9 years... but who is counting?

9 years ago today I woke up in the guest bedroom at Squirrel #1 in Sunriver, Oregon.  My mom was disappointed I didn't sleep in longer, but I was too excited about my day.  (According to today's standards, I would count that as sleeping in... but that was a different life ago, right?).  My parents, two of my sisters, two nephews and two nieces were all staying at this home.  They wandered over to the home the Conser's rented where Carl had made a grand breakfast (his specialty) and they brought me home a plate.  I wanted to wait to get ready once the photographer showed up, but I couldn't wait-- I was too excited. 

In the master bedroom my two friends joined my mom, my sisters and I and we laughed and giggled.  My very pretty feminine floral underwear showed through my very beautiful handmade(that very week by wonderful mom) ivory wedding dress.  I won't tell you if I decided to go without(although the girls in the room will remember what happened).

One sister was at home on bedrest with a niece not ready to be born yet and she listened by phone to the ceremony.  We kissed as husband and wife and then enjoyed our time with family and very close friends.  It was a special day that we will never forget.  We ate barbecued salmon, had shrimp, salad, goodies.  We had an amazing cake.

Jeremy whisked me off to a fancy hotel in Bend right on the deschutes river and was mistaken for a bell-boy when he went to get our stuff from the car.  He didn't respond very nicely, so we are sure the hotel got a little complaint about their employees rudeness.  He didn't care because they had lost his reservation and we were lucky we had a room complete with a spa bath.  Rather they were lucky, cuz we would not have been happy.

The next day we headed back to Sunriver to stay at 30 Kinglet- our family favorite- and my parents had stopped over to bring our left-over food(and cake- lots of cake!) and presents.  We snuggled under our marriage quilt my mom worked very hard on.  We had the unusual experience of being married the Saturday after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  This made us not only more thankful for each other and for our families, but it also gave us a much needed break from the TV and Radio we had been constantly listening too since the Tuesday before. 

This year is our 9 year wedding anniversary, which is 3 days and 3 years after the anniversary of our first date(that means we have been together 12- years!  Gasp!).  We celebrated early- on Saturday- by going up to the Gorge and hiking the triple falls.  Jeremy's lovely sister was available to watch our kiddos and we enjoyed our time together.  Its amazing how a few hours away from our wonderful kiddo's can give our relationship the much needed renewal and remind us of our friendship and commitment to each other.

Here is hoping for another 9 years.  I love you Jer!