Fours Years of Wedding Bliss

4 years, 3 moves, 2 states, 5 duty stations, 4 squadrons, 2 fur babies, dream careers, homeowners, and now our first child. 


From St. Louis to Annapolis to Pensacola to Jacksonville. 

The last four years have been filled with many laughs, tears, challenges, learning opportunities, adventures, hugs, and love. Through it all, you've been right by my side. I'm so proud of this life and love we've built together, as well as the individuals we've encouraged each other to become. This lifestyle hasn't always been easy for me, but I thank you for showing me that "home" isn't a place, but instead, a person. You are home. Thank you for doing life with me and making me your wife and partner four years ago. You are the greatest risk I've ever taken.

June 11, 2011 was the start of the best days of my life. I'm so grateful for our past and even more hopeful for our future.

I Love You, Nicholas! Happy 4th Anniversary!!

Third Year Anniversary Photo

Nicholas and I celebrated our anniversary a month ago and I've yet to share our anniversary photo with everyone!  Each year, we take a photo with the photo from the year before (thanks Pinterest!).  It's a tradition we love and although I don't see any changes in our appearances, I'm sure we'll see some in a few years.

Choosing a location is always something we probably spend far too much time discussing.  Last year, we chose to take the photo on base, with the helicopter Nick was trainng on in the background.  That helicopter was a symbol of the reason we were in Milton, Florida, where we spent our second year of marriage.

This year was actually a pretty easy location decision.  We purchased our very first home in our third year of marriage, something we're incredibly proud of, so it only made sense to take a photo in front of it.  Sadly, it was hard to do, even with a tripod.  We had to stand in the street to get a closer up shot of us, with the house smaller in the background to get it in the photo.  The main problem is the incline of the street had us standing up a little higher than we'd have liked to get a shot of the house.  But it is what it is.  We might try to retake the photo, if we feel like it....which we probably won't.   Here are the only decent shots we got from the 10 we took:
(The house has been distorted and uglified (made up word) simply because I don't need internet stalkers being able to find me and kill me.  Our house is pretty cookie cutter so this should be good enough to not give anyone super obvious knowledge of where we live.)

If you're a newlywed, I highly encourage you to start this little tradition!!  We love taking these photos and displaying them in our house :)

Third Anniversary Trip to Charleston, South Carolina.

I'm back in Jax and therefore it's back to the daily grind.  While I'm sad to be back (because there's nothing better than being with family), I am happy to be back with my husband (when I saw him waiting for me after exiting the gates at the airport, I got a belly full of butterflies.  I love that after over 8 years together and 3 years of marriage, this still occurs), happy to see my pups (Yadi was so excited she was crying), and getting back into my routine.

Part of getting back into that routine is blogging again.  I miss blogging.  I find it so therapeutic and it's just something I thoroughly enjoy doing.  Thankfully, as I was lying awake last night, long after Friends left me for George Lopez (nowhere near as awesome), I took to my iPad for some late night insomnia reading.  I came across Juliette's blog and she, along with some other bloggers, have come up with this awesome (and get lofty idea) to blog everyday in July!  They've even created prompts for each day which is even more awesome!  So click on the image below to check out what it's all about and join us!!!!

Today's prompt is to write about Canada Day.  (Simply because one of the hosts above is from Canada and  today is basically like our Independence Day.)  Now, it's not that I don't love Canada, but I don't really feel like being very Canadian today or learning about Canada so I'm going to take today in my own direction.  Also, because I've been meaning to blog about our anniversary for a very long time now.  I mean, it was on June 11th and we're now in July.  Big blogging fail.  

June 11th was our actual three year anniversary, and we celebrated that evening with just a simple night out to dinner.  Our anniversary fell on a Wednesday, we both worked all day, and had to work again the next morning. Normally I'm one for huge celebrations but we had a trip planned that following weekend.

On Thursday night, immediately following kickball, with Nick full of dirt and stank, we made the four hour drive to Charleston, South Carolina.  It holds a special meaning to us since this is kind of where we began. I say kind of in the sense that this is where Nick was living when we began dating.  I was still living in St. Louis but Nick was starting power school for the Navy.  Nick wasn't there too long while we dated, just shy of 6 months, before he was accepted to the United States Naval Academy and moved to Annapolis just after graduating power school.  Life, for me during that time, was pretty crazy as I had just finished chemotherapy treatments and was adjusting to life after cancer, finding my new normal, and returning to 18 credit hour semesters plus 30 hours of work after taking only 12 credit hours and 20 hours of work throughout chemo.  I really regretted never visiting him because he thoroughly loved it there.  And now, after almost 8 years, everyone I know who has lived there or even visited talks about how much they love it there.  

So needless to say, I was pretty excited to get up there and see for myself what everyone talks about.  Nick was pretty excited to show me his old stomping grounds, and I was excited to see all these places I remember him spending so much of his time.

We arrived late Thursday night, checked into our hotel, and crashed.  Friday we woke up, grabbed some hotel breakfast (as we did every morning)

and we opted for the touristy thing and we toured the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the USS Laffeydestroyer, and USS Clamagore.  We also walked around the Vietnam camp they recreated, and enjoy lunch there on the property.

