9 years and going strong!

Wow, I am so thankful for the most amazing husband that God gave me! After 9 years I still love being with him and he still makes me laugh. Every year we like to take time around our anniversary to evaluate the past year. What were the highs and lows of the year? What are we looking forward to in the coming year? For the most part it's a fun time as we laugh about memories from the year, however, there's always a little bit of the time that's hard as we talk about areas of weakness or things we might have struggled with.  This past year for us was a year of extreme highs and extreme lows. We went on the trip of lifetime last summer, Mike got to preach a lot at church (which he loves!) and I even got some opportunities to speak at our women's Bible study, which has been a desire of mine. So we came off that mountain top and  spent some time discouraged for a variety of reasons. And though at times we struggled to know how to encourage one another, we have come through this year with an even stronger marriage.  Don't get me wrong we still have our rough days (who doesn't?!?) but we thank God for the growing love we have for each other and how after nine years we still love just hanging out and being together!

We got to go to Phoenix for a few nights to celebrate our anniversary! Thanks to everyone who helped with the kids...especially since they had to deal with one who was sick!

Hanging by the pool :)

This is really who we are...silly, goofy and just like to have fun! Though, seriously, 9 years into our marriage and I had NO idea that Mike could make such a good Popeye face!!! Next time I'll put a spinach can in his hand and make him flex!

Ok, so we went to Ikea for breakfast...I'm not gonna lie the french toast sticks were AWESOME! The rest wasn't that great, but we spent lots of time during our first three years of marriage at Ikea in Austria  because it was the only place that had free refills on soda. So we thought it would be fun to go back. However, I forgot the other thing about Ikea, we always get in a fight there...just too overwhelming! :)

We also got to go a Diamondbacks game. The D-backs were horrible but it was still fun to be there! (Thanks Shawn for the tickets!) We had a great time just getting to be together! By the end of our lil getaway we felt rested and ready to get back to our crazy clan!