Happy 18th Anniversary and Happy Birthday Jay!

On September 19th, 2013, Jay and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  It marked for me the same number of years living with my husband as with my parents, give or take a few months.  It is unbelievable that we are getting to the point that we have been together almost as long as we were single.  The years have flown by.  We look at our children and wonder when they grew up.  We've been so busy getting everyone where they needed to be, we didn't see the daily physical growth until we (ok until I) had to start looking up to see in their faces (Logan and Katelyn are both now taller than me!).  

Life has been busy these past 18 years.  We've had 4 amazing children join our family, we've moved 11 times, lived in Salt Lake City and Logan, UT; Baltimore, MD; Bellevue, North Bothell, and Vancouver, WA; Rexburg, ID; and are now in Lee's Summit, MO.  I never would have guessed when we got married that we would be here and there and everywhere.  I was a girl from Salt Lake City marrying a boy from Taylorsville.  Jay had just graduated from Utah State and had his first real job as the Athletic Field Manager at the University of Utah.  In my mind we were settled and would live in Salt Lake for the rest of our lives.

 It's probably a good thing I thought that.  We haven't really meant to be so transitory - it has just sort of happened as we have lived our life.  We really don't like moving, but it has been such a blessing in our lives.  We have been able to do and see places, meet and make so many great friends, and have experiences and callings in our church that we never would've, had we stayed in one place.  The hardest part for me has always been leaving friends and places that have become so familiar and trying to gear up to do it all again and start over.  I know it hasn't been easy for our children either, but hopefully they will be able to look back and realize how much we've all learned and grown in the process.  It will be interesting to see if they decide to stay put once they finish school and settle down or if they will continue in their nomadic ways too. :)

When we decided to get married in September, we didn't realize that Jay would be so involved at work during that month!  We got married on the 19th, and his birthday is the 20th!  It makes it kind of hard to figure out what to do to celebrate both days!  There have been years when we finally made it out to our "anniversary dinner" after the new year when the football, soccer, and baseball seasons were over.  This year we went to the Olive Garden on the day!  My favorite - Italian - yummilicious!  Usually we go out to dinner for our anniversary and then stay home with the family and have Jay's favorites for his birthday!

This year it was chocolate cake with cherry filling.