5 years.

Today I have been married 5 years.  My, my what an exciting ride the past 6 and half years has been with Brad.

We met when we were only itty bitty kids, 18 & 19, and freshmen at Ohio University.

don't judge.  it's halloween in athens  .

We always talk about how each year of our marriage has been an entirely different journey.  And apparently an entirely different length of Brad's hair:)

honeymoon in NYC

Year 1: We lived in Athens, Ohio where we partied and attended college (most likely in that order:))

umm yea we had a pet rabbit.  his name was Reggie.

we had only the best halloween costumes

Year 2: We moved to Columbus, Ohio where I attended and graduated from OSU and Brad got a job as a web designer for NBC4.

mmm turkey

Year 3: We sold most of our belongings and packed everything we could fit into a campervan to set off across the United States in search of something different.  The van broke down 2 weeks in but we continued for 6 more months in our Chevy Cavalier.

Yellowstone

outside of Seattle

Year 4: We bought a run-down house in Columbus, found out I was pregnant & got a new puppy all within the same week.  In October we had a beautiful baby boy.

photo by MNR photography

Year 5:  We have now both successfully started our own businesses.  We continue to work on our house and I am amazed everyday at the progress we have made (and also frustrated about the progress we aren't making:)).  We get to watch our son grow and grow.  We get to spend nearly everyday together.  God has truly blessed us so much.

Honestly most days I forget how lucky I am.  Being together this long means you start to take the other one for granted.  But when I stop and think, like really stop and think about our relationship, I cannot believe that I get to spend my life with my best friend.  We make each other laugh all of the time.  We love spending as much time together as we can (we did live in a tiny car together for 6 months:)).  He understands me to a point that I cannot describe, it's probably better than I understand myself.  Never in a million years when I sat on a futon with this long haired kid in Brown Hall 6 1/2 years ago would I have dreamed he would become my life.  But he has.  I love you Brad Pauquette.