Today marks the day of my marriage to Brady nine years ago! Nine years feels both long and short, and I truly wouldn’t trade those years for anything. We have a good thing going over here, even when things aren’t good.
I was looking back in past anniversary posts to more easily find my favorite pictures from our wedding, but I decided to go a different route. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve probably seen them already, and if not, thats ok, too. It was beautiful wedding, with simple decor, a small wedding party, a GORGEOUS dress, worship music crossed with some music from the “Pride and Prejudice” soundtrack, and a breakfast reception like no other. I wish you could’ve all been there <3 Who knew I had such a support system of friends here?? I obviously didn’t know at the time, but The Daily Hailey didn’t exist yet.
I started clicking back, just to see out of interests sake, what we did each anniversary, and I decided that would be a more exciting post to read than a standard post about how much I love my husband. I do love him, and thats important, but I think you guys have probably picked up on that by now 😉
Anniversary #1 I have no record of, unfortunately! I wasn’t blogging at that time, and realizing that helps me see the value in what I’m doing here 🙂 I love having it on record. I wasn’t blogging during our first few years of marriage, but I remember we announced our very first pregnancy with Dekker almost exactly on our second anniversary. We were SO thrilled! We told our church, and I remember Brady whispering to me that now everyone at church would know that we were having sex. I remember making fun of him and saying they’d probably be more concerned if we announced that we weren’t! Anniversary #3 also is not recorded :/ Too bad.
Anniversary #4 is the first one I have in the blog, as I began blogging mid 2012, and it fell early 2013. My mom had offered to take Dekker for the day, so Brady and I went to the city to run some small errands before hitting up supper together. We went to Boston Pizza for tropical chicken pizza and garlic twisty bread. Both are still my favorites there 🙂 I remember we were SO excited, freshly pregnant with the baby we had tried for a full year for (Miss Laela.) I excitedly told our waitress that I was pregnant, but wanted a fancy drink. She told me she couldn’t recommend anything, because she liked alcohol. Lol! I was put off in the moment but the strawberry milkshake turned out to be yummy, so it wasn’t a total loss, haha! We went to say hi to Jerilee afterwards, who was working at Thyme Maternity. Of course I didn’t go into that detail on the blog, because it was still private, but I remember 🙂 It was a fun anniversary.
Anniversary #5 was spent with chocolate dipped strawberries and wine in a bubble bath. A few days later, my parents came out for the evening so Brady and I could go to this bizarre restaurant in Hafford that we had heard so much about. Brady had also planned a sweet little movie date for us afterwards, where he had folded down the backseats of our Mazda and laid out blankets and comfy things. A movie was downloaded on the laptop, and we snuggled in the car somewhere down a country road, and watched a movie. It was super cute, and very our style. I remember being heavy hearted, though, being just days away from Dekker’s eye surgery.
Anniversary #6 reads out pretty funny to me, actually. I was VERY pregnant with Rowan, and VERY sore. We were in the thick of getting the house painted so we could finally list it!! I hung with the kids downstairs, having braxton hicks one on top of the other, while Brady sanded drywall patches and cleaned all day long. Then he fed the kids while I spent the evening in bed. Not the most glamorous anniversary, but it counted!
Our 7th anniversary, I stated that Brady and I were probably in the best spot we had ever been in together. We were smitten and happy and just loving each other 100%. It was such an exciting time in our lives! We broke ground on our new house the very next day. It was good that we were in such good shape because the next few months were incredibly challenging, moving constantly, living in four different places. Tricky times, but we were strong!
Anniversary #8 was different. We had lost our Theo just weeks before, and we were weary. As I’ve said on here before, I had never known a grief like that – a loss of a child – and even though our loss was “early” and “routine,” it was new, and awful, and a very difficult “first” to experience. I didn’t want to do anything special for our anniversary. I just wanted to stay home. But, instead of backing out of the plans we had made months before, a few days later, we attended an epic Marianas Trench concert and enjoyed a delicious supper at Cactus Club. It was a beautiful date, and I’m so glad we went. No regrets there!
And now here we are on anniversary #9. Oy. Its been a HUGE year, and I wouldn’t say its been our best :/ Things were strained, and more difficult in a lot of ways. Yet on one hand, we were closer than ever, holding onto each other for dear life. Very naturally, he would remain strong when I was broken, which felt like always, but the few times he broke were the times I could pull it together and be the strong one. God carried us this year. Absolutely nothing else did. Sure, the wild amount of support has been the best of the best, and our world would be a heck of a lot smaller without it. I couldn’t be more grateful for all the love we’ve received. But, for Brady and I, we wouldn’t still be standing strong together, doing what we’re doing, without God’s constant cover of grace. We made it! Nine!!!
Next year will be our tenth anniversary, and without getting ahead of myself, of course, I’ve already decided we’re going on a hot holiday. But really, who knows. I’m usually pregnant, and I’d far rather go when I’m not. But finding childcare for a week for 5+ kids gets tricky too, hahaha! Ah well, I have a year before we’re there 😉 I think I’ll just go along with my usual “day by day” mantra and try to make it through until summer. Once summer comes, I will be able to breathe again. WE can breathe again.
Thanks for sticking these years out with me, Brady <3 I love you all the way, and will continue to do so. Smoochity smooch.