6 years and counting

Sunday Ryan and I celebrated our six year anniversary. It was so fun to watch home videos and look back at pictures and see just how much we've done. I thought it would be fun to do the highlights of every year we've been married.


Married November 23, 2002

December 2002~ We went to Costa Rica with 2 of my older sisters who were also married within the year. It was a group honeymoon I guess you could say. Unfortunately we were robbed on our first day, cameras, passports, clothes, even birth control pills. So we never had a picture that captured how beautiful Costa Rica really was. This picture is of us and one of my sisters and her husbands. We were dragged way out into the ocean and kept wiping out time and time again. It's kinda funny now, but our husbands were very unimpressed with their new wive's adrenaline tolerance.

2003- We closed on our home on our one year anniversary and celebrated by cleaning for 3 straight days. I really love our little home and have enjoyed doing home improvements to the house and yard. I am completely happy to stay here for a few more years to come.

2004- We ended our second year by going to Mexico with my parents and my sister Stacey and her husband who didn't join us in Costa Rica. This is one of my most favorite vacation spots and I can't wait to go back.

2005- My parents invited us to join them on a journey to Peru that was truly a once in a lifetime experience. Going to warm ocean and tropical shores has been done time and time again. But to have a chance to trek into the mountains and see such history was truly amazing. Cusco is the most romantic town I've ever been too and I've never seen anything as beautiful as the Andes mountains.

In the meantime we also spent many trips going to Oregon to visit Ryan's family and spend time on the Oregon Coast, my most favorite place in the world. Ryan and I were always busy camping with friends, going on weekend trips, hosting parties, staying up late (we still do that) and just enjoying all of our free time. Our friends and our ward also played such a huge role in the early years of our marriage. Although we have so many friends who we cherish I feel like I need to give a special mention to the Stowers and the Malmbergs for the important roles they've played in our marriage and for the strength and example they are to us. The picture below was on Ryan's 25th birthday, I made sure he celebrated in style.

2006- The best thing to ever happen to us. Our sweetest little Emma came and gave us more joy than we could have ever imagined. I know I'm her mother and all, but this is one BEAUTIFUL baby.

2007- We went with my family for a 2 week vacation to Thailand and had so much fun. The week leading up to the trip I decided I was fine to not go if it meant I wouldn't have to leave Emma. However, once we got there I hardly even missed her and enjoyed every moment. The picture below is one of my favorite activities that we did. We swam into this remote island where monkeys live and they greet you at the shore to feed them. Ryan missed the instructions on how to carefully interact with them, since they are wild, and so he thought it would be fun to touch their tail. However the monkey totally freaked out and tried to bite him and luckily he had his flipper to defend himself. That's me in the background yelling at him for not listening to the instructor and putting us all at risk. We made it off the island safe and sound and it made for a funny story.

2008- We are so happy with our little family and just so excited for the new little baby we've been waiting for. I love to have adventures and spend time with our families, but my most favorite memories are.....

*reading in bed together

*family prayers (especially when Emma says them)

*picnics at the parkway

*day and night hikes

*trips to the zoo

*recreating my childhood traditions

*dinner group

*date nights

*staying up late with a bowl of popcorn and orange julius

*going to Portland every summer

*car rides together, the longer the better

"Marriage hath in it less of beauty but more of safety, than the single life; it hath more care, but less danger, it is more merry, and more sad; it is fuller of sorrows, and fuller of joys; it lies under more burdens, but it is supported by all the strengths of love and charity, and those burdens are delightful."

Touched

I just want to tell all of my friends and family thank you so much for your congratulations on our baby and for my birthday wishes. Sometimes I get so sick of blogging, but it's such a nice way to stay in touch with people and your words and sentiments really just mean so much to me. Thank you again for all of your comments, it just means so much to my heart.

Well it's about time!!

Today Ryan and I went in for my nine week appointment to see the baby's heart beat and make sure there was only ONE heart beat. It took us having to take the drug clomid to finally get pregnant and there was a small risk that it could result in multiples. I went back and forth with wanting twins or not but the last few days I was having major anxiety and just wanted one baby. I think it would be so cute to have a little extra Emma running around, but it would take extreme patience, and anyone who knows me well knows that "patience" is not my strong point. This picture above is of us waiting (for 2.5 hours) to get in to see the Dr.


Emma is so excited to have a baby. She thinks she has a baby in her tummy too. I let her play along, it's only fair since her world is about to get rocked.

Finally today we had a wave of relief come over us as we saw that there is just one baby in my belly. We will find out what kind of baby it is in January, but for now we're just happy that there is a little heart beat and our family is continuing to grow. I'm due June 26th and I feel fantastic considering what most women go through. I have a nap almost every day and my eating habits are the best they've ever been. I'm so thankful to finally be pregnant, and I'm so thankful it's just the one baby :)

Visit From Julie

Texas Roadhouse

Glow-in-the-dark Mini Golf

So the tickets for The Christmas Program of the Spoken Word are long gone. That goal won't be completed. So when Julie came to visit my mom kept Emma for us and we went down to Salt Lake to catch the Spoken Word. I'm glad we went because I am counting it as completing one of my goals, but I have to admit it's not as fun when you don't know the songs they're singing. But in light of all the hits the church and it's members are taking it was nice to be on Temple Square again and sit in the Tabernacle and just think of the early Pioneers and what we have learned from them and what we still can learn from them. In the below picture we all look really sleepy, the Spoken Word requires some early preparation to make it there on time. I, however, look kind of like a deer in the head lights.

My sister-in-law Julie flew down from Portland this last weekend to stay with us. It just means so much when family or friends take a special trip just to see us. I miss those days when I used to go see my sister Stacey. Anyway we had a really fun packed weekend. I didn't take a ton of pictures but our activities included....

Shopping and lunch at the Gateway, just Julie and I :)

Rock Band

Gym Classes

Hot tubbing

Brunch at Market Street Grill

Naps

Glow in the dark mini golf

Nachos Dolce at Javier's

Popcorn and movies

Real Deals

Texas Roadhouse

Shopping in Ogden, again just Julie and I :)

and my favorite was staying up late laying in our bed just talking

I'm so glad you came Julie, thanks for the special trip out to see us!

Trick or Treat

Allyson, Emma, and Emme


Emmeline and Emma are 1 year and 4 months apart. Within the last year the age gap has really started to close.



Ally was just happy to tag along. This picture is a little blurry of her but I just think she is so stinkin' cute.

For Halloween we drove down to Draper to stay with our friends the Johnsons. Darren and Bundy have been childhood friends since they were one. We've been lucky enough to have kids about the same time who happen to be great friends as well. Tracy made us a yummy dinner and then we all went out together to take the kids door to door. It rained off and on but for the most part it was warm outside and very pleasant. The girls had so much fun together and we let them each have one candy before going to bed. Emma and Emma slept in the same room together and kept the talking to a minimum before falling asleep. In the morning we hung out and then went to Ikea for lunch, which was a fun change for our Saturday activities. Thanks again for having us out guys!! It really was so much fun!