14 Years

Joe and I just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We went to a perfect little Fondue restaurant in La Jolla and enjoyed a quiet evening together while the kids were at home tearing the house apart. It seems like time has passed quickly, and yet it also seems like we've been together a lifetime. We certainly feel like we've crammed a lot into 14 years...

• 7 moves in 3 states, attending 6 different wards
• graduations, +1 for me and +2 for Joe
• +4 children, +1 dog
• buying 2 homes and selling 1 home
• buying 2 cars (I can't believe we've only bought 2 cars in 14 years!)
• business craziness: career changes, job losses, bonuses, scandal, raises
• taking out student loans and paying them all off
• surgeries, hospitalizations, health emergencies
• trips to Hawaii, Australia, New York City, Church History Sites, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Washington DC, the CA Redwoods
• canceling each other out on political votes, often
• attended 7 sibling weddings 
• lost 3 grandmothers and a cousin and gained 19 nieces and nephews
• Favorite TV shows started and ended...X-Files, Alias, Lost, 24
• some challenging church callings for Joe...YM President, Scout Master, and for me...Stake Music Chair, Seminary Teacher 
• some really fun callings for Joe...primary teacher, and me...primary music leader (Joe still hasn't received his dream calling...nursery worker)
• 4 failed vegetable gardens, 4 failed fruit trees (gardening's not our strength and yet we've never thought to seek professional help)
• performed in hundreds of concerts
• attended countless classical music concerts
• Joe's lost some hair and we've both gained some grey hair 
• As life gets busier we have gone from communicating during the day in person, to phone, to email, and now to text; there are a lot of texts going back and forth each day. Maybe we'll get back to that "in person" sometime in the next 14 years.