Five Years & Counting

We celebrated five years of marriage last Saturday. We spent the morning with the kids at a nearby pumpkin patch. Henry was in heaven, even showing his excitement in his prance/run as he went from one animal cage to the next. He wanted to hang out with the animals forever, but we convinced him to ride a horse, go on a "cow train" ride, then a hayride to pick our pumpkins fresh off of the vine. But the kid loves animals. The first thing he said to me when he woke up from his nap was, "A...an-mals...cow...pi" (translation: I want to go see the animals, the cow, the pigs...").











After showing Henry the horses, he was excited to ride one but, while riding, seemed to be more enthralled with the other horses. He kept pointing to the other horses, saying to the man leading the rope, "Look! Horse!" But he did love his horse ride. He loved it so much he threw a little tantrum when he had to get off. Thankfully, the rides were enough to capture new excitement. He and Dad rode the cow train together. Then, he loved the hayride to the pumpkins and when it was time to pick our pumpkins, he walked around for a short while with Dad then was ready to get back on the hayride. Dad won us a drink at the corn cannon activity and we enjoyed the smell of smoked meat the entire time we walked around. It was a fun morning with the children and throughout the morning I felt so much appreciation to them for the added love and joy they have brought to our marriage and family.

After naps, Brendon and I spent the evening together. Alone. Just the two of us. I love when that happens. We went on a mountain bike ride together, something Brendon has wanted to do ever since he got into mountain bike riding. Every time he tells me I need to join him, I remind him it's better that we do different things so that someone can watch the children. But I ended up loving our time together riding trails. I enjoyed the ride, but I really enjoyed riding together. I wanted to ride all night together.

Our dinner was amazing. The best place in Lubbock thus far. We ate at Manna Bread and Wine and enjoyed every bite of both of our meals. For dessert, Brendon stopped at the hospital to pick up pint-sized Blue Bell ice cream using his food card. Yum, yum!

I told Brendon I never realized how much I would learn while married. As a young woman, I thought all learning would end after marriage. I would know everything, I would have every skill mastered, I would know the answers to everything. Little did I know marriage has brought an accelerated learning curve. And I'm grateful that we are learning together. As I watched my wedding video last week, my main thought was how grateful I am to have Brendon to experience life with. I love the good-bye kisses, the welcome home hugs, the joy of watching our children learn, the alone time talking, the words of songs exchanged between us, and playing footsies underneath the dinner table. Yay for five years and for many more to come!