 

 

We then took a nice little boat ride over to Fort Sumter which was really cool.  I was never into history until I turned 24 and then I became vastly interested so this was one of the highlights of our trip for me.  It was so amazing to see this old fort, where the Civil War actually began!

 

Afterwards, we headed downtown to drive around for a bit, for Nick to point out some old hangouts.  We also walked through the Market and bought some souvenirs.  

That evening, we went over to a friends house for dinner.  We hadn't seen them since our wedding and since then, they've had a baby and are pregnant with their second!  It was so great to see them and catch up.  They are some of the most generous and down to earth couples we know and I truly wish they lived closer so this could happen more frequently.  However short, I was thankful for a great evening with them.

Since they live in base housing, after leaving their house, Nick took me to NNPTC (Naval Nuclear Power Training Command) to show me where he lived, ate, worked out, went to classes, etc.  I've seen so many pictures of him in these places and it was finally nice to see it in person.

Then we continued to drive all over Goose Creek while we he showed me his old hangouts.  

Saturday, we headed out to the Irvin House Vineyards and Firefly Distillery.

Nick never did this when he lived here and he knows I love me some wine.  (Let me add in an "awww" factor for you.  Nick was deciding what day we would attend the winery and distillery and he looked at their schedule.  He saw that Saturday they had a live reggae band playing and decided that was the perfect day because our honeymoon, where we were exactly three years ago, was in Jamaica and full of reggae music!  I just love him!)

Anyway, back to the alcohol.... For only $5 we each got to sample their 5 wines and keep our glass.  It was good, but they don't have true red wines.  Their wines are more sweet.  And while I don't hate sweet wines, I'm now more of a dry red wine fan.  We still bought a few bottles anyway.  You knew I wasn't leaving a winery empty handed.

Then we headed next door to the distillery and for $6, you could choose any of the below 6 to sample, and you got to keep your shot glass.

 

 

 

We ended up leaving with Peach Moonshine, Strawberry Moonshine (which will get you in trouble because it doesn't even taste like alcohol), and the Java Rum (which I took home to my family and we used to make bushwackers each night).  

Afterwards, we were pretty intoxicated, me moreso than Nick because he's responsible and only sipped some shots and dumped the rest or gave it to the guy next to us.  Aka he's old and lame ;)  Anyway, afterwards, we weren't yet ready to drive so we hung out and walked around the vineyard.

 

 

 

There was a cow that loved Nick and apparently hated me.  Every time I went to pet her, she threw her head with her tiny horns into me.  I think I might have been too loud for her.  

Afterwards, we went home, napped a little, showered, and got ready for a nice little dinner.

We were early for our reservations so we parked along the battery and just walked along the water.  And of course got our picture taken in front of the giant pineapple fountain.

Following dinner, we walked all over downtown Charleston, bar hopping.  We visited each of Nick's old bar hangouts, got a drink, enjoyed talking and reminiscing and then scooted off to the next place.

Sunday we headed to the Citadel and RJ (Nick's USNA sponsor parents son) showed us around.

It's a beautiful campus!!  Then we headed out to eat at one of Nick's favorite, Hyman's Seafood.  As were sitting there, someone mentioned each of our seats had a tiny plaque on the table of a celebrity who has sat there.  I probably got a little too excited when I saw who's place at the table I was sitting in.....

We then said our goodbyes, with hopes to come back this fall (pending a deployment) to watch RJ wrestle for the Citadel. Then we hopped in the car and began our trek home, but not before Nick bought me a Cheerwine because I'd never heard of it.  And I loved it!!

The weekend flew by was it nice to be with Nicholas, no distractions from work, friends, the dogs, the house, etc.  We were removed from our phones the entire time.  I only hopped on social media while Nick pooped, showered, or when insomnia kicked in.  And let me tell you, it was nice.  On this trip, I realized the difference it made.  We were 100% and truly present.  It was very needed after the last few months of barely seeing each other and when we did, me being incredibly irritable due to the stress from work.  I hope to continue in to put the phones, iPads, and laptops away at home and just be present when we do get time together.

Two Year Anniversary Photo

Last year we decided to start this tradition of taking a yearly anniversary photo, holding the photo from the previous year.

We took our first anniversary photo on the beach to symbolize our new life here in Florida.  It's also a particular beach that has a lot of meaning to us as we've spent many sunrises, evenings, and special occasions there.

This year, we wanted to again choose a place that would either represent our second year of marriage or had a special meaning to us.  We decided on NAS Whiting Field, in front the helicopter that Nick is currently training on, the TH-57.  The Navy is obviously a huge part of our life and this helicopter symbolizes the path our entire lifestyle will revolve around.  We will always be a Navy family, more specifically a Naval aviation family; and even more specifically, a Helo family.  This is where our life as a Helo family started, as this year of marriage was the year Nick found out he was selected to join the helo community and began his training this year.

We love this tradition and it will be so neat in a few years to look at our walls and see all the past years photos hung up, each symbolizing something important from that year of marriage.
If you're getting married soon or your first anniversary is approaching, you should definitely make this a yearly tradition!