A Decade of Memories

We have known each other for 10 years. We began e-mailing one another in December 2001, we met in person in January 2002, we were engaged in April 2002 and we were married in February 2003. We have a decade of many memories, recollections, stories, treasures, adventures, ups & downs, changes, tears, laughs, moments and pictures.

With Parker's birth right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment and recognize the past decade of being "just the two of us."

I'm thankful to God for how much time He gave us to develop our relationship, friendship and marriage. While we are in our early-mid 30s and just now starting our family, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It was all part of God's plan for us for it to happen this way. I feel incredibly blessed that we have had all of this time to be together and create the life that we have. We have had the opportunity to establish an amazing, strong marriage filled with so much love and happiness. We've been able to travel, spend a lot of time with family, be an active Aunt and Uncle, celebrate many holidays, start traditions, attend various events, participate in all sort of activities, attend marriage conferences, create a warm, loving home, go on date nights, work through many different devotionals, have a ton of fun...oh I could just go on and on with all that we have experienced these last several years.

I'm so grateful to God for the blessing of our sweet little boy and cannot wait to dive into the adventure that is "parenthood", especially with John as my partner and teammate. As excited as I am and wouldn't trade it for anything, it's a little bittersweet that we are closing the chapter that was just "John and Riley". It was a beautiful chapter...so richly blessed.

The good news is, "John and Riley" aren't going anywhere, we are just adding a new dimension to our life in the form of a baby boy. Many new adventures await us and we will be side by side through it all with more memories, more fun, more traditions, more stories, more treasures, more pictures, more moments, more ups and downs, more changes and so much more! And years down the road, Parker will leave us and start a new life of his own, just like we did, but we will still have each other.

I have posted several pictures of us below and they cover all sorts of things. Holidays, trips and vacations, high school and family reunions, Relay for Life, pregnancy and baby showers, birthdays and anniversarys, snow day, Christmas card photos, date nights, family visiting, weddings, graduations, events attended and sporting events. And as many pictures as I have posted, that's just scratching the surface of what we have. Also all of these were taken with our digital camera and are on the computer. We have about 3-4 years worth of pictures that are in photo albums or scrapbooks and photo boxes. One of the things I did while I was pregnant was organize all of our pictures and I'm so glad I was able to do that. Between sorting and organizing those pictures and looking through all of our folders on pictures on the computer, it was a sweet trip down memory lane.

I hope you enjoy these - again, these are but a few of the hundreds we have. They are in random order as you will be able to tell. Our smiles are genuine - we are so happy, so joy-filled and so in love. Call me cheesy and cliche, but I adore "US"!

I'm extremely grateful for the decade we have had together before having children. It means the world to me. I will forever cherish these precious years, but I'm excited about the years to come. Who wouldn't be with a husband and friend as wonderful as mine?! Thanks for the memories Johnny Boy!

Until we meet again...
Riley