3 years

Today is my 3rd anniversary! I still can't believe it's been 3 years since I stood at the altar and said "I do" (actually, I said "I will" on accident).

I can honestly say I couldn't have found a better match.For those of you who don't know, we met through mutual friends and bonded after a friend's birthday party when Patrick broke out in a chorus of "Afternoon Delight" Anchorman-style, and I harmonized along with him. Obviously meant to be, right? 4 months later, we were engaged and Afternoon Delight consequently was the song we walked down the aisle to after we were pronounced husband and wife.

Not sure if many people knew the story behind the song, we got a lot of strange looks. We're a little strange though, so it fit.

Sense of humor has always been very important to me, and it's one of the things that attracted me to Patrick. It's not often you can find someone just as weird as you. We laugh together every day. And I love that.

(Connor looks a little worried that he's related to us. I'm sure I'll totally regret posting this picture later.)

It's true what everyone says, time drags and drags until your wedding day arrives, then it flies by in an instant. 3 years later, we are still just as in love, if not more, and we have 2 wonderful children (and plans for 1 more in the future.) I'm so grateful that we have each other and that one day, we can be that cute old couple holding hands on the porch - harmonizing to "Afternoon Delight" no doubt.

The best 2 years of my life

Patrick and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on May 17th. It's hard for me to believe it's already been 2 years! We've had so much happen in our lives in the past 2 years - our beautiful daughter was born, we got new jobs, moved to Tennessee, expecting a 2nd child - it seems like we've been married forever (and I mean that in a good way.) It's been the best 2 years of my life.

I've had several friends ask me what marriage is like. Many people have no idea what to expect, or maybe they've watched way too many Disney movies where Prince Charming swoops in and rescues his damsel, then they ride off into the sunset. Marriage is a wonderful union of 2 people before God, but it doesn't stop at the altar. It's for better or worse.

Marriage is:

1. Having your best friend with you forever. I love waking up every day and seeing my husband's face, knowing that he loves me for all that I am.

2. Learning how to live with each other's habits - the good and the bad. Each person has habits that he/she has grown up doing, and have never really thought about. I reuse paper towels after I dry my hands, so the kitchen counter is constantly littered with balled up paper towels that drive Patrick crazy. On the other hand, Patrick has a perpetual pile of clothes that he leaves on the bedroom floor. I have had to learn that no one has ever died from a sock on the floor, and that throwing away paper towels once in a while is probably a good idea.

3. Inside jokes. Over the years, we've had our share of inside jokes that we tease each other about, or little sayings that only we understand. It adds an element of fun to marriage.

4. It IS ok to go to bed angry sometimes. Not every argument needs to turn into a fight. Some nights, all you need is a good night's sleep to wake up and realize that what you were arguing about before was really kind of stupid.

5. Always saying "I love you." We tell each other "I love you" every day. I love you means "I love you through everything, and I'm not going anywhere."

6. Sharing your stuff. Marriage means sharing not only your physical possessions, but your past, your dreams, your victories and your mess-ups. It can be hard to do and sometimes it hurts, but it's an essential part of giving yourself to another person.

7. Knowing that someone was made for you. I know that Patrick was absolutely made for me. A friend and I once made a list of things we wanted in our future husbands. After Patrick and I started dating, I wasn't sure right away if he was "the one," but I prayed about it and felt like he might be. I sat down and took out that list and started comparing him to the (64-item long!!) list of things I wanted. He met all but 1-he was hairy. I decided I could live with that.

Marrying Patrick was the best decision of my life. I love him more than anything, and I look forward to many more years together.

An Alabama wedding

These past few weeks have been busy busy busy! As the weather gets warmer in Tennessee, our weekends seem to have more packed into them, which is ok by me.

Last weekend, Patrick, Haley, Todd and I piled in the van (a.k.a. the Swagger Wagon) and took a road trip to Alabama to see our friends Matt and Rachel get married. I've known Matt for a little over 2 years. He was in the same group of friends that Patrick was in when we lived in Virginia, and I have a lot of great memories of all of us having bbq's and movie nights at Patrick's bachelor pad not that long ago. After graduating, he moved back to Alabama to be closer to family, and ended up meeting his fiancee (now wife) Rachel. Happily, a few months ago Matt accepted a job where Pat and I both work, and he now lives in Tennessee - and will, of course, be bringing Rachel with him after they honeymoon in Aspen.

I was really excited about this wedding because it would be the first one Patrick and I attended since our own wedding 2 years ago. There's just something magical about seeing 2 people so in love, nervously standing before each other, giving their hearts to one another completely. Love is a beautiful thing. It made me think of the long wait that I went through to get to my wedding day, only to have it fly by in an instant when I myself was standing before my husband, sliding a ring onto his finger.


The wedding was gorgeous. Rachel and Matt had chosen black, yellow, and white as their colors, and the whole wedding had a very fresh, "springy" feel to it. The flower girls were adorable in their little white dresses and daisies in their hair, and of course Rachel was radient. We were also glad to have a few of our friends at the wedding as well, especially since many of them hadn't seen Haley since she was a tiny baby. We all shared a row at the back of the church (in case I had to escape with a whiny toddler.)

Since we didn't want to leave Haley alone while we stayed overnight in Alabama, she came too and was a perfect angel throughout the whole wedding - up until they were reciting their vows and she started saying "oooooohhh," which seemed hilariously appropriate. She kept herself entertained with an assortment of board books, toys, and an iPhone - which she loves playing Bejeweled on. She's going to be the reigning champ by age 3. She sat through the whole wedding and then it was onto the reception. Without a solid nap in between, Pat and I wondered how she'd do since the reception would undoubtedly go until late evening.

The reception was held at an art museum in Mobile. They had gone all out with personalized decorations like monogrammed aprons for some of the people serving food, and personalized coffee sleeves and goody bags for the favors - a cookie table where guests could choose from an assortment of homemade cookies. My favorite thing was the cake which, of course, carried out their yellow/white theme perfectly. And yes, it was as good as it looked.

After making it through several rounds at the buffet, toddling around the entire art museum, and the cake cutting, Haley promptly collapsed on Pat's shoulder in exhaustion at 9 pm. We were just glad that we made it through the whole night without any major freak outs from a little girl with no afternoon nap. We missed the dancing, but hey, I'm pretty sure the people there weren't ready for our sweet dance moves anyway. Oh well, maybe at the next wedding...