Happy 11th Anniversary to Us!!!

Life is just crazy! How in the world does time go by so fast?

It was 11 years ago today that I was lucky enough to marry my best friend. He had been my best friend for 3-4 years already, but I was going to make him my husband, too. The day was beautiful. Not too hot, not too cold. We had an outdoor ceremony and the nature center was perfect! Everything was exactly like I wanted it including a crowd of only those closest to us and a good friend as the officiant.

I really, really loved our wedding day, but who would have known that the marriage would have been so awesome, too?! Don't get me wrong, we have definitely had hard times, but nothing we didn't overcome. I think it helped so much to know each other so well before we got married. So much of our lives we had already shared and now we were going to share even more.

We spent the first year together just the two of us. We worked on some volunteer projects (like a haunted house, a Christmas gig or two, and more), we went on vacation (to Minnesota - and even saw the SPAM museum!), we were excited to learn we would have our first baby boy soon all while I went through 3 different jobs to find the one just perfect for me.

Having Jaxson was just the beginning of our parenting together, but we did it together and we enjoyed it so much. Only a year after Jax was born, Mark's dad passed away and we moved out west to help take care of his mom and their home-based business. This year did not pass quickly and though I hated every moment of Western Kansas life, I swear it's the only reason Mark & I are still married today!

The next year, we moved back to central Kansas and welcomed our 2nd son, Carson, while Mark took a job with another community college - what I believe to be the PERFECT job for him, too. I got to stay at home with the boys and enjoy life.

Soon we bought our farm on the edge of a small town. It's been the perfect place to raise the rest of our family. Edison was our surprise, but he brings us so much joy that I can't imagine a better surprise. And we were lucky enough to get our princess, Ellison, too. Life is near perfect and I am so thankful that 11 years ago I was smart enough to say something similar to "I Do."  (We don't do anything the regular way so our vows were uniquely ours and I'm not sure exactly what we shared with each other, but I'm sure it was the right thing to share!)

I'll leave you with just a few of my favorite pics of Mark & I from the last couple years and will hope that someday soon we can have some better portraits taken of the two of us!

 This is one of my favorites...Just us being crazy while the kids were taking a bath one night. We have a lot of crazy times together, but they are the ones I love looking back on the most!

This one was at the pumpkin patch...Mark hates it because I didn't put my head in the hole the right way, but I was a little distracted by one of the kids and was lucky to even get my head close to the hole!

 This picture was taken last year when we celebrated our 10th anniversary with a two-night stay in a local bed and breakfast and time with just the two of us. It was the best gift ever!

And just because I can't do a post with pictures without one of the kids. Here are all four of them with Ellison's birthday cake last week. It's so hard to believe that our baby is three...and that Jaxson will be 10 this year. Holy cow!