four more years!

Last night, D and I celebrated our four year anniversary.  The past four years have been the best of my life and I'm looking forward to four more years and an eternity after that.

I've spent the evening reminiscing about our marriage and remembering all of the happy memories we've made.

On the morning of our wedding, we met at the temple dressed in our Sunday best and were taken to a little office to fill out some administrative paperwork before getting ready to be sealed.  I remember sitting in that little room holding hands and giggling nervously, waiting for that sacred ordinance that would bind our spirits together for the rest of forever.  We were just so happy and everything felt kind of surreal like we were floating through some sort of blissful fuzziness.  I felt an exciting combination of nervousness and peace as I smiled at the eternal companion I had finally found.  I remember smiling at D and thinking to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."

But I was wrong.  One year later, I had graduated, D was a starving student and we were so very poor.  But as poor as we were, we were even more in love.  We had just settled into an apartment that made me feel so at home.  We could barely afford to pay our bills each month but D's parents paid for us to go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant in Salt Lake City as an anniversary gift.  I remember getting dressed up and sitting down to a dinner we couldn't afford across from the man I loved more than the air I was breathing and thinking to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."

I was wrong again.  The next year, I had a teaching job that I loved.  D was getting closer to graduation and we were in love with each other and the life that we shared.  In an effort to be more like the perfect little homemakers I read about on blogs and Pinterest, I tried to make a three tiered wedding cake.  I'm not sure why I thought we could eat through three boxes of cake mix before it spoiled but I saw Ina Garten bake a wedding cake for Jeffrey for their anniversary on Barefoot Contessa so it seemed like a good idea at the time.  My attempt was in vain, the cake tilted to the side and it all but fell over in the fridge.  I remember laughing with D about my wild idea and thinking to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."

365 days later, I was proven wrong again.  The next year found me expecting Baby Katelyn, D preparing to become a father, and the two of us in love with the little heart beating alongside mine.  We celebrated what would be the last anniversary as a family of two and marveled at the new life that was shifting and kicking and rolling inside me.  I remember feeling little kicks and jabs from my husband's daughter and thinking to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."

This year, it was even better.  D took me out to dinner and a movie.  A movie that I wanted to see, I might add.  I came home to a dozen pink roses and Cadbury chocolate (my favorite).  That night, I laid in bed for a while and listened to D's peaceful breathing on my left and my squirming sleeping baby on my right and enjoyed the tranquil feeling of everything in my life neatly in place.  I feel asleep between my two loves, feeling at total peace with my world.  And even though I knew the next year will prove me wrong, as I settled into my pillow and my eyes shut for the last time that day, I thought to myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."