I was reminiscing through wedding pictures and stopped at this one. Here we are, just little babies at 19 and 22 years old, lost in our own little world that we had just started. Unsure of what the future might hold or where life would take us, but knowing that if we had each other we'd be able to conquer anything and everything.
And here we are now, 7 years later and look at this life we have created.
And below is that same look so many years later. How grateful I am for this life-for our spunky 3 year old, sweet 18 month-old, and this new little baby of 32 weeks. This look has so much more love and meaning in it.
Adding another page to our marriage journal and it is crazy how quickly this little journal is filling up!
It's been a while since I've posted the update of our marriage journal. Along with the pregnancy, and baby journals, I've loved making these along the way.
I'm a big believer in journals. Even though I am far from perfect about writing in mine, I like to find creative ways to document our lives from big to small. This is part of why I blog.
President Henry B Eyring gave a talk years ago that has always hit home with me. The talk is titled "O Remember, Remember" and in it he tells of a story where he returns home late one evening to find his father-in-law rushing out the door after helping his family and hears in his mind very clearly the words, "I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down."
He goes on to explain that we are to make a record (a journal of some sort) for our children to read and see how Heavenly Father blesses each and every one of our lives daily. Since this talk given 9 years ago now I have tried harder to keep a record of our lives and our blessings.
I kept a pregnancy journal for both Lydia and Adeline. And a baby journal for Lydia and have started Adeline's. Having one for our marriage is special to me as well, especially as we look back to see how much we have changed and matured!
I'm not one to sugarcoat my life.. and truth be told marriage is hard... amazing and worth it, but hard. Year 5 has been a rough year with so many changes and with residency kicking us in the face but I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to have memories to reflect on as well as a journal of all of the great moments to drown out the hard ones of this year. I'm grateful.
And that feeling of gratitude is what I'm going to choose to focus on.
And I could probably go on and on and on with all the things we have done in the last 4 years but this list is a fun flashback for me to glimpse through. Though the events of my life haven't gone the way I had dreamed or planned-I am happy with where we are right now, 4 years later-living in Chicago, in our 3rd year of Medical School, and holding my baby girl. Time has been good to us and helped us to grow, learn, and gain a stronger testimony of our Savior and God's plan for us. We are happy and we love right now.
Adding more to our Marriage Journal is always fun for me-especially to talk about the next part of our lives. Here are my latest entries. I love to look back through these, even just at the pictures and be reminded of our adventures together. We have many many more to come and that excites me even more.
Our marriage was born! It is hard to believe it has been that long.. all my friends were heading off on missions and I remember thinking "When they get back, I'll have been married for two years!" I couldn't believe it then, and now, it's been two years, they are back from their missions and I still can't believe it. Marriage is so fun. I love being married to this man. This journey that we are on is a beautiful one, I can feel it and I see it in my everyday life. My life is a collection of love. I know that I am the person I am today because of the love that I have felt, experienced, and given.
Last year's anniversary is HERE (With previous pics in the marriage journal) then we took our anniversary trip HERE!
"Forever is composed of nows" -Emily Dickinson. We are enjoying and loving our "nows!"
Well, we made it! Our marriage turned one today! I love thinking back to a year ago and how I felt waking up the morning of March 5, 2011 and thinking to myself, "It's here.. It is actually here! I am getting married T.O.D.A.Y!" This morning I woke up with the thought, "I have woken up every morning next to Brian for 365 days... wow"
I have started to do little journal entries for our marriage starting with day one, 6 months, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, etc.. I plan on making a big book with everything in it eventually, but we'll see how it all goes!
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I made a movie for Brian of our first year together. I wanted to put all the memories, people, and events that I had pictures or videos of and put it all together for Brian and I to watch together. I am so excited to show him!
To celebrate our 1 year anniversary we decided that for spring break we are going to go on a temple trip and hit all the temples in Utah. We have been wanting to do this temple trip for a long time, so last Christmas I got Brian and I a temple passport with all 13 temples in it. We knew that the Ogden temple would be going under reconstruction and so when I received my endowments there, we both wrote that down as our first experience. I can't believe how blessed we are to have 12 operating temples and 3 more on their way, Ogden, Brigham, and Pason! It will be an exciting experience!
My heart is truly full today, of love for my husband and for our little family. He is such a blessing in my life and I cherish his love! Thank you Brian for making our first year so special! I love you!
