Our 4th Anniversary

December 18th, 2014 marked four years of marriage for us and we had a lot of fun celebrating!  The always wonderful Jessica Marcum volunteered to babysit for us, which is about the best thing you could do for someone. ever.

We have a tradition of getting sushi every year for our anniversary so we kept it up by going out to Sakanaya.  The sushi was great, but the real treat was getting to sit across the table and just have a good conversation with no distractions.

After dinner we headed over to the temple to do sealings.  It was a really beautiful experience to be reminded of the promises we made to each other when we got married.  I loved looking at Aaron across the altar and thinking about how much we had grown since our wedding day.  And I loved thinking about how Eleanor is now apart of our family and receives blessings because her parents were married in the temple.  It was all so wonderful and beautiful.  I think we should go to the temple for our anniversary every year.

The night wouldn't be complete though without some Godiva cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory.  We ate at the tall tables like we used to back in San Jose after Aaron would have worked a long day (pre-baby) and it was fun to once again carry on a fun and uninterrupted conversation.  We both share an intense love of the Godiva cheesecake so that thing was gone in about a minute.

It's nights like these that make you realize that dating your husband is SO fun and so important.  Why don't we do this more often?! We re-committed to getting a babysitter more often so we can get out just the two of us.

And on a more reflective note, this past year of marriage has taught us A LOT.  We started off the year with bringing a new baby into the world, which has an amazing ability to bond you together in a whole new way while also putting new stresses on your marriage.  It was no longer easy to constantly have long, meaningful conversations or to get out and have an adventure, and yet we also felt bonded as we served each other by serving Eleanor.  I will forever love Aaron for rocking Eleanor to sleep in the middle of the night, for giving me back massages when I was tired from nursing, for waking up with Eleanor every morning so I can sleep a little longer and for asking for more Eleanor pictures while he had to be away at work.  He truly is a devoted husband and father.

And while bringing a baby into the family was the biggest part of this past married year, we also went through a lot of other things that make marriage interesting.  We had busy work weeks with late nights while Aaron was at PwC.  Then a life changing decision to change careers and cities after just a year in the Bay Area.  Which led to another round of packing up everything we own, loading up a Uhaul and then unloading (all exhausting and somewhat stressful).  And then a start on house hunting.  All such BIG things!  All of this has been wonderful and challenging, exciting and stressful.  And through it all we have had to learn how to become better communicators, how to put each other first, and how to listen to the Spirit so we can know what God would have us do.

The longer we are married the more we realize how much more we need to learn.  I am grateful for our long chats about how we can improve to be better for each other.  I am grateful for Aaron always giving me a kiss in the morning and saying "I love you" before he goes to work.  And I love the mid-day text string that helps us stay connected and up on each others lives.  And I love how Aaron jumps in to help the minute he walks in the door.  It's not all easy and we sure have had to learn a lot, but this has been a great year for our marriage and laid a great foundation for years to come.

I love you Hun.  Thanks for choosing me :)