Tres Anos

Nate and I have been married for 3 years today. People like to ask at milestones like this whether or not it feels like 3 years have passed. In one sense, no. It seems like yesterday that we said our vows. In another sense, we have already been through so much together in just three years, including a hurricane, a home burglary, a new car, a job change, new jobs, graduation, a furry critter named Cheyenne, deaths and births in the extended family, a collapsed ceiling and other home repairs, cross-country travels, river tubing, sunburns, illnesses, and much more. Through all of the ups and downs and good times and bad, I am daily reminded of God's hand in our marriage-- of his steadfast love, provision, and mercy. I feel lavishly blessed to have a husband who is filled with the spirit of God, and who is upright, thoughtful, and strives to love me just as much as Christ loves the church. I hope that I can be as much of a blessing to him as he is to me.

Here we are on our wedding day: June 17, 2006.

From Wedding

From Wedding Reception

As I was browsing the photos, I was reminded of how our first dance was cut short when the music began fast-forwarding and we were forced to add a comical twist with some ultra fast footwork and a hurried finale. It was well worth the memory!

From Wedding Reception

To celebrate this year, I surprised Nate with a weekend in Galveston where we stayed at the Moody Gardens Hotel.

From 3rd Anniversary

And last night, Nate took me out to a delicious dinner at the Capital Grille. I was entirely spoiled by this outing. Our table was prepared with rose petals, "Happy Anniversary" confetti, and a card signed by the entire wait staff. We were also served free dessert and left with a printed photograph from the divine evening.

From 3rd Anniversary

And as if all that wasn't enough, Nate made a gigantic breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausage this morning. AND, as if all THAT wasn't enough, I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to my office today. I am so spoiled!!! I love this man!

I know that the list of experiences above is only a tiny fraction of what the Lord has in store for us for the many years to come. I look forward to the continuation of this journey ahead with my best friend!

Embracing Mother Nature

Last weekend we embarked on camping trip #2 of our married career... and camping trip #3 of my entire lifetime. Between my junior and senior years as an undergraduate, I went with a group of friends in Tennessee... was it Fall Creek Falls? I can't remember, but I will forever remember this as the camping trip where the guys were throwing rocks at raccoons that were attempting to invade our campsite, we got lost on our day-hike, and I hoped it didn't rain. Here we are somewhere in the middle of our hike, smiling and probably unaware that we weren't quite hiking in a direction that would get us back to our campsite before sundown...
By the time we hit a road, we knew we had taken the wrong turn somewhere. I believe at least a few of us had to hitchhike back, if not all of us.
More recently, Nate and I have discovered a quiet park north of town that feels quite secluded from the big city. We've been there twice in the last six weeks, and both times it rained on us, but this past weekend, it poured. Nevertheless, the indestructible Nate managed to keep our fire going both during and after a lake formed around our campsite. As far as I could see, we were the only campers who had a campfire after it stopped raining. Booyah!

Here is our healthy fire from our first excursion.
It was perfect for s'mores and hot dogs, which made our tummies ache.
So this time around, we switched to grilled chicken and potatoes. YUM!
This photo below was taken from the shelter of our tent during a downpour.
I was just emerging from the tent when I took this photo. Do not be deceived by the seemingly put-out fire. It's still burning, and we were able to stoke and enjoy it for several more hours.This last adventure was fun but sleepless, as we chose to forego using an air mattress (what were we thinking) and mother nature was having an all-night party, including two hoot owls having an extended conversation near our tent, and a shrieking donkey on the other side of the park. But that's the beauty of the great outdoors. I still vote for bringing our air mattress for the next outing...

Tagged!

I was tagged by Beth...

Here are the rules:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.


The fourth folder I opened was the "2006" folder, and the fourth photo (which was in the Ahern Christmas 2006 folder) was this one. I believe this was taken by Nate's sister, Mary Grace, at Grandma Zollner's house on Christmas Day 2006 in Grand Junction, CO. The traditional Christmas dinner at Grandma's always includes a grapefruit-avocado salad, featured here (in an interesting swirl?). Nate and I weren't in attendance that year since we spent the holidays in DFW, but we have an entire folder of pictures that we were sent so that we could see all the fun and food that we missed out on.

Here is a clearer version of the same dish:


I tag...
1. The Hansons
2. Kate Schmate
3. The Currys
4. Drew and Emily

Old Extra Credit Essay Photo