Today, I’ve been married for eight years, but I’ve been in love with Josh for the better part of thirteen. I have “known” my husband since I was in the second grade. When I was seventeen and dating someone else, his best friend told me he wanted to go out with me. He says the combat boots did it for him. I have to admit… for me, it was the baseball pants.
Panama City Beach, Florida, 1997
We started dating in February of 1997. I went to his senior prom. I watched him graduate and went to the beach with him the morning after. We fell asleep in the sand and got a terrible sunburn. He and our best friend Chris wore satin pajama pants and harassed beach goers on the strip. His dad made up new lyrics to popular songs and we road home happy in the back seat of the Buick.
Senior Prom, 1998
He didn’t go far for college, so it wasn’t hard to be together my last year of high school. We went to football games and endless movies. We got all dolled up for my senior prom and had pancakes at the Waffle House in the middle of the night. We spent a long week at the beach after my graduation and then it was time to join the real world. He helped me get ready for college, taught me how to pump gas, how to perfect my straight-shift driving skills and how to maneuver the interstate.
Gulf Shores, AL, 1999
1999 brought the final semester of my freshman year and I was finally taking art classes. He saw my work for the first time and was surprised that I could actually draw! He helped me in the studio on the weekends and we spent late nights eating cheese fries and watching Friends with my suite-mate Ali.
Hiking into the Grand Canyon, Arizona, 2000
The summer after my sophomore year of college we went on a road trip with the youth group from my church. We almost missed a flight from Birmingham, AL to Amarillo, TX and were stranded on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. We saw Arches National Park, learned to play Nertz and hiked 20 miles of the gorgeous Grand Canyon. I have never done anything so hard in my life {including labor & delivery} and couldn’t have made it out without Josh. Not only did he have to majorly encourage me for the last, oh, seventeen miles or so; he was sweet enough to carry my pack for the last five. We ran out of water close to a mile from the top and when we saw a sweet lady with bottles of water and pretzels near the last switch-back, I thought I might cry. Water and pretzels never tasted so good. We laid right there in the dirt and gobbled it up.
The Gateway Arch, St. Louis, 2001In 2001, we decided to get married. We spent a long week on a tiny bus with a great group of friends. We had about 5 tire blow-outs and I read about ten wedding magazines. We had dinner at the top of the Skylon Tower in Nigara Falls, Canada. We took a boat ride and toured the caves behind the falls. We rode up the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and toured the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory. I bought my wedding dress in December and my dad correctly (although inadvertently) predicted the day Josh would ask me to marry him… December 30th.
Our Wedding Day, 2002
In 2002, I lived at home with my parents. I planned a beautiful wedding, graduated college with an art degree and we dreamed about starting our lives together. We found a tiny rental house and worked on renovating it every day after work and school. It had a storm cellar that we referred to as the dungeon and the cutest kitchen you’ve ever seen. We got married on a beautiful day in August at the church I grew up in, spent our first night as a married couple in our cute little house and enjoyed a lazy honeymoon aboard a cruise ship. We had a Beagle named Ninja, who lived on a chain tied to an oak tree in our yard.
Christmas, 2003
2003 was our first full year as a married couple and we lived it up. I worked out of town for the first six months of the year and we only saw each other on the weekends. We bought a beautiful little puppy who we still adore. We went on our first solo vacation in a pop-up camper at Gulf State Park. Josh finished college and we finally felt like “grown-ups”.
Heath & Susan’s, 2004
We found out in January of 2004 that our sweet little rental house was going to be for sale. As much as we loved it, we didn’t feel like it was in God’s plans for us to stay there. We moved our whole world into a storage building and began the process of moving in with my parents. One Sunday morning my parents saw a For Sale sign go in the yard of the Rock House. On Monday morning we had our first walk-through. We signed our contract on Tuesday and just a few weeks later got the keys to our lovely little cottage. We spent six weeks living in my childhood bedroom, moonlighting as decorators as we again renovated a home. By March we were all moved in, dreaming about filling the bedrooms with little girls.
