Five years ago today....

...I married my high school sweetheart, my best friend and the love of my life. It was a crisp, cool, fall day....still the most beautiful day of my life...despite the rain that fell. Its hard to believe that day was already five years ago. It still seems so vivid in my mind. Still harder to believe is that is has been nearly fifteen years since we first met. Time does indeed pass by much too quickly. And it seems as if it flies by faster the older you get. Much has changed in these past five years. And there is much to be thankful for. God has blessed us in ways we would have never imagined...the greatest of those blessings sleep soundly in their beds upstairs as I type this now. I marvel at it all. My heart swells with thankfulness...for my husband...for my family...for my life. We've had our share of challenges and trials along this road, but nothing that didn't strengthen us and our marriage more in the end.

I wanted to have something special to rekindle the memories of our years together, so as I do with most things, I turned to my pictures. They really are the only things left of times past, and as I poured through them this week, it became ever more apparent to me how precious all those snapshots and photographs are to me. I am so very thankful to have my pictures! There have been several times in the past where Ty has teased me and occasionally rolled his eyes at me for being such a photo-fanatic (and yes...sometimes I CAN go overboard), but looking back through the catalog of our photographs this week only strengthened my resolve to never stop snapping pictures of our lives. There were many, many things I would have forgotten had I not had a picture to remind me! And to see how we change and how our children grow....well....its just incredible. So.................all that to say that I put together another few montages to celebrate today. The first is the same one we showed at our wedding reception, and the second is something I made for Ty. I'll share it with you though too...because that's just how I am! :) Without further ado........

Part I


And Part II

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thanks for sticking around to watch both of those! :) As for how we will celebrate....today we will just spend the afternoon together as a family, probably just hanging out and enjoying each other's company. And tomorrow, in lue of our annual minimoon, Ty is taking me to a fancy-shmancy dinner at the Marriot in Palm Springs. A steak and seafood place. They even have romantic gondolla rides! :) Should be wonderful. I'm mostly just looking forward to some time alone with him. I just miss him so much these days...even though I see him every day, its not always the quality time we would like to have. Between kids and work and life....the 'he and I' part of things sometimes and unintentionally takes a backseat. We've purposed in our marriage to always make time for 'us' no matter what the circumstances and to go on dates whenever possible. We feel that is probably the single most important thing we can do for our family....to take care of the 'us' so that 'we' remains strong, secure and vibrant. But with the new baby and all, date nights and time alone have been mimimal. Just really looking forward to Saturday...it means a lot.

Annnyway.......

I feel like I am rambling. And I most likely am. :) Guess I'll be going for now. Again, thanks for sticking around to read! :) Happy 5 years to us! :)