On November 23rd, Ryan and I have been married for 5 years. Wow! I can't believe it has only been 5 years- it seems like we have been married so much longer than that. I don't mean this in a derogatory way...I just mean that so much has happened in our short five years of marriage and it makes it seem like much longer.
Due to the fact that we had just gotten home from a very long...very expensive trip to Disneyland, Ryan and I were unable to anything to extravagant for this very special occasion. We did however, order in Osaka (I have MANY very special memories with Ryan there :)) and we ate it after the kids were in bed by a fire in the fire place while we watched a good movie! It was nothing much but it was wonderful :) I just love being married to my best friend and getting to hang out with him all the time.
Here's the story of how it all began!! Please bear with me...it is long. I am reminiscing about this for myself but I hope you might get some entertainment from it as well (if you make through it :))
Ryan and I have been friends since High school. I remember him being super funny, care-free, adventurous, a little crazy...yet a secret genius! He was one of the coolest guys ever! However, I didn't start to really notice him as a potential boyfriend until I went through the inevitable high school heart breaks and some unexpected trials. Throughout all this, he was there for me right when I needed him and somehow made everything feel so much better with his light hearted attitude and his wonderful sense of humor.
We started dating our Senior year. Ryan was the BEST boyfriend ever. We were having unexpected adventures, going on beautiful hikes I never knew existed, and doing new things all the time. And most importantly, he made me feel more special than any guy EVER had. I really appreciated this about him. We spent the funnest summer I have ever had together after our Senior year and went to one semester at BYU together before he left for a mission.
Thus commenced a very hard two years of dating many other people who just never seemed to be able to measure up to Ryan. He was the most dedicated and wonderful missionary I had ever seen and he made me want to be a better person even from so far away. That is why when the time came for Ryan to FINALLY come home (after an extension), I was so nervous and excited all at the same time to see him again.
Our first meeting after he came home was terribly awkward! Both of us doubted the chances of anything serious developing. However, after several more awkward meetings with all of his friends we finally had a chance to go on a real date...just the two of us. This is where the old feelings started to return for me (and him too...I think). He was the same old Ryan that I loved just more mature- an unexpected bonus. This maturity, however, led Ryan to immediately take a job selling satellite dishes in Nevada for the summer to save up money for any future we had envisioned together. This meant more time apart.
I had become VERY close to another guy while Ryan was on his mission and my WORST fears became a reality. I had to chose between them. It is quite obvious which choice I made, however, I had to break the heart of the person who had been my BEST FRIEND while Ryan was away and this was literally the hardest thing I had ever had to do. Even more, this made the time while Ryan was away very difficult for me and as a result...Ryan was miserable, too. I wasn't the most happy, supportive girlfriend while he was away working so hard.
I am very grateful that Ryan is such a patient person, because even though I was so raunchy and unsupportive most of the time, somehow we managed to still get engaged. On one of Ryan's visits home from Nevada, we were hanging out like any other day except this time, he was taking me to many of our favorite spots where we had wonderful memories. Than later on that evening Ryan took me up Provo canyon to our favorite spot, a bench swing next to a friends cabin. While there, we had Earnie's subs (another kind of tradition of ours) and chocolate covered strawberries. He played the guitar and sang my favorite Jimmy Eat World song and asked me to marry him. After I said yes, he gave me 6 DOZEN roses and my beautiful ring!! It was such a wonderful night :).
A few days later, However, he went back to Nevada, to work. We had a rough engagement due to that fact that Ryan was gone through most of it. To be honest, we argued alot...probably most of the time. And I think both of us had our doubts as to whether or not marriage was actually going to happen. By some miracle, we saw it through to the end and we had a beautiful Fall reception on Novemer 22nd at the Bungalow and a wonderful sealing in the Salt Lake Temple on November 23rd. I am so glad I married Ryan and we made it through those mysterious rough patches. It seemed like after we were married all the contention and arguing stopped and we were so happy together...and a GREAT team, if I do say so myself :)
The rest as they say is history...and that is when all the real adventures began :) But those are different stories for different times.
Happy Anniversary Ry (even though this is late)! Thank you for being the most patient, kind, dedicated, hard working, fun-loving husband and father ever!! I couldn't ask for a better husband or a better father for our kids. I can't wait for the many adventures that await us in the MANY MANY MANY more years we can spend together :) Love ya!
Daddy liked it, too :)
Later on, each of the kids got to open a present. Of course, it was new jammies! Beckham got "Cars" jammies and Jane naturally got princess ones!
The evening of Christmas Eve, my whole family came over for a party and our traditional "Shepherd's dinner". Almost everyone was here this year which was fun! Bryan and Wendy came from Cali and Jared and Heather were here for Christmas for the first time in a long time. We missed Matthew and Courtney, but we had a blast :) Here are Braden, Ashton and Jane making reindeer horns...
...and here is the finished product. They were all very creative and they turned out so cute!
And of course, here is the magnificent spread of food for our "Shepherd's dinner" which gets larger and better and coincidentally less Shepherd's dinner-ish every year! It is delicious and fun though:)
Everyone enjoyed the food a lot...the company wasn't that bad either :) I have cherished this Christmas Eve tradition for many years and am so honored to be able to host it these passed few years!!
Wendy got to open a special gift from Beckham this Christmas Eve. A month ago, when Bryan and Wendy hosted us at their house in California, Beckham managed to find a hand made doggie bowl that belonged to their darling dog, "Bernie" and BROKE it...I was horrified. So, I made a replacement for them at Color Me Mine.
Hopefully Bernie likes it :)
Here's Mae being a little sweetie to Beckham even though he bit her so hard it nearly broke the skin...again, I was horrified. She's a good sport, and such a doll!!
Once all the Christmas Eve fun died down and everyone went home. Jane and daddy set out some cookies and milk for Santa and spread our magical reindeer dust outside to ensure that Santa would visit our house that night :)
I worked cause the next morning, Santa had come and left our kids some wonderful surprises. We are very blessed!! Beckham's favorite was by far his awesome rideable dump truck!!
Here's Jane opening her stocking!!
She got all things princess this Christmas :)
Jane's favorite was most definitely her Belle dress :)
After Christmas morning at our house, we went to my mom's house. Here's all the kids trying out their new pillow pets from my mom!
It was here that i got to hold my darling newest nephew, Jack. It was so much fun, I didn't want to let him go :) He is such an angel!
The next stop was at Ryan's parents' house where we enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner. Ryan's mom is so amazing! Here is Beckham playing with the potpourri rather than his presents...crazy boy!
The night ended off with a visit to my dad's house!! Jane, Braden and Ashton were reunited and had a great time playing!!
Poor Ryan slept the whole time. Honestly, Ryan spent most of the day like this. We found out after Christmas that the poor guy had Bronchitis for the passed two weeks. No wonder he was so tired!
Well, another WONDERFUL Christmas has come and gone too fast!! But I am looking forward to a new year filled with more amazing memories and adventures!!
