5 Years

5 years ago on 9/8/7 I married this guy.  This handsome handsome dude.  And it was an awesome day.  Seriously, anytime we bring up our wedding we could talk for hours about it.  It was insane.  One big, HUGE, dance party.  A room filled with our loved ones there to celebrate US.  How freakin awesome.  If I could have predicted all the craziness that has happened in the last 5 years...well I might have just said you are kidding and potentially just stayed on my honeymoon:)

NEVER.  Kidding.  But seriously....I have this book.  That I just love called The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.  I had to read it for Social Work and Family class.  I refer back to it from time to time.  In this book it states that when you have a child you might as well have just dropped a bomb into the relationship.  And seriously, I think that is a fair analogy.

Life BC (before children) was truly awesome with Russell.  It was filled with late nights with friends at bars, backpacking in the Tetons, going on various trips to Boston, New Jersey, Kansas City.  BC time consisted of sleeping in late, napping whenever, and having LOTS and lots OF pets.  We ran a half marathon because we totally had time to train, and run, and run.  We went out to restaurants and talked alot and left without even glancing at the floor to see what mess we might have made.  We WENT to movies.  And we both went to grad school.  BC time consisted of a lot of house improvement projects together.  Life BC was awesome, exciting, a little crazy, and mostly a time where we did whatever we wanted to because we could.


Fast forward a bit.....life AC (after children) with Russell has been so amazing and so stressful and everywhere in between.  We have learned to love each other in ways that we had no clue about BC.  I have seen Russell become this amazing father to his boys.  The time I love the best is in the evening when there is WWF wrestling going on, or maybe afterwards when Aylen and Russell read about Tractors and Trucks.  Or perhaps it's the morning time, like this morning, when Aylen doesn't want to be put down, but would rather be curled on Russell's chest.  Or maybe it is how Russell can cause the most amazing laugh in Ryker.

Life AC has been a doozie.  It has consisted of REALLY late nights and really early mornings rocking children, not many Movies at the theaters, perhaps more moments of snippy comments due to the aforementioned sleep issues, less friend time, more family time, and lots and lots of colds!  Life AC has consisted of less major traveling for both of us, and definitely tipping are wait staff more due to the amazing mess that such little boys can leave.  Life AC consists of Friday Pizza and Movie nights at home, and in general more time at home just BEING perhaps due to lack of energy to do more things.  But it also consists of hiking new hikes almost every other weekend.  And waking up to mountains and that amazing MOUNTAIN air EVERY single morning.

BUT life AC for Russell and I has included a new found love for us-TENNIS, which has created a semi-permanent date time 2x a week where we get to be with each other, outside, competiting, and getting a workout.  Life AC has brought a new appreciation to DATE nights, and even the littlest things of a time together-without anyone else.  Life AC has included an amazing battle of Marriage where we have fought vs each other, but have FOUGHT even harder for our relationship.  Life AC has consisted of many late night talks, therapy sessions, and Google chat/email sessions at work.  Life AC has brought to the forefront that we as a couple (and as individuals) have basic needs that need nurtured.  And it won't be easy, but it will be done because we have made a choice to be together.  A choice that we are who each other wants to be with to raise our boys, climb mountains, run marathons, cook breakfast and make mochas, cuddle watching a horrible scary movie, and play racquetball and tennis, enjoy beer on a Friday, and work out our differences on a court somehwere.

AND best of all RUSSELL, you are the guy that I'm going to Aruba with in 89 days to celebrate how much we really do rock as a couple.  ERMEGERD.

<3 p="p">Wifey