Here's to Another Year

I can't believe it's already been a year. 

A year since I made those special vows to someone I really love.

A year since I ate cake, tossed a bouquet, and danced with my husband for the first time. 

It was such a fun and special day. 

This year was full of good things and big decisions. 

Braelyn turned one.

I quit my job to be a mom and pursue school full time.

We moved into Mike's parents to save some money until August.

We got to take our first road trip together to California for Thanksgiving, which was so fun.

There are many other good things that came our way, and I couldn't be more grateful for the little life we've created together. 

I probably sicken you all with my "lovey-dovey" attitude towards my husband. 

But I can't help it. 

While neither of us are perfect, nor do we get along 100% of the time. 

I do think we make a great team, and both of us are always looking for ways to make the other one happy. Mostly it's Mike doing that for me though. 

So get ready for some lovey-dovey overload! 

Our anniversary didn't really come at the right time. 

Finals. Family visits. Graduations to attend. 

They were all there to get in the way of us remembering our day, but we weren't going to let that happen. 

I'll be quite honest here, I'm not very romantic although I want to be, so I was fine just doing dinner and calling the iPad we just purchased our gift to each other.  

But Mike had other ideas. 

He insisted we still get each other something. So I caved, but I still gave us a budget to work with. 

And what did he do? He went over it of course, and sorta made me look bad ;)

Our anniversary was Monday, but with all of the events going on that weekend we decided to really celebrate it on Friday night so my mom could watch B for us since she was in town. 

It worked out perfectly.

 Friday afternoon, B and I went to my cousin's graduation ceremony at BYU. Congratulations Rebecca! It was so nice to be there and it made me even more motivated to finish by next spring. 

Then I left Braelyn with my mom and headed back home to meet Mike, should I mention it took me an hour and a half to get from Provo to West Jordan? 

Ugh, remind me not to move to Utah Valley--at least not until construction is over.

Anyway I got home and walked into the front room with a bouquet of flowers and my presents sitting there waiting for me to open. *side note, as I'm writing this I'm just realizing I didn't get a picture, I think I might cry. My picture taking habits are horrible!*

We exchanged gifts before we went out. Mike got me this amazing jewelry box, which I've been mentioning I need for months now. I literally have no place to put jewelry, hence why I never really buy jewelry, which makes me sad because I really like jewelry! Anyway, inside it there is an engraving that says "Sheridan, A celebration to cherish, Our 1st, April 23 2012", it was short and sweet :) and then inside of the box was a watch. The gifts were so thoughtful, and since the iPad is pretty much mine as Mike barely uses it, I felt pretty bad handing him his card with almost nothing inside. 

I got him tickets to see Sugarland in September, which I think he's excited about. It's his favorite country band, and we've never been to a concert together so I thought it would be fun for us to do. 

Then we went and saw "The Lucky One" which he actually suggested (love that man of mine)! 

After, we had dinner at Market Street Grill. YUM :) 

It was such a fun night. I forget how much we need to get away and have our own dates, and feel reconnected as a couple. It definitely doesn't happen as often as it should.
 

Then we had another little celebration on our actual anniversary, after Braelyn was fast asleep. We cut into the top of our cake, and shared some new vows with each other while we nibbled on a slice of cake (which wasn't too horrible, but definitely didn't taste the same). We also ended up sharing what we remembered about our wedding day and had some good laughs. We decided to make it a "thing" to come up with new vows for each other every year on our anniversary, just to make new promises to each other. People throw extravagant parties, and relive their wedding day to renew their vows; but why can't it be more simple than that? Just two people making new promises that are relevant to what is happening now, things that you may not have thought of on your actual wedding day. Relationships change, they evolve, and sometimes new promises are needed, but in my eyes you don't need a new wedding to make new vows. In a way I got to relive my wedding day anyway. I cried. I laughed. I reminisced. We almost danced, but fell asleep too soon for that. *side note, Mike wants to take dance lessons with me, how cute is that?* Anyway, I loved what we talked about, perfect ending to a perfect year, and a perfect beginning to a new one :).

Oh man, I can't believe I've known him for barely three years, we've been married for one, and we almost have a 2-year old. Time flies! I fall more and more in love with him every day. I love married life, there really is nothing like it. You never feel so unified and together than you do with your spouse, at least for me. And I love knowing that there is no ending to our relationship. When we were just "together" there was always that "if", and I understand it might not be like that for everyone, but it sure is for me. It is crazy how marriage (or a "piece of paper" as some people like to call it) can change everything. At least when you've found the right person. Braelyn is just the cherry on top of that :)

Speaking of Braelyn, on Saturday when we were in Springville for Rebecca's graduation-dinner-party Braelyn got to have some fun in the backyard looking at all the flowers. This girl loves the outdoors, and animals too. She went around feeling all of the different flowers, and then started sniffing them out of nowhere! I was dying, and had to snap a few pictures. Looking at them now, it really does remind me to stop and take a second to enjoy what's around me. I love our little family, can't wait to make some new additions! :)