5 Years of Wonderful Memories

Ian and I celebrated 5 years of marriage today. It was fun to look at the clock periodically today and try to remember what we were doing at that very moment 5 years ago. It was a great day of memories for me, especially when Bonnie remembered one of my favorite moments of our wedding, "Ian - Behold your bride!" (I have tears in my eyes -- what a sweet moment in my life!)

Ian and I thought it would be fun to come up with our five favorite memories together over the past five years. It was hard to only choose five! We have had some awesome times together, but here is what we came up with.

1) Our wedding day - By far the best day of our lives. We enjoyed every minute of our wedding and reception! It went better than I ever hoped it would. We loved being with our friends and families, and sharing such a special moment with all of them.

2) The births of our kids - Definitely the 2nd and 3rd best days of our lives! Cayman's birth was slow, normal, calm, wonderful, exciting, painless (seriously - I had 3 doses of the epidural medicine - it was great). Such a special moment for us! Charis' birth was FAST, everything but normal, wonderful, nerve-wrecking, PAINFUL, and MEMORABLE. Parenthood has been such a growing experience for both of us. It has challenged us in so many new ways. But thankfully the Lord has been with us every step of the way, and though we do make mistakes, He is teaching us and molding us everyday to become more like Him!

3) Our Honeymoon - Our first vacation together! We had so much fun on our cruise - it was so relaxing, so beautiful, so, so, so much fun...and it definitely left us wanting to go on another cruise!!

4) IM Program - When Ian made it into the IM program, I really think it was one of the first times in our marriage where we both completely rejoiced together - I mean, like running into each others' arms, hugging, just completely thrilled and super excited. (Ian tends to be a little more conservative when it comes to excitement...but not this time!) It was such a confirmation that we were still moving in the right step - still following God's plan - and that He had His hand on Ian's life and career. Moving down to Florida is also included in this favorite memory - it has been tough at times to move so far away from everything we've ever known. But man has it been rewarding! We have grown so much closer as a family, and it has definitely been a great time for our family.

5) 1st Christmas Alone - Surprised? I am! I had been so nervous leading up to our first Christmas completely alone. I was worried about how I would feel since we were not going to see our families at all. But when we woke up on Christmas morning, I realized how thankful I was to have MY family together. My little family of four. We were busy that morning making traditions of our own. We just let things happen - we didn't bring our past traditions into our first Christmas together. We did whatever we wanted to, and it was awesome. I'm positive now that I want our Christmas morning to be our family's time together.

So there you have it - the Moody's top 5!

I'm so thankful to have Ian in my life. He's my best friend, he's an amazing, loving, caring, understanding husband who is the hardest worker I've ever known. He works so hard to provide for us, and he is doing such an amazing job! I'm so impressed with how he runs his business and how he invests in peoples' lives. He loves being a father, and he is a great one. I love watching Cayman's and Charis' faces light up each time they see him! I don't know what I would do without him by my side. He makes loving him and being married to him so easy. I love being married and having someone so special to do life with! I love you, Ian. Thanks for loving me the way you do!