Thursday, July 28, 2016

A Walk Down Memory Lane - Chapter 12

And now we are to year #9 of marriage.  It's amazing how quickly time passes isn't it?  I look back even a year ago and so much has happened in a year that I didn't think we did very much. The kids have grown, our marriage has grown.  It's a good time in our lives. 

We kicked off the year with Eli's half birthday! 


Then got right into Gotcha Day #5! 


We also headed off to a very fun week away with the kids to Eagle Crest! This felt like our first real family vacation and we had such a blast with the kids relaxing and playing! 



The boys continued to learn new skills at Taekwondo and were getting pretty darn good! 


Adorable dates were still happening! 


Another busy year of soccer began! 



And then another big change happened.  Peter accepted a different job, still in International Tax but still quite a bit different than what he had been doing. He would be able to take on more responsibility but with about 15-20 less hours of work per week!  

To celebrate Peter and I took off to Hood River for a weekend to relax and enjoy. The area is so gorgeous in the fall and we of course had a wonderful time just the two of us as we do any time we have the opportunity! 






We came home to celebrate two more half birthdays! 

 

And soon we were off to a very wet and rainy Halloween with our clan!  We still had fun even if we were soaked! 



And just for fun we decided to enter the boys into a quick race.  Malachi finished 2nd and Eli being  years younger than most of the kids finished in 4th! 


And then we were off to a very cool family vacation in Disneyland (without LB unfortunately, we've learned 18 months is a tough age for Disneyland fun). This was an awesome Christmas trip and the kids were at a really fun age!  We also won an amazing prize for the day as we were escorted around by our very own VIP tour guide. A day that will never be forgotten! 





Almost 11 years later at the proposal spot!  9.5 years of marriage, Malachi 5, Eli 4, Bina 3! 



As if December wasn't proving to be busy enough, we came home to celebrate another big family milestone with Peter's brother getting married in Seattle right before Christmas!  My boys were so handsome! 






And then it was Christmas! 




The new year still kept us busy as Malachi was in the midst of his first basketball season! 




We also got another good snow which was a blast for the kids! 


And then we took a weekend away to the beach with my family and the kids to have some fun! 





LB turned 18 months! 



Eli celebrated his 5th birthday! 


We had a fun valentines day as a family




And then Peter whisked me away to Whistler for a really wonderful 30th Birthday celebration!  I was so spoiled!




We knocked one off the bucket list when I was able to go ziplining



The boys did swim lessons through most of the winter and spring and made some wonderful progress



Malachi celebrated his 6th birthday 


and two days later Sabrina turned 4! 


Easter was special with these cuties! 


Malachi lost 2 teeth, another new milestone!



And then he hurried up and finished Kindergarten too! 



We had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day with our crew! I am so blessed to have each and every one of these kiddo's! 


And then I was able to take off and travel with Peter on a business trip, not only to New Orleans but also to a lot of the surrounding area as I visited my friend Megan! 







We came home to some sweeties finishing up their Awana year! 


And celebrated Father's Day! 




soon after it was 4th of July 



And we started another year of school!


Peter celebrated his 30th Birthday 




                                                      And our precious baby girl turned 2



And there you have it.  Our life in a nutshell.  It may not be the most exciting thing ever but it is our life and brings us great joy!  I am so thankful to have this husband and these children.  Everything I have ever wanted for my life has come true.  We are in a pretty calm phase right now with nothing too exciting on the horizon for possibly the first time ever in our marriage and that is okay.  I feel like as we enter our 2nd decade of marriage, we are settled. We've worked so hard to get Peter through college and then build his career, and then moving to bigger and bigger houses, and building our family.  Now we don't seem to need to work so hard at those things and we can just settle in for the ride and enjoy all the wonderful gifts we've been given.  It all feels so different to not have something new on the horizon.  But it is good.

As I look ahead and dream about this next decade, I see us enjoying this sweet family of ours.  Watching the kids grow and change as they enjoy their activities and sports and talents.  They will grow into kids, then tweens, and teens.  Will we add more children to our home?  That remains to be seen I guess. I see Peter continuing to advance his career and excel at it because he's very good at what he does.  I see us gaining even more financial freedom as we work towards the goals we started over 6 years ago.  I see us taking some amazing trips around the world and continuing to enjoy our marriage to the fullest! I know even in the great joy coming our way that there will be hard times that we will face together too.  But I know no matter what we face, we will face it hand in hand together.  Life isn't always easy but it has been a joy to have the partner I do walk through these moments of immense joy and sometimes deep sadness together.

So much of walking down that altar together was a leap of faith. But I truly believe with my whole heart now that there is nothing we could face that we couldn't get through together.  We are a strong, united front. We've faced enough together over these 10 years to have more than just faith at this point, we know we've got each others backs no matter what!  And it is a wonderful feeling to be loved on such a deep level.  I can honestly say we are in a better place today in our marriage than we have ever been before.   I couldn't imagine being any happier as a couple than we were on our wedding day, and yet here I stand 10 years later so much happier and with a more mature love than we had 10 years ago. I can only imagine how our relationship will grow and evolve over these next 10 years and over the rest of our lifetime together for that matter. It has been an amazing journey so far, and one I look forward to continuing for years and years to come!

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