Celebrating 9 Years Together

Today John and I are celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary. It's amazing to look back and these pictures and think that 9 years have passed already! I praise God for giving me such a loving, godly man to walk beside me through this journey.

We were married in my hometown of Mountain Lake, MN & it was a beautiful, sunny, warm summer day. Our ceremony started at 11:30am & we were pronounced man and wife at 12:05pm (thanks to my uncle Duane Bixel for pointing out this fun time fact to us that day....I've remembered it ever since). We each had our siblings stand up with us, along with friends from college. My parents surprised us with a really fun, red convertible to transport us to the reception (I'm sure John could tell you what kind of car it was). We enjoyed our reception, cake cutting & greeting friends and family who came to celebrate with us. It all flew by so quickly, and we were on our way to our honeymoon by 4pm that afternoon. We both have such great memories of that day!


















































I had to laugh this past weekend, because after so many years together, you would think I know most things about John - well, I learned something new: he has a phobia of having to touch his eyes. How could I miss this? Here's the tale - He was cutting the grass outside & came in needing help, because he got a speck of something in his eye and needed me to help flush it out. Since I wore contacts for so many years, I have no problem putting drops in my eyes and I offered him some refresh tears to rinse out his eyeball. He could barely open his eye to let the drops in - and had a hard time letting me touch his lid to lift his eye. Thankfully we finally got enough of the drops in, so that he felt like it had worked its way out....but I never realized how much he disliked having to touch his eyes, it's just never been something to come up until recently...is this unusual, or have you also discovered new things with your spouse years later as well?
Tonight we are going out for dinner to Sullivan's - thanks to Charlotte Restaurant Week, aka Queen's Feast. For this past week, 42 restaurants throughout Charlotte offer a three-course meal for $30 - and it's a great deal, we're lucky to have it land on our anniversary, too. Uncle Curt is coming over to stay at the house with Elise....thanks, Curt! Thanks for reading as I walked down memory lane.

p.s. Last night I tried on my wedding dress, and after 9 years and a child...it still fit!! (Thank goodness for A-line...:)