The Rock House, 2005
In the summer of 2005 we decided to take a trip for our anniversary. It would be a wonderful week in Vegas and we were planning a repeat of our Grand Canyon hike before we headed back to Alabama {this time we’d be camping at the river so that I could get a little rest in before the dreaded hike out}. A death in the family postponed our trip and we decided a cruise might be a better use of our time and money. Two days before we were to leave, Hurricane Katrina blew into Louisiana. Our cruise was refunded and rescheduled for later in the season. The morning before our departure, I was flipping through satellite channels and saw our cruise ship on television. It was housing families displaced in New Orleans and our trip was canceled for a third time. We decided maybe God was trying to tell us to stay home!
On the way to the Hospital, September 10, 2006
In January of 2006, we found out I was expecting. I spent the first sixteen weeks of that year avoiding my toothbrush and enjoying the beauty of morning sickness. By April, we new we were having a girl and had started decorating her nursery. I spent the summer in a bikini because I had never felt so good in my skin. By August, my ankles were non-existent and I was working in t-shirts and giving presentations in flip flops. On September 11, we had a beautiful baby Ella in our arms and all was right with the world. I saw my precious husband turn into a wonderful father and loved him all the more.
Christmas, 2007
That next year was probably the most difficult and most rewarding year of our marriage. You learn a lot about yourself and your spouse when you have another little person to care for. We had a baby dedication and took her to the beach three times. We enjoyed new Holiday traditions and our baby’s first birthday. We experienced the joy of a second pregnancy and the bitterness of loss.
Oak Mountain Lanes, 2008
In 2008 we talked again about expanding our family and began planning for a new kind of future. Josh’s business was a little over a year old and I had just taken a new job after ten years at my previous position. Ella was developing such a precious personality and it was so much fun getting to know our little girl. I started our blog, dubbed the hubby Sweet Daddy and we suffered the pain of miscarriage again.
Pensacola Beach, Florida 2009
In 2009, I resumed fertility treatments. Josh & Ella met Mickey Mouse for the first time and I had the time of my life watching them take it all in. It was the first year I can remember that we didn’t spend a week in Gulf Shores over the summer. We partied it up in Pensacola instead and watched the Blue Angels fly overhead. We were pregnant with sweet Sophie by then, but didn’t even know it. The king and I planned a pretty fancy birthday party and got to share the news with our closest friends. We surprised Ella on her birthday and started getting ready to be a family of four.
Gran & Poppy’s, 2010
Maybe I’ll say this every year, but so far 2010 has been THE best. After thirteen years together and 8 years of marriage, I’d say were just hitting our stride. Life is unpredictable, but so good; God is teaching us new things every day. We are having so much fun parenting these two little girls. They are the sweetest, funniest, two spirits I’ve ever met.
Most of all, I am enjoying my days with this man. Our Sweet Daddy. He sends me silly text messages all day long and leaves me Facebook chats to discover when I get home. We drink Kool-Aid and play word games and read books late at night. We talk about what we’ll do when we win the lottery, when I’m a stay at home mom, when we build a house and when we have more babies. We plan family trips that we might never go on. We let the laundry pile up and the dishes sit. We enjoy each other and our time at home with the girls.
I don’t know what I did to deserve such a wonderful life, a wonderful partner. If you had asked me thirteen years ago what my life would look like today, I would have never guessed it would be like this. I couldn’t imagine a life so full of love and family and happiness. This has been thirteen years of awesomeness. I hope I get to spend five more thirteens with you, Antonio.
p.s. Could you please come home now?
Kristin is married to her high-school sweetheart and the mother to two daughters. Professional by day and creative by night, she is a family lifestyle blogger who writes about faith, family, and fitting it all into a busy schedule. At Taz + Belly, you’ll find healthy recipes, children’s party ideas, tutorials, DIY projects, and more. Click Here to Read More About Kristin
