8th Anniversary Today!!

Today is our 8th Anniversary! It is hard to believe that we have actually been married that long. As I think back over our 8 years of marriage, I have thought about our many experiences together.

The picture above was from our trip to Florida last year - just the two of us for almost a whole week. It was a lot of fun to have time by ourselves (though, we must admit that we did think about the kids quite a bit). Below are a few other pictures from that trip to Florida.

On that trip we went on a segway tour, ate at the Beech Street Grill (which had the yummiest food ever) and spent time in the ocean.

As I think about our years of marriage, I cannot help but think how grateful I am for Melissa and the great job she does as a mother to our children. I am also very grateful that our kids got her good looks. She understands them in a way that only a mother can.

Melissa hates being photographed, but I think she looks great in all of her pictures (even if she was not looking). Below she is getting ready to roll eggs on Easter with her family. We have enjoyed spending Sunday evenings with one or both of our families. We are pretty lucky to have such great parents who sacrifice so much for us.

We have started a few traditions in our marriage (or at least tried to start some) and one of those is the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Melissa loves tulips, so I figured I had better at least display one picture from our last trip to the Tulip Festival. Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed being there and seeing all of the tulips and other flowers.

I don't have all of our pictures with me right now, but I wanted to go down memory lane and share some of the experiences we have had in our first eight years of marriage (with many more to come).

• First apartment on campus at the University of Utah married student housing: 350 square feet surrounded by cinder block walls. No air conditioner, no dishwasher (a few scars on my hand as proof - when a glass broke in my hand), no carpet, a tiny TV, a tiny bathroom (with the falling out of the shower experience), and our first kiss in that apartment in the bathroom (sorry sweetie).


• Caden - a great surprise: Caden came as a surprise to both of us, but we have loved having him in our lives. He was a big chunk from day one and our Bishop thought he would play football at the U (luckily, he started crawling and walking and stopped gaining weight). He spit up over all of our clothes (some of which I think are still stained). I stopped wearing suits to church when he was a baby because I was tired of having them ruined. After Caden was born Melissa somehow managed to work and go to school. She is amazing.


• Graduation: I graduated in Accounting from the University of Phoenix and Melissa graduated with her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Utah. People ask us how we were able to do this and my response has typically been, "we didn't have a lot of time together, but we knew that it would be worth it." Now that we are both finished with school (at least for now) and making money for a change, it was worth it.


• Vacations: Disneyland with her family, Denmark at the last minute (sorry Melissa I didn't let you see all the sights you wanted to see), Homestead Resort (horseback riding), Park City, St. George (Tuacahn theatre), Zions National Park, Philadelphia, Florida (x 2), Denver, and many more to come.

I could go on forever about our many experiences. Happy anniversay Melissa. I look forward to many more years to come. I would be lying if I said that these past eight years have been perfect, but I do feel that I know you much better now than I did before and I love you more now than ever before. Thanks for your patience with me (that is the real reason we have made it this far).

Our journey together is just beginning. . .