Happy Anniversary!

We made it to lucky number seven! Not that it was hard to do.

I had fun going through some of our photos together from the past year. Once again it was another year with an over all theme of "new baby." Last anniversary I was pregnant and I feel like that's all I was until the holidays when we had baby Rose and since then it's just been the chaos of life with three kids!

Oregon Coast

But somehow we managed to have some fun dates and travel a little bit. We started building our new home. (By "started" I mean we designed it and made plans, got a lot, a builder, permits, loans. Still no hole dug however...Maybe one day.) We had way more late nights than we should have because that's the only way we have any time together.

Cooking Class Date

Sushi making class date

Going from zero kids to one kid was by far the hardest transition for me but going from two to three has been the hardest on the family and marriage. Not that we're having problems but we are both so tired and drained and we never really get to talk or see each other. When they say that kids are a "big responsibility" that is no exaggeration, people. And while I do love "the mom life," lately, I mostly just miss Buck. This past year has been a whirlwind. 

Potato heads for Halloween

But then again, I can't complain. Seeing Buck hold his baby girls for the first time will always be some of the best days of my life. And we got to have another one of those days this year so I'm still feeling pretty lucky.

Day before have Rose

Right after giving birth to Rose

The best photo from the year

But perhaps you're seeing a theme here. I'm mostly talking about kids and babies and not marriage stuff. Like I said, we're pretty consumed at the moment with the family thing. And I'm probably feeling a little more surrounded at the moment because they all came on our anniversary getaway with us this year.....

Newborn photos by Adrian

Photo by Adrian

So okay, okay. Marriage. Wedding day. Anniversary. Okay. I'm in the zone. 

All the way leading up to our wedding day I was terrified and more unsure about life than ever before. But the second after we were officially married something inside my heart relaxed in a way I can't describe. Kind of like that feeling of being on some long lost journey over ice capped mountains and rugged desert terrain, forging rivers and living off bugs and berries. But then, exhausted and weak, getting rescued and carried to safety. Maybe you pass out, then when you regain consciousnesses, you see that you're back and your heart fills with "I'm home." I think that's how it felt. (and yes that was a very dramatic analogy to describe my dating life before marriage but it was also rather appropriate haha.)

At the ice castles

Oregon coast

Oregon coast

And every day since then it has only gotten better and better. You guys! I don't even know how it's possible but it is! And Buck is a ROCK, man. He is so sturdy and strong for me when I am weak and unsure. As the years go we learn more and more how different we are and how those differences seem to fantastically balance and compliment each other. He's totally the ying to my yang.

Monthly temple dates

And now, (don't kill me Buck) I want to share something from a letter Buck wrote to me last month (because sometimes we still write love letters.) It just says everything so much more perfectly than what I've been rambling on about here. So here goes:

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"There is something between us that I cannot explain. I cannot comprehend. It is something eternal, celestial, something that has existed before either of us I feel, and something that will last throughout it all. And as I feel that more and more, and as I lean on that thought, my frustrations, stresses, opinions, and angst all vanish. The world vanishes, time is meaningless, and there is only 

you and me

briefly

Then the gaggle of girls and two frenemy cats and the houses and the works and the non profits and all the things seep back in. 

But in that moment, I saw what it will be like when are work here is done. 

And it was good."

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Happy Anniversary, Buck. 

I love you most.