8 years

My friend Brittany Hoyt titled her blog "8 years" a few months ago when she celebrated her anniversary so I stole the title. Thanks Brittany! Anyway, today is our anniversary. Kody is hunting and I am spending it alone. Don't feel bad for me, it's not the first time. In order to avoid divorce papers Kody surprised me with a weekend stay in Mesquite last week. He did however forget it was Halloween so we only stayed one night. But he told me to pack my bags so we could leave as soon as I got off work. He organized a babysitter for us and everything. We left the kids at my moms and hit the road. He got off the exit in St.George and he took me shopping first. I was surprised because he didn't tell me what we were doing until we were parking the car at the mall. He was even nice while I tried everything on and told me my butt didn't look big and such. What a gentleman! So after my shopping spree we went to the Casa Blanca in Mesquite to check in. He had made reservations at Katherine's at the Casa Blanca. It's one of the only places I really like to eat at in Mesquite. Then after our stay we got up on Saturday morning because we can't sleep in anymore. You know how kids totally kill that for you? You finally get to sleep in but you can't because you're so used to waking up with the kids? Anyway, we went and got massages. It was nice and relaxing. So now you can see why I am tolerating him hunting on our anniversary... again. And he did send flowers today too. He can be a thoughtful guy when hunting doesn't get in the way. So I can't believe it's been 8 years. Once you have kids time is out of control. I have known Kody since I was 12 years old. We went on our first date when I was 16! I am now 28. That is 12 years people! Holy smokes! We have experienced so much together already. Our relationship survived his two year mission (barely). We lived in 2 different apartments before we bought our first house then sold it 4 years later. We managed not to kill each other while living with Kody's parents for NINE months while we built our first house together. We have dealt with infertility and won! We have 2 beautiful children! In our relationship we have owned 7 different vehicles and 3 different dogs. We have killed (accidentally, don't judge) about 10 goldfish and 4 crabs. Between the two of us in our marriage we have had 7 different jobs. I have survived countless hunting seasons and Kody has survived countless hours of me telling him he hunts too much. Kody has lost two wedding rings. He found one of them, then lost the diamond out of it. We have dealt with 2 major health issues. And we have survived two heart surgeries (one Kody's and one Mataya's). Whew! We've experienced a lot. Can't wait to see what the next 8 years brings.

So now I have a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure of our wedding. I LOVE to see other peoples' anniversary posts with wedding pictures. So if you don't love it, stop reading this post. (PS I love you, Kod. Happy anniversary and congrats on your stupid-ahem -amazing deer. PSS I am just kidding I really am happy for you, for shooting a big deer.)

Walking on the temple lawn. I love this pic.

Here we are looking in love. OHHHH! This is when I came out of the temple for the first time. I scanned these pics so you can't see what a baby Kody was. No wonder he gets ID'd at the movies! Please click then zoom in for the full effect. PS That's my friend Natalie and my brother. He looks like a baby too. Then the bottom pic is Kody's family.This is our wedding luncheon at Rusty's. We were late because I couldn't find the right thing to wear. Everyone thought we were doing something else that caused us to be late.- Excuse me! I am a lady and would never do such a thing!- The bottom pic is the head table. Check out how big my hair is. It's funny how fast the styles change.The top pic is my dad and I dancing. He is crying of course. If you know my dad, you know this is not an uncommon thing. He cries at every birthday, holiday, social gathering, sappy commercial, etc. The bottom pic is Kody after I smashed cake in his face. He wasn't very happy and insisted I LET him get me back. I forgot to mention the pics are black and white because those were the days when we didn't have digital cameras so I bought black and white film and asked my best friend Nicole to take some pics. I love these pics because they are of my brother dancing. First he is doing the limbo, then he is cutting a rug with the chicks. He was a bachelor in those days and cracked everyone up with his moves. He's a good dancer but he is so large that you can't help but laugh.