Eight is GREAT

Ok, first!!  Look at that picture, It just looks old.  It's only been 8 years!!  But, in our defense, this was right before the digital boom.  Maybe some photographers were digital, but ours weren't!  UGH, if I could only go back...well, I'd pretty much change everything about that day, not just the photographer.  Of course, I'd keep the groom, but I would change my dress, my hair, my makeup, my veil, and my shoes.  I loved my cake and flowers and the church was beautiful!!  I wanted to be "me" on my wedding day, but sometimes I wish I "overdid" it. I mean, it's only one day in your life. I wish I would have had lot's of make-up, false eye lashes, funky shoes, something special with my hair. and I would have spent a LOT longer on the dress hunt.  I was never one of those girls that dreamed about her wedding day.  But I've dreamed of redoing it for years.  HAHAHA!  So funny how much we change over the years, well, in some ways anyway! :)  I guess my brain was so full of love mush to really care.  But, the reception was BEAUTIFUL!!  That's all thanks to my great friends that helped make it magical.  They really outdid themselves and Katherine Shores, she ran the show!  I am thankful to all of them!!

Anyway, last night Wade and I celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary!!  Yup, you can tell we're eight years in as we ate dinner with the family, put the girls into bed an hour early, cozied up with sparkling cherry juice (a little different, but yummy) and Hershey's kisses, and caught up on the latest episodes of House.  We did at least make a toast and sweet Wade brought flowers home for me, but that's the extent of it.  We talked and laughed at the 8 years gone by and how were just that old boring married couple.

Far from the lavish exotic Caribbean getaway that we swear one day we're gonna have, far from the diamond ring I know I'm eventually just gonna have to buy myself and show him what he bought me (he, he).  But, I must say, there's a certain peace that comes along with being that boring married couple.  Knowing that we are "GOOD"  heck, I think we're "GREAT"!!  We've had our ups and down.  I find him incredibly frustrating at times, but he always find me to be perfect.  HAHA, yeah right! :)  If you're married, you know...It can really be challenging at times, but right now in our 8th year, I feel like we're a well greased machine.  We work well with one another and have also learned to be very forgiving of one another!!  I'm sure there are hard times ahead, but right now, we're "GOOD"!! :)

And don't worry,  we're gonna celebrate a little more appropriately this weekend, but tonight it was low key and I LOVED it! :)

 This is a pic of our first dance!!  Home by Chantal Kreviazuk.  I still love that song.  It is still exactly how I feel about Wade.  We didn't know each other very long before we were married, but he instantly felt like "HOME" and still does!!

 One more thing I wanted to share on this blog post.  A good friend of Wade's came to the wedding and gave a toast.  I had never met Jonathan or his wife, but we instantly became friends.  In fact,the men and the kids just had a camping trip together this past summer and Jonathan and I celebrated our birthday together (with our families, of course, lol) in Sept.  It's AWESOME living closer to them.  They are awesome people and I'm so happy I married into that friendship! :)

Anyway, I wanted to share that toast, b/c It was AMAZING! Somehow a toast that was mostly about Wade made me feel like the most special woman in the world.  I couldn't' believe the amazing man I just married.  I was LUCKY!

 Thanks Jonathan for your special words.  I've kept them all these years!!

Here it is:

"We find so much to be wrong with the world today.  God didn't intend it to be like this...I don't think anybody did.  We find so much about it to be disheartening.  And that's why when we find something special, it's like a breath of fresh air.  I'm not here to talk about all the wrong. You could turn on the news and get that.  I'm here to talk about what's good and right in the world; Wade and Nicole!  Wade and I were roommates during one of the toughest years of our lives.  It's those tough times that you see the true measure of a person; and Wade is a giant.  This man goes beyond following dreams, he leads them.  He spent 3 years serving his country as an enlisted member and then decided he wanted more...more opportunity for the rest of his life...he never settled for less than his best.  And that where we met and became brothers, at the Air Force Academy.  There's nothing that could have stopped Wade from completing that goal and moving on to the next.


He created himself an ideal life and he did that with Nicole in mind (and I'll get back to that in a second).  See, Wade was not your typical guy.  He knew someone special would come along.  He went through those years not chasing women like many guys did in college, he was a true gentleman.  He knew there was no reason to chase.  Why chase the wrong thing when he knew God would lead him to the right one?  And that's where we end up...today...the right thing, Wade and Nicole, a breath of fresh air. 


That ideal world that Wade created for Nicole was paved before he ever knew her name.  He knew his dream girl was out there.  He knew his princess would arrive.  And now, Wade's dreams are Nicole's, and Nicole's, Wade's.  May they have a long lives not only for the simple reason that they can spend many long years being God's example to what this world should be, just as my beautiful wife and I plan to do, but because the world needs people like Wade and Nicole.


To what's honest, true, and right about this world...Wade and Nicole"

Seriously, my jaw was dropping.  I'd never met him and he said something beautful like that. It was a great way to start our life together! :)

Happy EIGHT years to us!! :)