eight eight thirteen

10 years ago, my car of college girls ran into a car of boys in the dollar movie theater parking lot in Provo.  The boys came over to our apartment, and upon coming in the door, Ryan noticed that he and I had the same studded belt on so he plopped down by me on the couch and we started talking music and bands.  He found out I hadn't seen Braveheart which meant he had to show it to me.  We talked all night.

He showed me Braveheart a few days later.

I tried to not like him.

I was graduating in a month and moving home, and last thing I wanted was a long distance relationship.

But Ryan was persistent.

And I gave in.

I fell hard and fast.

We were married in Oakland, on a gorgeous day.

 We were an hour and a half late to our luncheon because we were taking pictures and then in bad traffic from Oakland to Sacramento.

 We had a gorgeous reception in the backyard of Ryan's house.

 We had a little cake fight.

 We were so excited to be starting eternity together.

 And we became Mr. and Mrs. McPhie.

I won't lie and say that everything has been peachy keen since.

Marriage is hard.

We've had happiness, and sorrow.  Fights and laughter.  But most of all, we've had each other.  We have leaned on each other and do truly love each other more now than we did then.  

10 years later, I woke up to this.

 My side of the bathroom mirror covered in things from 2003.

Justin Timberlake, Cry Me a River?  Check.

Black Eyed Peas?  Check.

Santa Cruz trip?  Check.

Cancun trip?  Check.

Moving to AZ?  Check.

And around the house, pictures like this.

Braveheart - first date.

 This little gem was on the fridge.  I said, I thought Kendra Wilkinson had her baby uno way after 2003.  Ryan said that picture wasn't hung up because it happened in 2003, but this picture reminded him of us.  

Naturally.

The resemblance is uncanny.  

Oh, and this picture was still on our fridge when we had a babysitter in our house for seven hours.  She must think we're awesome.  Or super creeps.

Ryan was in court all day on our anniversary, and was prepping for a trial the following day, so we had a low key Italian lunch date, just like on our wedding day.

Then he planned a Saturday day-date.

We were going to hike Camelback, which he really was doing for me, because I always want to go hike, but he doesn't want to wake up.

10 years!  It's all down hill from here.  The mountain that is.

 We made it to the top!

Oh ya, and this baby came with us.

Going up was the easy part, it was coming down that I felt it.

I wore my belly band, but still needed an arm to support my belly.

I realized that you naturally lean back a little when going down hill, and with all this mass in front of me, I needed to lean extra far back to compensate.  Core. Work. Out.

We spent the rest of the day together, hanging out, having fun, bringing up memories from the last 10 years.  

It was a great anniversary.

Even if we weren't on a cruise.

(apparently they don't like preggo people on cruises)

I love you so much Ryan McPhie!

Thank you for putting up with me for the last ten years.

I'm excited for what's in store.

getting schooled

Today was my first day of my last year of school!  And since I don't have a wife or a mother to insist on first day of school pictures, I have no visual proof to show you.

But since I am a mother of kids who already started school, I do have back to school pictures of them!

 Drake - 1st grade, and Gwen - 3rd grade

The first day of school their bus was 1/2 an hour late getting them home!!  And the worst part of it, was that they were stuck on their bus for an hour, and their bus DOESN'T have air conditioning.  It was 115º that day people!!!  Both of them had just sweated through their shirts and had their hair sticking to their wet little faces. 

So this has become the after school routine.  Drake loses his shirt (and eventually his pants too) and eats a popsicle.  They deserve it!

[And he's wearing pants because he has to as part of their school dress code.  Cruel?  Yes.]

It was oh so nice having them start school two weeks before me and getting to be a stay at home mom.  I loved getting my work outs in (Ironman is only 12 weeks away!!!), having a clean house, and baking all sorts of yummy after school snacks for them.  And sadly it's come to an end.  This last year might be the death of me, but it's only a year.  And that's not that long, right?

 Oh, and their first day of school also just happened to be our anniversary.

So their first back-to-school night, they got to stay up late at Gigi's while we Benihana'd it up, celebrating 9 years of putting up with each other.

I seriously love this guy!

...9...

9 years ago today I made what would have appeared to most, the stupidest decision ever.

I married a guy that I had known for five months.

Ya, we are those people.

The people we thought we'd NEVER be.

Well guess what?

Best decision ever!

young and dumb... and in LOVE!

Thanks for marrying me Ryan Harper McPhie!

And I've got lots to blog about, but that'll come later.

seven years...

is a long time! I'm glad they've been with you Ryan.

Thanks for marrying me here.

I love you!

happy anniversary to us!

Today we are celebrating six years of wedded bliss!!! Of course there have been many ups and downs too- just like Elder Nelson said in the last General Conference, "Each marriage starts with two built-in handicaps. It involves two imperfect people. Happiness can come to them only through their earnest effort. Just as harmony comes from an orchestra only when its members make a concerted effort, so harmony in marriage also requires a concerted effort. That effort will succeed if each partner will minimize personal demands and maximize actions of loving selflessness."

So to celebrate, my honey took me to a the Montelucia, a resort in Paradise Valley. It was awesome, and gorgeous, and soooo good to have some time to just be with each other. (thanks so much Gavin and Emily for taking our babies) It was also good to see that we can still crack each other up. Ryan, you're my best friend-I'm lucky I get to spend eternity with you!

08/08/08

FIIIIIVE YEARS TODAY!

And I have to admit that I feel bad that I'm still not being the sweetest wife to my husband right now because of the last post. He's decided. We're going back to AZ. So he's packing up the truck and moving our stuff back this weekend. Don't get me wrong...I'm so happy to be back in Ariarizona, but the stress of it all may be more than I can handle right now. So until I can get my computer unpacked and can put together some pictures to walk you through the last five years and tell you how wonderful Ryan is, just enjoy this picture of us old timers.

Oh, and thank you Ryan for this, I heart it and am way impressed with your listening skillz!