5 Years

Today is Jeremy and I’s 5 year wedding anniversary.

I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been married for 5 years. It sounds like such a long amount of time, but it doesn’t feel like it.

I still feel head-over-heels in love with my husband. It still feels new and fresh, because everyday I fall in love with him in a different way. Our love continues to develop and change as our relationships develops and changes.

“They called them crazy when they started out, said {19’s} too young to know what loves about….”

And in a way, they were right. The way I loved him 5 years ago, was a young and excited kind of love. I loved the idea of marriage with Jeremy, the idea of him as a husband. I loved that he loved me. That he made me happy and made me smile everyday.

Now, I love his loyalty and commitment to me and our marriage. I love the simple everyday moments that make up our marriage; eating dinner together, watching NCIS, having our weekend breakfast at IHOP, etc. I love how completely he knows me, my quirks and my habits; and how deeply I have grown to know him. I love his moody side and his goofy sarcasm.

I’ve seen the best of him and the worst of him, and I still chose him, everyday.

In another 5 years I image that I will look back on our marriage and see even more change. I will grow to love Jeremy not only as a husband, but as the father of our children; as my partner in life.

Our life will change, our marriage will grow, and our love will continue to adapt and change.

TBT: Marriage Retreat

During the summer of 2010 my husband found out that he would be deploying to Afghanistan that November.

In preparation for his departure, we decided to sign up for a Marriage Retreat through CREDO. I was shocked that my husband even came with me, he isn’t the kind of guy to talk about his feelings with me, much less in front of other people! I was even more shocked that he participated and actually enjoyed himself too.

Our retreat took place over the course of three days, Friday-Sunday. My husband had to get his command to sign off so he could take Friday off, and thankfully they didn’t have a problem with it since it’s a military run event.

We drove up to the forest and each couple got their own cabin for the weekend. No TV no internet, just a bed, a shower, and each other.

There were probably 15 couples total in our group. We met for classes and discussions during most of the day. The topics were communication skills and other relationships strengthening stuff. There were different activities and discussion topics, along with lectures about statistics and different ways to communicate with your spouse.

The food was AMAZING! We had three meals a day plus unlimited cookies and soda during the classes…probably the best part, no lie!

We also got some time off for “free time” to spend with each other. Jeremy and I took some hikes around the woods and also did a zip line that was on the property.

Overall, I would recommend it to any military couple. It gave us the platform to talk about our marriage, our feelings about the upcoming deployment, and all those other “feeling” stuff that is sometimes awkward to bring up out of context. This retreat gave us the context to have those discussions, and I think that we both found it to be a valuable experience because of that.

What’s In A Name? – Link-up

I’m a day late, but I wanted to participate in this link-up! The prompt is asking bloggers to share the story behind their blog name:

My current blog is actually the second blog I’ve ever created. I decided to deactivate the first one after I started developing my career in Graduate School…I didn’t want client’s to be able to Google me and find my personal blog. Awkward!

So I switched formats (from Blogger to WordPress) and created a new blog, one that wasn’t attached to my full legal name.

I took the opportunity of starting a new blog to also create a new title. My current title is actually part of a quote that I very much relate to:

This quote first came to me when I was searching for “positive deployment quotes” when my husband was first deployed, back in 2010.

I’m a huge advocate of keeping a positive mindset during deployment, I think its is one of the major things that can help military spouses not only survive deployments, but to thrive.

There is no denying that there are many negative things about deployments, and I promise you, if you focus on them the time will drag by and you will likely be unhappy for most of that time.

On the other hand, if you look beyond those negative things, you can actually have a shot at happiness during deployment. A positive attitude makes the time fly by so much faster than wallowing in the misery and loneliness. A positive attitude helps your spouse maintain focus on deployment, since they aren’t worried about you or feeling additional guilt for your unhappiness.

The quote choice is also the reason why I chose the cover photo that I currently have, it was from my husband’s first homecoming from Afghanistan.

The smiles say it all.

Military life can be filled with many “imperfections”, but there are also many beautiful moments, like homecomings.

So I choose to be happy. Not because my life is perfect (there are deployments, trainings, work-ups, etc.), but because I chose to see the positives in my life and look beyond the imperfections.

My First Wedding! – Milagro Farm Vineyards & Winery

Yesterday I got to photography my first wedding! Although it’s not as exciting as it sounds…it was more like a couples session since the couple was eloping. It was just them, the official and me! Heather and I went to graduate school together and she and her new husband were on a budget for the wedding, so they asked me to be their photographer. I was so happy to get to try my hand at a wedding!

The location was out in Ramona at a winery (Milagro Farm Vineyards & Winery). Since it was February, the vineyards were dead, but we found a beautiful orange orchard with some trees that were just beginning to blossom

There were also some fully ripe orange trees, that made for a beautiful backdrop as well

I’ve posted a few of the shots on Facebook for a preview, and so far the most popular one is this. I was nervous about this shoot because it was mid-day, not my ideal time to shoot because I’m a big fan of backlight. But this photo goes to show that you can get some nice flare even at 12 noon!

Overall, I’m very happy with how the photos came out, and the bride and groom seem pleased so far as well! I love being able to take photos for people who will treasure the memories.

Congrats Heather & Kenny!