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We went to Bishop and Mammoth with Mike and Staci to celebrate my birthday this past weekend. Staci and I learned to ski (or atleast the very beginning of starting to learn to ski!) and Mike and Andy hit the larger slopes. A very kind friend offered to let us stay in his home in Bishop, so we had a beautiful little cottage in the mountains just a short drive from the ski area. It was a very relaxing trip and we were sad to have to leave after just a few days!

Our 5th Anniversary

To celebrate our 5th anniversary, we ate dinner at the Napa Rose. It's a California cuisine restaurant in Disney's Grand Californian hotel. It's been the top rated Orange County restaurant for a few years now. Andy arranged for us to eat at the chef's table, which was really fun. The chef specially selected each course of our meal and we received special attention throughout the dinner. We got to watch them prepare meals and they talked to us all throughout the dinner. It was a very special evening...

Oh, yeah... and the desserts were wonderful!!

Andy sent me roses at work on Friday to start off the weekend... they were beautiful! Two dozen pink and white roses. They were perfect! He's such a romantic guy... I'm so lucky!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a special day. Tomorrow I will have been married to the love of my life for five years. Five years. How can it already be five years?

Now, in light of eternity, that may be a drop in the bucket. Compared to those around us that taught us what marriage is and how to have a successful one – we’re not even close to catching up. We have been so blessed to have so many beautiful examples of godly, successful marriages surrounding us and teaching us… and we don’t take it for granted in the least bit. Our parents on both sides of our family, as well as all four sets of grandparents are married or were married until the Lord took them home. Honestly… how many couples do you know that are so fortunate? Certainly not many.

The Day we met...
Speaking our vows...

A more recent shot from our last trip (at Versailles)

Although five years may not seem like a lot to some, it is a lot to me. It means 1826 days of the euphoria that being his wife creates in me. It means 43,829 hours of being loved and cherished by my soul mate. It means 2,629,440 minutes of joy in my life that I lift up thanks and praise to the Lord for allowing me. I am blessed!

Sorry for the lack of posts!

We have been boring lately, haven't we? Not a lot of pictures to show for the last month - but hopefully that will change soon. It has been an eventful month for us - just not the kind that you take pictures of or care to document in detail. I got sick at the end of February with pneumonia, which I'm pretty sure led to pleurisy - so I spent a lot of time in bed for a little over a week. Andy has been working on some very complex client issues that have kept him in the office until late in the evenings and on some weekends. We have needed any spare time to catch up on rest. There are a lot of fun things coming up in the next two months, though - Easter, our 5th Anniversary, my birthday, skiing at Mammoth, a cooking class at Disney's Napa Rose Restaurant, a trip to Vegas, Blythe and Peter's wedding in Montreal... there will be pictures coming soon. I promise!

January and February Birthdays

Our family tries to get together as often as possible to celebrate birthdays within the family. Friday we came together at Grandma's house to celebrate January and February birthdays, which included Uncle Randy and his wife, Ellie, and my cousins Brandon, Timothy, Kira and Haley. We enjoyed Collins tacos for dinner and then had birthday cake after cards were opened. It was a night full of laughter, which is my favorite kind!

Before the birthdays were celebrated, the guys presented a beautiful display of Grandpa's military service to LeeAnn, who helped Grandpa out a lot during his stay in the hospital and willingly let the other siblings receive the corner symbols from Grandpa's coffin at his funeral. They had another piece and replicas of his medals/badges framed for her, along with a picture.

Grandma and LeeAnn getting the cake ready

The birthday clan

Some family photos...

Ski Trip

Andy went to Colorado for the weekend to ski with Dave at Winter Park and spend some time with his parents. Since I wasn't around, there aren't a lot of pictures - but he did take a few. He was having way too much fun skiing to bother with the camera!

Lifespring! Chili Cook-Off

Tonight was the chili cook-off at Lifespring! Dad, Mike and Mike's Dad all made entries for the competition and they were all delicious!

Dad explaining how to make chili

Some of them were really hot!!

The glowing ice cushion seat

Hanging out with the girls

It was that good!!

Staci

Tanya

Me & Mom

Tanya, Staci and I have had a fun "girls' weekend." Andy is in Colorado for the weekend, so the girls are keeping me busy in his absence! He went skiing with Dave today and will have the day to spend with his parents tomorrow. I'm sure we will be posting pictures of his trip when he gets home.

And on a totally different subject... this is one of the reasons I love our place! We woke up to this last week... this is the view from our apartment.