurse and Mark was busy building homes. We joke that that first year was "the bachelor year" for Mark. I worked from 2:30 pm to 11:30pm. And I usually ended up working later till sometimes 1 or 2 AM. We hardly ever saw each other! I would call him from work and he would tell me where he went to eat and with what friend. Then we had Grant. It was quite a change!! Now I was home almost every night. (I worked one night a week.) It took some adjustment! We were blessed after Grant was born to have meals brought to us for nearly 2 months off and on. And people brought GREAT food! Prime rib, lasagna, full meals! Including homemade pies, cakes and more! It was crazy the amount and how good all the food was. Now, at this point my menu that I "cooked" consisted of PB&J and cheese tortillas and tomatoe soup. When Mark would come to my house, that is what I would feed him! I remember being depressed when all the meals stopped coming. I had this realization that now it was up to me to provide dinner. Very slowly I have learned. Thanks only to my sister and mom. I can't tell you how many times I would call them during the making of each meal. My brother-in-law can attest to this. I would call several times in an hour and he would answer the phone saying "what now?!!!" I would also call from the store with questions about ingredients. I remember calling because I could only find dark brown sugar and the recipe called for light. I was very concerned. Thankfully I have a patient family! :)

So Grant came in 2005 and then Alex came along in 2007. They bring us so much joy every single day!! We have so much fun together as a family! And now to have our beautiful Nia! Our cups overfloweth!!! God has been very gracious! We are so thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends. We love all of you!

We went out Saturday night on a nice date and we are looking forward to a weekend in St. Louis and Herman (wine country, supposedly a nice place, let's hope.) I also got Mark's flowers that he sends to me each year. We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and on Maui we went up the road to Hana. In Hana there was a small little flower shop. Mark sends me flowers from that shop each year. How awsesome is that?! I love my guy!! I'm a very lucky girl!