Happy Anniversary

Dan and I have been married for 5 years. I am in awe at how fast the time has flown by. As I look back upon the 5 years Dan and I have spent together, I can't believe it has really, truly been 5 years. How is that possible? 

I remember our first year of marriage as if we just lived it all yesterday.

The first year we were married was so amazing. 

I grew so much in that first year of our marriage. 

I think we both did. 

We lived in a very small one bedroom basement apartment. It was a place to call home. 

We walked to school each day hand-in-hand. We would race each other up the hill to school. 

Awe, I miss that. 

It was a beautiful time in our lives. 

We worked at night cleaning office buildings and a cafeteria. I think that job solidified our marriage. It really did. We learned how to communicate and work side-by-side. 

We worked several other odd end jobs together. At the time, it was such hard work. As I look back on those memories, I do nothing but smile at the love Dan and I built together working so hard for our dreams. We had so much fun working out with each other too. We would run late at nights and do hundreds of crunches. Dan and I are both so competitive that it's so fun to work out with each other. We push each other to do our best at whatever we do.

We were called to team teach a class on how to strengthen our marriages. At first, we both felt the calling was a mistake. How could a couple, who has been married for just a few weeks, teach a bunch of couples who have been married for much longer than us, how to raise a family and strengthen their marriages? Then, we realized the calling was sent from our loving Heavenly Father just for us. It was then that we further strengthened our testimonies in our Savior. It was then that we learned how to treat one another as husband and wife sealed for all eternity. It was then that we chose how we would raise our family.

I was also diagnosed with Grave's Disease that year and told I shouldn't have children for several years after my radiation treatment. I was so sad. I felt bad that Dan had married me and I got sick. How was that fair for him? And now I couldn't have children for a few years. That certainly wasn't fair. I was young and naive. I was really hard on myself. Dan, on the other hand, was so sweet and loved me so much more for it. 

Dan also applied to medical school that year. Watching Dan work so hard for his dreams really impressed me. He wanted nothing more than to become a doctor. It would be icing on the cake if he went to Mayo for his training. He was saddened that he didn't get into Mayo for medical school.  It was then that he set Mayo as his goal for residency. 

We moved to Nebraska where we made our home for the following 4 years. Although the past four years in Nebraska have been amazing and we've learned so much together, I can't help but marvel at how absolutely perfect our first year of marriage was for the both of us. It really was the perfect jump start to an amazing journey. It's so fun to look back on and see that Dan's dream of receiving his medical training at Mayo is coming true after all his hard work. It's also been so fun living the past five years as a couple and now being blessed with Heath. I can't help but feel like we are ending a chapter in our lives and beginning to write a whole new chapter now that we are parents. 

I will forever look upon the past five years of our marriage and cherish those unforgettable memories shared just between Dan and me. But I am looking forward to this next season of our lives with so much anticipation now that we have a beautiful baby boy to add to our loving home.

Moving

I have to admit that although I am a military brat, 

I hate moving!!! 

(Those are NOT exclamation marks of joy, but rather disgust)

 For 20 years, I thought moving was great! I actually looked forward to moving every few years. I loved meeting new people, traveling and visiting places I had never been. 

Simply put: It was fun. 

Moving in the military is completely different than moving in the civilian world. 

In the military, a professional moving company packs up everything you own and hauls it half way across the country, or world in some cases, and all you have to do is watch them to make sure they don't: 

A) Steal your stuff 

(which they do A LOT and how do you prove that somewhere along the move your entire DVD collection got stolen? Bottom line: You can't and it's not fair, but that's just how it is.)

B) Pack things so that they break 

(My mom's German grandfather clock broke and so did our couches amongst a million other things over the years. It's not fair, but it happens). 

Other than that, it's simple, we would just hop in the car or on a plane and we were at our new house. To me, it was an adventure and I enjoyed it. I really did. 

Moving on your own is quite the opposite situation, and I have developed quite the opposite feelings for moving now that I have done it several times now. In fact, if enjoying and liking something are on one end of a continuum and disliking and pretty much hating something are on the other end of that spectrum, then moving in the military and moving in the civilian world are complete polar opposites. 

Period. 

Once we picked up the moving truck things pretty much went down hill from there. All of our neighbors were either at school and couldn't help us move or were already moved themselves. So it was Dan, my mom, Carson, and our dear neighbor, Chris who filled the second to largest Penske truck available to rent. I was decommissioned due to just giving birth to a 9 pound 5.5 ounce baby. Dan did pretty much did all of the heavy lifting. I have to hand it to my mom and brother, they did an excellent job! They worked so hard! The rain didn't help things and neither did the annoying maintenance man who kept coming to inspect our house every hour until we were finally finished cleaning around 3pm. It was such a headache.  I'm so grateful for the help we did receive. Thanks Chris!

Once we were finished with our move out inspection, we hit the road. About 2 hours into the drive, Heath got hungry and so we pulled over to feed him. Dan and Carson continued ahead in the truck. It was quite tricky to know whether Dan should keep driving or pull over. The truck technically couldn't go much faster than 55mph, and of course we could drive much faster in the car, but with stopping to feed Heath every few hours, we didn't want to be too far apart from each other in case someone needed help. 

I guess we should be glad that our bank noticed that we were purchasing gas in several states and shut off our card service, but that put a wrench in things. So did the flat tire we got on the car between Tennessee and Kentucky. Not to mention the fact that the truck would occasionally decide not to turn on mingled with the transmission light that came on in the truck. Oh, and there were the debris that flew out of  the bed of a truck and hit our moving truck. And the rain we drove in for nearly the entire 3 days on top of my terrible wipers. I don't think I mentioned the horrible hotel beds and rude hotel staff. It was just a crazy experience all around. 

Lets just say, I didn't take many pictures to document the experience. I don't typically take pictures of things I don't particularly enjoy. And unfortunately, moving 1,400 miles with a 2 week old which ended up taking 3 days was extremely stressful. 

Once we arrived to our new home in Florida, I was in heaven! Our condo is extremely beautiful. In fact, Dan and I will occasionally pause while making dinner in our new kitchen or while playing in the living room and look each other straight in the eyes and say "Dan/Chels, I just love our new house."

Unfortunately though, we had about the same amount of help on the Florida end of moving. One guy from our new ward was able to help Dan with a few big items. For a little bit, one of our retired neighbors helped as well. Otherwise, it was Dan, my mom, and Carson who hauled all our things into the house in just a few short hours.

 It was a mess and after a very stressful move on the Nebraska side, 3 days of driving with only feeding and fueling breaks, we were all at our wits end. 

We made it in one piece. 

It is so comforting to know that the next move will not come for 5 more years at which time that move will most likely be paid by a future employer. 

Oh, how comforting. 

Good bye, Nebraska. You will be missed.

Hello, Jacksonville Beach. You will be lots and lots of fun!

The only pictures of the whole move: