four years

Today is our fourth anniversary.  We have officially been a married couple for as long as we were an unmarried couple.  I wish I could say we have something special planned, but Ryan is working all day and I am packing up the girls and I for a weekend trip.  However, I am hoping to come up with something amazing for dinner with whatever I can find in the kitchen.

I also wish I could say I completed our wedding album like I have been wanting to do since the day we got married.  But no, I haven't done that either.  By the fifth anniversary, for sure.  Maybe.

I suppose we don't really need anything special on this day anyway.  In the past year, we had a new baby, built a new house, and bought a new (to us) car.  So, yep, it has been a pretty special year.

And even in all the very, very, very stressful times over the past year, we managed to stick together and use those struggles to strengthen our relationship.

There is this one certain part of our vows that has always stuck in my head,

I promise to respect and support you,
to be patient and loving towards you,
to work by your side to achieve the things we dream of,
and to savor our time together.
I pledge to you all of these things
from the bottom of my heart
for the rest of our lives.

I feel like Ryan and I have always had the same vision for our life together, and that is one of the many reasons our relationship works so well for us.  All the love in the world can't keep two people together who don't dream of the same things.

So, Happy Anniversary Ryan!  Just four years in and look at all we have accomplished.  I can imagine that the next four, forty, four hundred, will only bring better things.  And even if we don't accomplish anything else amazing, I will still feel content for the rest of my life.

~ our first dance ~

...and just a few other favorites...

a very uncooperative ring bearer

Ryan and his dad

the moment after I stepped on the front of my dress

 

our sweet, adorable flower girl during the ceremony

**All photos by Julie Ryland Photography

mush brain

I am currently suffering from mush brain. Mush brain (not a scientific term) is what happens to your thought process after extended periods of sleep deprivation and frequent interruptions of what little sleep you are allowed to get. As a result, I have very little motivation to do much of anything beyond life's necessities and have even found it difficult to form coherent sentences.

Fortunately, it has not affected the part of my brain that tells me to point the camera at my babies' faces and click relentlessly.

At toes, too.

And at flowers from my sweet hubby for our unofficial 7th anniversary. Unofficial because it's the anniversary I made up to keep track of our relationship before we got married and had a real anniversary to celebrate each June. Which is kind of downplaying the fact that September 6th, the date of said unofficial anniversary, not only marks 7 years since our first kiss (a true life "are ya gonna kiss me or not" situation), it also marks 4 years since he proposed (a completely "his idea with very little persuasion from me" situation).

And last, but not least, at sunflowers. Sunflowers that are short and amazing and unlike any other sunflower I've seen. I'm definitely putting some of these in my yard next year.

It looks like once I get started, the sentences start flowing a little more freely. So maybe mush brain isn't completely accurate, as it appears my thinking can regain shape with a little effort. I think bread dough brain might be a little more appropriate, or maybe ground beef brain (in keeping with the food theme). And now, after continuing on with this train of thought for a minute, I think I'll just stick to my original point, which is: Not sleeping is very bad for your ability to think clearly and speak coherently, and it's probably better if I just stop there.

celebrating three years

We're celebrating three years of marriage today.  Well...low-key celebration...but happy nonetheless.

In honor of our anniversary, I went grocery shopping today.  I figured what better anniversary gift than a fridge full of food and some deodorant?  The truth?  I cleaned the fridge out yesterday of all rotten, old, inedible food, and when I was done, I could clearly see every single shelf.  I could deny it no longer...it was time.  So, I went shopping, which I hate to do, in case I haven't mentioned that a bazillion times in the past.  Hooray!  It is done, I didn't run over anybody with my cart (although the thought may have crossed my mind a time or two), and I won't have to do it again for a while.

For dinner I BBQ'd shrimp with a brown sugar & rum glaze.  Yes, they were as good as they sound, except I didn't have any Dijon mustard, had to use the yellow stuff, and the glaze didn't thicken up as much as it usually does.  I know I'm not selling it very well, am I?  Really, though, it is an easy and delicious recipe, just a couple of hiccups today.  I'm blaming it on cooking in the trailer, or on the yellow mustard, or on global warming.  Never mind about global warming, I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with non-thickening glaze.

They say your first year of marriage is the toughest.  For us, it wasn't.  Probably because we had already lived together for three years and had even bought a home.  Our first year living together, however, was definitely challenging.  We had been blissfully dating for a year, spent all our time together, it made sense to move in together also.  Except, not only did we move in together, but I also went back to school full time, and Ryan started a new seven-day-a-week job.  All this within a month.  It was during this first year together that we learned to live with (and even appreciate) each other's true character and quirks, and the year where we had the inevitable "where is this relationship going" conversation.  Although I would wait another year and a half for the Big Question, it was during this conversation that we committed to each other and to our relationship, and we haven't looked back since.

That being said, I have no doubt that our fourth year of marriage will be bringing with it even bigger challenges than the first year together.  We are embarking on the biggest project of our lives, living in less than ideal conditions, and bringing a whole new person into our little family.  I'd be lying if I said this doesn't stress me out almost daily.  But it is also comforting to know we have weathered some storms together, and survived, and are fully committed to each other, our marriage, our babies, and our vision for our future together.  And where love isn't enough... stubbornness will prevail.  To me, marriage is born of love, but survives on two strong wills and the commitment to making it work.

As I write this (for the second time this evening...thanks Blogger), Ryan is making root beer floats.  He knows the perfect ice cream to root beer ratio, then lets them sit in the freezer for a few minutes to set.  As I watched him grab a can of root beer from the fridge, I told him "That's why I love you."  And sure, there are about a million other reasons to love him, but root beer floats seem as good a reason as any right now.  When the root beer is ready, he'll bring it to me, with the froth all frozen, and a big spoon, and he'll forget to wrap the glass in a paper towel (I don't like cold hands).  But that's ok, because I love that I can predict this with almost 100% certainty, and cold hands certainly aren't a deal breaker around here.

{To Ryan:  If you're reading this, I hope you can see how much I love you.  And yes, you forgot the paper towel.}

Our Anniversary

Two years ago today, we said "I Do."

It seems so much longer than that, in a good way.

We went out to dinner on Saturday to celebrate.

We ate Hula's and were back home in bed by nine.

No need to party on the town when everything I need is at home with me.

A Year Already?

Time really does fly when you're having fun.