....come grow old with me, the best is yet to be

Well, we made it to 13 years.

We were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple 13 years ago.

I met Mike at the singles branch at my church. He was fresh meat.. like all good looking guys with girls drooling over fresh meat (or when the BYU kids come home for the summer). However, I wasn't interested. Neither was he. I thought he was rude, to be honest. I'm sure he thought I was bossy. I was the Relief Society President at that time... so I was bossy.

Until one night, he asked me to dance. He brought a date to this dance, though. He waited until she was in the bathroom, and we danced to a Garth Brooks song.

A few days later, he shows up at my door, with a yellow rose. He wanted to ask me out on a date. He considers this our first date. I don't. I consider a date something planned. It wasn't planned on my part! Might have been for him though.

Here we are at Mike's work Christmas party. This was a few weeks before he proposed to me. He proposed to me a few days after Christmas. I royally messed up his plans when he proposed. He picked a bad night to propose to me. I had the worst day at work, was wearing glasses of all days... he tried to get me to leave the house while his sister Tiffany was cooking dinner. The plan was to have a candlelight dinner for two, but again, I insisted on staying and talking to Tiffany while he ran to get something to drink. I also insisted on Tiffany eating with us. See, I mess everything up! After dinner, we went into his parent's formal living room, and he went somewhere. A dozen roses came before my eyes, and all of a sudden, I.knew. He knelt down before me, with tears in his eyes, and asked me to be his wife for time and all eternity. I said yes, of course.

This was our official engagement picture, but I really liked the one below more. Sometimes one always asks "why in the world did I do it that way?" or "what in the world was I thinking?"... well, this was one of them. My reception & how I did it was another... on & on & on.

Our song was "Keeper of the Stars". Mike was literally a cowboy when I met him. It seemed perfect for us. Then, apparently I told him cowboys stink, and I hate his boots & hat, and he.threw.them.away! As if! Well, as if he would know that in 13 years, I would think cowboy boots & cowboy hats are very hot... He's finally looking for a pair of cowboy boots again.

This was how we looked the morning before we left for the temple. He didn't say ONE word to me the entire morning. I was literally a little scared.... he must've been having second thoughts.

We came out looking like this.

A year and a half later, this little kid decided to join us.
Let's call her Katie, for the sake of the story.

When Katie was three, we decided it was time for a little brother or sister to join the family. Soon after, this little kid, whom we'll call Madison, joined us.

You can't see her, but she's in my belly! In BOTH pictures!

Pictures of us together is a rarity, and I guess that's why I hardly have any. Pictures of us as a family is even rarer.... I'm always the photographer. I think we need to start working on that! We did finally have a decent picture of us taken almost 2 years ago.

Thanks for a great 13 years sweetie! Through all the ups & downs life has given us, I'm glad you've been a rock for all of it.

After looking at all these pictures of my hair short...
I am thinking it's time to cut my hair short again!