Our 7th Anniversary

Our anniversary day had the most perfect weather! After Carson had finished work for the day, we decided to sit by Lake Aa and enjoy the sunlight. 

We'd picked up this Bacchus from the Juliusspital in Würzburg over the weekend and enjoyed it as part of our little picnic while watching the ducks

 Later, we changed into slightly nicer clothes and decided to walk into the Altstadt for dinner. 

We were going to walk and find something for dinner, but ended up spying Lazzaretti and deciding to have dessert before dinner. We chose something else when we first glanced at the menu, but saw someone else order this and it looked good so we shared one too.

After deciding we didn't really know what we wanted for dinner, we decided to just pick something up on the way home. Now that it gets dark so much later (9:30pm), it doesn't feel like it's dinnertime just yet so most places were closing. Carson picked up some pasta and a calzone for dinner and we enjoyed it on the couch with comfy clothes!

We decided to go off our usual traditional anniversary gifts this year - they would typically be copper and wool - and Carson got me Birkenstocks (the buckles are a copper color) and he got some Toms to replace his long-loved and very work tennis shoes (they are gray which is a color I associate with wool soooo... maybe they still count?!). 

Five.

Well, we turned five today.

Five years ago, we were hoping the rain would hold off (it rained an hour before the ceremony, delaying it... but then the sun came out). We were saying our vows and nervously standing in front of a crowd of people. We were laughing, dancing, stuffing cake in each other's faces. We were promising things we knew we didn't understand, talking about a life we knew nothing about.

As you say the words "in good health and bad" you don't know if that's going to mean colds or cancer. "For better or for worse" might mean long years of grief, or great happiness and blessing. You don't know if "for richer or poorer" means penthouse or poorhouse. What might "loving and cherishing" look like if something happens to one of you? You don't even know if "as long as we both shall live" will be 75 years or if something will happen to one of you much sooner.

When you get married, or really when you do anything new, it's sort of like signing on to jump out of an airplane. You sign the wavers, make the promises, get in the plane, and then just sort of go for it. I know that's probably a horrible comparison, but my point is that when you get married, you can't predict the future. You know the person you're marrying, know enough about them to decide that it's a good idea, but there's a lot of "leap of faith" involved.

If five years ago I had been given a glimpse of my life today, I think I would be surprised.

We've had four different addresses, have changed time zones three times, have a total of three degrees between us, with two more in the works, have had two cars (both Civics). We've changed in our opinions about TV, about the Church, about education, about grief, about activity. We have friends on every continent, in every US time zone, have church families that we love and miss and wish could maybe all move wherever we go. We have moved to new places together just the two of us three times (Spokane doesn't count), and learned that it is good to have people in our lives more than just the two of us (guess we won't be moving to an isolated cabin in the mountains anytime soon).

We have agreed to disagree about cats, licorice flavored ice cream, toppings on pizza, the idea of playing board games, and which is the correct way to install toilet paper. We have discovered that grocery shopping together is much better than not (accountability), that a walk in the evening is a great way to unwind, that we don't have to go out on "date night", that we can complete projects together without anyone committing murder, that cleaning the house together is more efficient, and that having a day off each week as "our day" is pretty important.

It really does seem that five years is both much longer than it seems while also feeling like we just got married a month ago. We've both changed and grown, and naturally our relationship has too. At just five more years down the road, I'm sure we'll have morphed into different people again, and I can't imagine what 50 years from now will look like. 

Here's to many decades more!

Today is our Anniversary

We've been married four years today! I keep wanting to say it's longer because it feels like we've done a lot in just four years. On the other hand... that was four years ago? How did that happen? 

Life hasn't been crazy but it has been quite the adventure for us in the last four years. In a month we'll have moved four times in four years (three different states) so that's something. We've learned that despite the fact that we move around a decent amount, we aren't that adventurous. We've learned that we are both really cheap, particularly when it comes to food. We've learned that walking around the mall on a Friday night and just browsing stores and talking is one of our favorite things (especially when it's cold). 

And just like that, we sound like we're ninety years old. 

Happy fourth anniversary, Carson! I love you!

Old Sheldon Church

I've been writing about our story here and there recently and haven't gotten to this part in the installment, but here's a spoiler alert: we got engaged four years ago.

When I tell people that it was at an old church ruin, I'm not entirely sure what crosses their mind, but unless they're from Beaufort, they don't seem to understand that it was HERE.
This is one of the most beautiful places to visit in my hometown. In fact, the reason that Carson proposed there is because it's a place I talked about when I was telling him about where I was from. He thought that it was so special to me that he might as well give me a reason to consider it really special. 

While we were in Beaufort, I bribed Jillian into taking pictures for us there. Well, actually I didn't bribe her, but I did ask, and plus, she's been our official photographer once before (I just looked for those pictures and realized I didn't post them, which is a shame because I love them so much - they were taken in an apple orchard in Spokane). She agreed and took WAY more pictures than the... I don't know, three? that I'd imagined. I love so many of them so now you get to love them too... and in case you're wondering, yes I do feel a little like a crazy person posting a million pictures of us here... but I'm used to it at this point and you likely are too. 

We arrived here and there were no people - score! But moments after I snapped the above picture, two families taking what looked like Christmas card photos and one group of high school tourists showed up... so we weren't alone but Jillian was creative.

This is where Carson proposed... well actually it was more in that sunny part, but the light wasn't good, so imagine us two steps to our left.

Behind-the-Scenes

I have no idea how anyone can carry a baby in a car seat. Poor Graceanna nearly bit the dust when I tried. So heavy. 

I just thought this one was funny... we look like we're playing hide and seek.

I think we just weren't supposed to be smiling, but I look angry. Sorry, Carson!

Jillian took more, but I "limited" myself to "just these". Thanks, Jillian!

Four Years Since

We got engaged four years ago today. 

Last week, I had Jillian take our pictures at Old Sheldon Church, where we got engaged. It's funny comparing the four-years-ago us to the four-years-later us. 

I'm not as tan (I lived in South Carolina that summer and went to the beach all the time.), we're not really in the same shape anymore (I was running every day and Carson was a ranger in the Washington wilderness), our hair is longer, we don't look like little kids (or we look like older little kids), and most importantly,

now we're married. 

Can't believe it's been four WHOLE years since this day...

and can't believe it's only been four years.

What an adventure life has taken since then!

Maybe we'll take this picture in four more years and compare the difference :)

 

Christmas Photo Shoot

Last month, we headed out after church to take pictures for our Christmas card. 

We brought our camera, a couple different pairs of shoes, and a box, since we don't have a tripod. 

We went to a nearby park, set the self-timer and snapped away! 

I couldn't decide, plus I had fun designing, so three of these pictures won the right to be on our cards this year :)

This was Carson's idea... fake proposal? This is not our card, but it was too funny not to share.