11 years

 Like pretty much every thing this spring, our anniversary did not go as expected. But that just goes along with life and marriage, things turn out differently than expected and you just love each other through it all. So basically the day was filled with take out food and hiding from our children. Ha!

Max got up in the morning and went to pick up some breakfast from a cafe we kept hearing wonderful things about (Portland is a huge place for foodies and we have lived here our whole lives and have explored so little of the food) Anyway, Charlie was awake and didn't know that Max was picking up breakfast so he made me breakfast with an "egg muffin" and greek yogurt with honey. He knows those are both things I love.

Max came home with some fancy chicken and waffles and we all chowed down so fast that there is no photo evidence. But they were real!

We had a slow morning/afternoon, then Max needed to work a bit. I was just grateful he gets to work from home these days! Later we realized we should have some sort of photo documentation of what we look like on this 11 year anniversary.
We didn't get to spend a weekend at the beach (Already had my mom lined up for babysitting) so we took some photos with our bamboo. Thanks Miles for your photography skills. Haha! We have yet to learn to take a respectable picture.

Edwin's face is my favorite, hopefully it distracts from the groping happening in this photo. 

Charlie had to be convinced to join in on these photos. ha. Hopefully it was just a one time thing. 

Anyway, for dinner we had take out again. This time yummy Thai food! Again, no photo evidence but delicious. I think we just made our kids mac & cheese so we didn't have to share Thai food that they would complain about.

Then we put them in bed and decided to make some candles. We've recently wanted to try making a couple different kinds of candles so we decided it was as good a time as ever to go at it. we made some little tea light candles and a tree candle. Fun experience and we'll do some more with the boys. We also have some supplies to make beeswax candles so we're excited about that.

If only I knew how to rotate a photo on blogger, but I don't.

Once we knew the children were officially asleep, we enjoyed a pampering evening.

Even though the anniversary was far from anything we expected, it still ended up being perfect. We do have a lot of fun together with pretty much anything we do, especially when we slow down from life and take the time to focus on each other. Life is not always easy and we've been thrown some surprises but it has been so much more fulfilling and joyful than I could have imagined. I am constantly impressed with Max's patience and diligence when it comes to me and his boys. He is always kind to me and doesn't raise his voice. (we both raise our voices at the kids from time to time, let's be real) Also, being pregnant (spoiler alert) always makes me feel like I should be doing more to contribute to the household but feel too exhausted and queasy and I have to let my body rest. I often start to feel guilty that I can't keep up with the housework or that sometimes we eat fast food and sometimes the kids fend for themselves for lunch. Max never ever implies that I should be doing more and always encourages me to rest, all the while he works his tail off all hours of the day, trying to balance all his responsibilities. Point is, I got it good and even though we are both imperfect people, we do always try to be better for ourselves and each other and we have both grown individually and together over these 11 years. I'm so grateful to be with such a loving husband for all of eternity!

And here are some throwbacks to that special May 2nd 2009. Thanks Anna for the photos...and that you are probably the only one reading this, True Friend!