Happy anniversary, sweetheart

Young and in love

Today is our ten year anniversary! We've been thinking back on this day ten years ago and all of the memories that we have of getting married. My brothers lived next door to me, and they came over as I was getting ready. They were asking if I had everything - "Dress? Yep. Veil? Yep. Marriage license? Yep, it's outside in my car."

That's when I remembered that I had left my car, with the marriage license inside, in Salt Lake after moving to our apartment the day before! Yikes - we're in trouble!

So, while I frantically tried to get my hair dry and somewhat curled before the wedding, my brothers called Brandon only to find the phone was busy. Yep, his youngest brother was on the internet on this, the most important of all days. He was checking his email. (Love ya', Jason!) So, my brothers did an emergency breakthrough, after arguing with the operator that this really was an emergency (when she heard what the emergency was, she was very helpful!)

So, since we were young with no money, his dad forked over another $40 so we could run to the court house and get another marriage license. (We were very nervous, too, that the courthouse wouldn't be open since it was right after Christmas. Luckily, they had a few offices open, one being the one we needed.)

Meanwhile, we were supposed to be at the temple by this time, and my parents were freaking out because we weren't there. But, we made it, and even had time to sit in one of the sealing rooms for about ten minutes before the wedding, contemplating what we were about to do. We had a friend ask us later if we were nervous about getting married, but honestly, we weren't. We never experienced pre-wedding jitters, or cold feet. It was just right.

(Just an interesting tidbit, here: during the ceremony, there were three Wayne's present in the room - my dad, Jerry Wayne, Brandon's dad, Wayne, and our sealer, whose name was also Wayne.)

After our wedding and pictures (in freezing cold, but sunny weather) we had our wedding luncheon, where Brandon's mom surprised us with French Silk Pie for dessert. She had gotten a VERY good deal on these, so got them for our dessert. Brandon's favorite dessert ever is French Silk Pie, so he was in heaven.


Mmm, this is SO good.

(And, yes, my Hi-lite girls, if you look closely, you can see I have a pencil holding my hair up!)

By the time the luncheon was over, Brandon was feeling miserable. He woke up that morning with a cold, and it just got progressively worse as the day went on. So, we went back to my apartment to load up the rest of my stuff, then headed off to home in Salt Lake.

That night, I woke up to Brandon getting in the shower at 3:30 a.m. I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he was freezing and might as well get up and get ready for the day. He didn't realize it was 3:30 in morning, but once he did, he threw some more blankets on the bed, turned the thermostat up and climbed back in for another few hours of sleep.

(We found out through trial and error that our thermostat was off by about twelve degrees. So, if we wanted it to be 73 in the house, we had to have it set at about 85! We had set the thermostat at about 72, so it was about 60 degrees in our apartment in the middle of winter. And our bed was right under the window. Can we say COLD????)



Our "Mission Impossible" pose during our reception


Cutting our cake. Look at how thin we both were!

Now, ten years later, we're both a little heavier, both have lost some hair (he's going bald, mine's getting shorter), and we've had four children. We've had our ups and downs, our fights and our makeups, our health problems, money problems, children problems, stressful times and more.

We've seen a child get badly hurt, but who has come out on top, despite everything that could have gone wrong. We've argued and hurt each other with words or actions, but in the end, we still love each other. We thought we loved each other when we got married, and we did. But, our love is deeper now. We're not just in love with each other, but we love each other - despite our faults and shortcomings.



So, to my handsome hubby, who I'm sure will read this sometime: I love you. With the birth of Connor, followed so closely by Thanksgiving and Christmas, I haven't really taken the time to focus on our anniversary. I have felt bad today that I haven't planned or done anything special for you as we celebrate this day. I hope to make it up to you, when my focus can be a little less on the little one, and a little more on you.

You've been so wonderful these past ten years - you've supported me in my weird, wacky times, in my most depressing times when I literally thought my heart would break, and through all of my highs and lows. You've cried with me and for me, and you're always ready and willing to give me a hug when I need one, or just want some extra love. You're my rock and my best friend. Thank you so much for your love, and for the fun of the past ten years. I look forward to the next ten, and for the rest of eternity!

I love you.