11 years and counting...

Another great year down and many to go. I can't believe time passes so quickly. The other day I was trying to think about what it was like being a newlywed and what I thought our lives would be like 10+ years down the road. Well, whatever I thought I'm sure this isn't it. I had no idea how extreme life could be. I don't think I could have imagined myself any happier, but I also couldn't have imagined or anticipated some of the challenges we would face. I guess one of the biggest surprises is that you think you'll be so different but really you're not. Just the same person in a less attractive body. Mostly, I'm just grateful that through it all I've had such a great man by my side to help me along. We've been very blessed. I'm sure more blessed than we know.






I loved a friends post awhile back where she listed off how they had celebrated each anniversary and thought that I would do the same. You think you won't forget those kinds of things but I had a surprisingly hard time trying to remember them all. I'm glad we'll have it written down now to always be remembered. We've kind of had a tradition of taking turns planning the anniversary and surprising the other with something fun. It hasn't always worked, but at least we always know who's turn it is to plan.

First- Josh surprised me with a trip to San Francisco where we spent some time with his grandparents and then went camping with my family at the beach.

Second - We were living in a tent this summer working one of Josh's internships. I decided that we deserved at least one night with a real roof over our heads and a real bed under our backs. We stayed at some cheap bed and breakfast with a totally 80's decor. Nothing fancy, but at least we didn't have to kill any bugs that night!

Third - I think our anniversary this year landed in the middle of the week. Josh rented a movie and we stayed home. Can you guess what movie he rented? "Reces the movie" you know that goofy kids show...he said he'd really been wanting to see it. So here's how the night played out...about 15 minutes after the movie starts Josh falls asleep and I get tortured with the rest of the dumb show. In an effort to make up for himself we took a trip up the North coast of California a week or so later to a little town called Gualala and stayed at a really nice bed and breakfast on the beach. The only unfortunate part of this trip was that we were rear-ended on the freeway on our way there. This delayed our arrival time and we didn't get there until almost 11PM and check-out the next morning was at like 10AM. We'd love to go back some day and spend a few days kyaking and enjoying the area a little more. Overall though much better than the movie!

Fourth - Sat at home. I had just had all 4 of my wisdom teeth out the day before and Josh had stitches in his tounge that week from being clobbered during a game of ultimate frisbee. Super fun.

Fifth - Hawaii baby! We made our first venture to Hawaii for our anniversary this year. Eight days in Honolulu heaven! This trip was not planned in advance. Josh bought the tickets Monday afternoon adn we left Tuesday morning. I'm sure it's not the recommended way to travel, but it was nice not having a plan. We just took each day as it came, weren't overscheduled, and had the perfect vacation.

Sixth - I took Josh on a Deep Sea fishing trip out of Marina del Rey. It was fun, but unfortunately the boat was overcrowded and everyone's lines kept getting tangled.

Seventh - Had family in town. Just went out to dinner by ourselves.

Eighth - Back to Hawaii! This time to Maui. Relaxing, fun and memorable.

Ninth - 38 weeks pregnant with Emily. We just went to dinner and then took it easy at home.

Tenth - We were in Utah with my family. My parents offered to watch Emily while we went out for the day. This was the first time we had ever left Emily with anyone for more than an hour so it was a real treat to get away and not have anyone to be responsible for for a little while. We decided to go to Park City and goof off. We rode the alpine slides, the zip-line, went out to lunch and hit a movie. What a great day!

Eleventh - That would be tomorrow. This will probably a very memorable anniversary, but for all the wrong reasons. Emily is having surgury so we will just be hanging out at the hospital and then taking care of a sad baby for the rest of the day. Maybe we'll get out to do something fun next week.