So, way back at the beginning of May, Max and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! 8 years, sometimes it seems like 8 years is a long time and in some ways we feel like we are just beginning. Either way, we love being married to eachother and raising our children together. Our celebrations were simple and perfect. Life has been crazy for the last couple months closing and selling some houses. Max had spent many many hours on properties and occasionally wasn't coming home until 4 or 5am. It's been exhausting, but our first property finally was sold and closed on our anniversary, so we had that relief to enjoy, plus our realtor gave us a gift card for a fancy Portland restaurant we got to use. Our anniversary was on a Tuesday and we actually have a regular babysitter that comes most Tuesdays so she came on over a little early, and we made our way to the restaurant called Merriweather's. This restaurant was delicious and beautiful but let me tell you something funny..if you've ever seen a clip from Portlandia where a couple goes into a restaurant and want to know every detail about the chicken they are eating...they ask what the chicken was fed, if the chicken is organic, if the chicken's food is organic, how much space the chicken has to roam, if the chicken has any friends, and what was the chicken's name. Anyway, this was that kind of restaurant. The waitress emphasized the local and organic nature of their food and claimed that they have their own personal river where they catch their fish...(how does that even work?) haha! Anyway, everything was fancy and delicious and we had a great time.
And all our photos are food photos and phone selfies!
So then we made our way to get ice cream at salt n straw and it was an abnormally warm night so we walked together as we ate our ice cream cones. When the ice cream was gone we made our way to Powell's books to "write our story." We keep talking about writing a book about our lives for fun, including crazy stories from our childhood, and other funny anecdotal stories. We ended up spending time in the children's book section and picking out a book for our boys and one for Charlie to donate to his preschool classroom. Then we found a bench in between tall book shelves to start drafting our story. Neither of us are writers so I'm not sure how this will work but we had a lot of fun reminiscing about our past. we stayed until closing then bought our books and our annual drinking glass to add to our collection.
We brought home some chocolate for our wonderful babysitter, Doreen. And called it a night. Also, when Doreen babysits, the kids are always asleep and the house clean...it's amazing!
Anyway, so eight years! 3 kids! And we've been in the same house for 4.5 years! (This is significant because we moved 10 times in our first 3 years of marriage!) This last year has been more challenging as we overcome obstacles with our business and other challenges life throws at us, but we decided long ago that we would face trials together, on the same side, and that has made all the difference in our marriage. We have chosen to take any life experience and find a way for us to grow closer rather than apart. I feel so lucky to be married to this patient and hardworking man.
And leading up to our anniversary, I pondered some of the most romantic moments of our relationship so here are 8 to celebrate 8 years of marriage!
1. Prayer for me to be his girlfriend- Way back in high school, Max wanted to date me but had never had a girlfriend before and just wanted to do everything right. Before he asked me to be his girslfriend, he prayed about it, and distinctly felt the prompting "You'd be lucky to date Rebecca" Shortly thereafter we started officialy dating relationship, Max was 18, I was 19.
2. meeting in the airport-When I came home from my mission, I hadn't seen Max in 3 years. When he left, we kind of left it at "If you're not married when I get home we'll see how things go..," Little did he know (or myself) that I would also serve a mission. Through our letters and our tape recordings, we never spoke of dating, but it was apparent that we had a strong friendship that would continue after our missions. Max flew from Utah to be in the Portland airport when I got home and it is one of the best moments of my life!
3. Knowing you wanted to marry me when serving a mission-I didn't always want to serve a mission, and it wasn't until Max had sent me a package from Chile, on my 21st birthday and had casually asked if I had thought of serving a mission. I drafted a letter multiple times telling him that I wasn't planning on a mission and in the process, I realized all my "reasons" were just excuses and there was no reason why I couldn't serve a mission. Through personal prayer and inspiration, i decided to serve. It was years later that he told me he knew he wanted to marry me when I had written to him that I had chose to serve a mission (I left 6 months before he came home)
4. surprise dates-Max has tried to plan surprise dates for me, and almost every time I have figured it out before the date. I still love that he tries, some of these dates include prom, dance lessons, facials and pedicures...
5. Our wedding! I'll spare all the details for now but that was a pretty wonderful day!
6. Seeing you be a dad for the first time- It never gets old, with each child. Seeing the love you have for our boys is one of your most attractive qualities.
7. Reading about us in your journals-That one time, 2 years ago, we discovered that you had kept a journal all through high school that included our friendship, first date, first kiss, your excitement and concerns about having a girlfriend. etc. Those journals are pretty great!
8. Cleaning up vomit-A couple months before Edwin was born, Miles woke up throwing up. Max took him to the bathroom while I worked on changing his sheets and cleaning out his bed/crib. It was turning out to be quite uncomfortable with my large pregnant belly. I took our sick Miles in the cozy chair while Max finished cleaning his bed and the trail of vomit that led to the bathroom. The sight of him on his hands and knees, at 2am, (in his undies) cleaning up vomit, while I held our sleeping sick boy, is one that's forever in my mind and represents the love and dedication Max has our family for our family. (there have been many time situations similar to this, but this one is just very ingrained in my mind)
Anyway, there is a highlight reel but sometimes I make notes of all the ways he has shown love for his family in a single day and the list gets pretty long. Happy Anniversary Max...now that we are almost to our 9ths since I'm so slow at blogging!
Charlie gave me some gifts that he made me in preschool, he had a hard time waiting to give them to me. He had painted a frame and put a picture of me and him in it, he also painted a fan (everything was painted green because he knows that's my favorite color.) He also had this card he gave me. I love these surveys so much, and Charlie loved that it made me laugh so hard so he kept bringing it to me throughout the day to "make me laugh!"
We made our way home and got those kids in bed. As hard as this mothering thing is, I'm so grateful for these beautiful little boys that call me mom.
And there was our impromptu tea party. Thanks Charlie for inspiring us to still be fun sometimes!