19 years!

19 years ago, I married the most amazing man ever! I challenge any girl to find a man that's even half the person he is! I am truly blessed to be able to share this life and eternity with him! This is what we looked like 19 years ago.......

How we have changed.............
In keeping with the past few years tradition, here are 19 reasons why I love this man!

1. Lindsay
2. Makenna
3. Emily
4. Alison
5. Baylie
6. Jace
7. He always puts mine and the kids' needs above his own
8. He makes me laugh
9. He loves and serves the Lord
10. He's an amazing dad (and the favorite parent of all 6 kids)
11. Works hard to provide for us
12. He sets a good example of how to live
13. He helps the kids with their math (because they know I can't)
14. He gets breakfast ready every morning, even if it's just cold cereal or toast
15. He waits up for the kids to come home at night (I usually fall asleep)
16. He unloads the dishwasher every morning, so it's ready to be reloaded through the day
17. He is unselfish
18. He treats me like a princess
19. He helps with all the household chores without complaining!

It has been a wonderful 19 years, and I am grateful everyday for Chris (some days I might not act like it). I'm thankful for the man that he is and for the quiet example he sets for me. I am blessed to have found a man that treats me with kindness, respect and one that puts up with me! I can't imagine what my life would be without him in it!

New York City

For our anniversary, we took a trip to New York City. Neither of us had been there before so it was a fun experience. I can't say it was a vacation, as everything and everyone in NYC is moving full speed ahead all day long and well into the night! Horns are constantly honking, thousands of people moving at a quick pace and it was just amazing to see how different our lives are from theirs. We left on Wednesday May 11th and returned on Sunday the 15th. We definitely couldn't possibly see all the NYC has to offer in a few short days but we did our best to see what we could! I took 249 pictures total so to condense to just a few for this post was hard! These photos are in no particular order - I did think this first picture was an appropriate choice to start with...... We got around Manhattan mostly using the hop on hop off double decker tour bus. It would stop randomly and you could either stay on or get off and explore then wait for another bus to come along.

There was an M&M's world store just one block from our hotel, of course we had to go in and get some! So many colors to choose from!

One of the things we planned before leaving was seeing the musical 'Wicked.' It was more than worth the $$ we spent on tickets and I would have been happy to see it again, on this same trip! I've been searching online to see where else it's playing, somewhere closer so I can go again and take the girls! That's how much I LOVED it! We also saw, "Phantom of the Opera" and "RAIN, a tribute to the Beatles." Both were fantastic!

Sitting in the Gershwin Theatre with my playbill

We went to the 'top of the Rock' observation deck~ man, what a view! Here is Central Park with the city surrounding.....

The Empire State building

Central Park, again

We took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty...... She's much smaller than I thought she would be.

This is what will be the new 'Freedom Tower' at ground zero!

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge

Here is one of the ponds in Central Park, it's the same pond where part of the 'stuart little' movie was filmed.

We took a pedicab ride through Central Park (poor guy that had to pull us around all afternoon)

Standing in front of the 'mall' in Central Park

The "friends" fountain. This is where the beginning of the show 'friends' was taped.

other fun things we saw...... the late night theatre

American Stock Exchange..........

Radio City Music Hall, where the rockettes perform

St. Pauls Cathedral - the largest Catholic Church in the world

We went into FAO Schwarz where I got to play on the piano from the movie "big"

The 'flat iron building' - it's located at the start of the financial district.

Broadway...

The Hershey's store in Times Square

In the middle of Times Square........ I love this guy!

We had such an amazing trip, I can't wait to go back! NYC has so much to do and see, I think it would take quite a few trips to see it all. We did shop along Canal street and scored some cute purses for the girls and the food is excellent! It was a great way to spend our 19th anniversary! This was, believe it or not, the first trip we have ever taken together that was just us. We've gone plenty of places but we've always gone with people, it was nice to have Chris all to myself for a few days! I wonder what our 20 year anniversary will bring???

Commencement 2011

Last night was the commencement dance for the high school. Lindsay was asked by a young man named, Alfredo, who is a foreign exchange student from Mexico. We took her up to her friend Avery's house to wait for their dates to pick them up and take a few pictures. This is probably my favorite picture of Lindsay of all the commencement pictures I took!

Here she is just after arriving at Avery's house. Besties ~

A shot outside...... still waiting for their dates.

We thought we were going to get their just a few minutes before the boys came, but we ended up waiting about 30 minutes so we took a ton of pictures of the girls together.

Waiting some more........

Lindsay and her parents. I have to point out that the ONLY reason Lindsay is taller than me in this photo is because she is wearing heals and I was barefoot!

The girls went upstairs to wait for their dates, here they are coming down the stairs once the boys got there.

Lindsay pinning the boutonniere on Alfredo

Sliding her corsage on her wrist.

The two girls, showing off their corsages. Notice the pearls in with Lindsay's roses and the jewels in Averys. They were gorgeous!!

A group shot that none of them was ready for.

A few more before they go

a close up

On their way out the door

And, they're off!

These dances are always so fun for me! I love picking out her dresses, helping her get ready to go and of course, I LOVE taking pictures. She always tells me I take way too many but I want to make sure I've got plenty for her to look back on and remember details! She looked gorgeous and I'm thankful she puts up with me making such a big deal out of things!

Mother's Day tea

I had the opportunity to go to Baylie's kindergarten class yesterday to attend the 'mother's day tea' that her class had for their moms. They had a cute program of songs, a dance, a reading about their mom (which the teacher read out loud), and they got to stand up and tell why their mom was special. She was really excited for this day but did tell me before she left for school, "don't bring your camera!" I think she knows me better than that! Here is Baylie and some of her friends singing one of the songs. Waiting for her turn to stand up and tell everyone why her mom is special.

When it was Baylie's turn, she stood and said, "my mom is special because she helps me clean my room!" I thought it was cute and funny at the same time. During the reading about her mom, the teacher would start the sentence and then the kids had to fill in the blank. Baylie's was, my mom is prettier than...... and she said, "a rose!"

Here she is getting ready for another song. They used these ribbon things that they waved around at certain points. She is making sure hers is ready to grab!

This was during the dance, it was a dance for the kids and their moms. It was a cute song/dance. I hurried to grab my camera but then it was over so she's just looking cute instead of dancing and looking cute!

The kids made flowers out of their hand prints to give to their moms. Here is Baylie with my flowers.

They served the cutest little cupcakes with raspberry frappe!

I had her teacher take a picture of me and Baylie together under the Happy Mother's Day sign.

It was such a fun morning and it's also so great to see the kids excited to have their parents come into their classrooms. I was thinking that my kids are growing up so quickly and I'll only have 1 more of these kindergarten mother's day teas to attend. Thanks Baylie for singing so well for me and saying such nice things. I love you and am so glad you are my daughter!