9 years!

Today marks 9 years of marriage to my favorite guy.  We dated for 6 YEARS!!  So to say we were ready to get married to each other is an understatement.  Today I am so very thankful for those six years.  I feel like the transition to married life was a pretty easy transition.  We were 24 years old.  We share the same moral beliefs and standards.

We had celebrated a ton of holidays together.  We knew each others families so well.  We understood how each other's families worked and traveled.

We understood what made each of us tick.  We knew what each other enjoyed and also didn't enjoy.  We both had graduated college.  We were done with school.  We were both working full time with pretty much the same hours.

Our dating relationship was done in community.  We did very little with just the two of us.  We were either with friends or family all of the time.  We are so blessed with such wonderful friends.  Each friend who stood by our side that day, we still see on a regular basis.

Our wedding day was a perfect day.

I loved becoming one.

After our ceremony, we had a reception out of a movie.

It was incredible.

 We danced the night away and had the best time.

It was quite the party. (Sorry this one is so blurry.  I took a picture of a picture.)

This picture below is my favorite picture of the day.  Every time I see it, I remember how giddy I was and how much excitement and love we felt on that day.  We were finally married!

The day we got married was the first day we lived together.

Now here we are 9 years married.  Blake makes me want to wake up another day together and figuring this life out one step at a time...together.  I absolutely love being married to this guy.

Dear Aubrey

Sweet Aubrey Rose,

Your contagious giggle.

Your adorable smile.

Your silly personality.

The way you love and care for your favorite brother.

You entertain him.

You protect him.

You love on him.

You play with him and chase him around the house and make him giggle almost more than anyone else.

Your are the best big sissy.

God knew you would be the perfect big sissy for Austin.  

He sure is lucky and blessed.

You are like a little mommy when it comes to any baby, 

but especially your little cousins.

Riley lights up when you even come near.

It melts my heart!

 Most days you love going to school.  I say most because it is sometimes tough to get you out the door.  Sometimes you tell me you don't want to go to school because "School is a lot of WORK." I would not consider you to be a morning person.  However, the second you get to school you are so excited to be there.  You are excited to see your teacher and all of your friends.  

We sure love you sweet girl!!

Happy 4th birthday to my favorite little girl!!

Aubrey turns 5! Austin turns 2!

We had fun celebrating Aubrey Rose's 5th and Austin's 2nd birthday.  The party was at Blake's parents house.  If you would like to see more of the party details, click HERE.

Auntie Blair was so great and got a sweet, calm horse for the kiddos to have turns getting horsey rides.  Aubrey Rose loooooved her party.  She said her favorite part was getting the first ride and a special, really long ride from Auntie Blair.

Chelsey was a huge help for me.  Running errands and getting anything and everything done for me.

 LOVE seeing these two together!

The 2 year old birthday boy!

 The 5 year old birthday girl!

 I love holding her hand.  :)

 With Mimi and Big Papa...

An adorable picture with Oma...

 Auntie Blair even had a donkey out there for the children to pet.

They loved it!

 Thanks Auntie Blair for making the party extra fun and for making so many rounds around the track for all the kids to enjoy.  We sure love you!!

Blowing out the candles was a fun memory for me.

 The wind was blowing pretty good and we could not get the candles to light at all.

It didn't help that this little birthday boy kept trying to blow the flame out before we even got one lit.  :)

Sissy didn't like him doing that.  HA!!

 We ended up giving up and the kids blew out on candle together.

That was the best we could do.  :)

 Happy birthday Aubrey Rose and Austin!!!