Three Years Later...

Today is the day! Three years ago but what feels like yesterday, we stood holding hands, trying to calm the excited jitters and just repeat the phrase that Pastor Steve said. And then, after an afternoon of hugs and pictures and smiling till our faces hurt, we ate frozen pizza for dinner and forgot to take forks to the hotel so we could eat more wedding cake. The day our adventures began was the best day of my life, and I'm so lucky to have a husband to continues to try to make each day the best day. While some may not have been awesome, here's some pretty good ones!

Favorite Memories:
- Huddling around a steaming cup of hot cider at the Feast of the Hunter's Moon.
- Camping with some Watkins siblings in the October cold spell.
- Hosting our small group in our home.
- Having new friends over for dinner and games.
- Celebrating birthdays with the Watkins family.
- Putting up our new huge Christmas tree in our new house.
- Our first Christmas morning in our new house!
- Celebrating my birthday at The Melting Pot.
- Breakfast, relaxing and a giant cheese plate on Valentines Day.
- Participating in a marriage study with our church.
- Painting our bedroom white.
- Babysitting together for some friends.
- Hosting Easter dinner for my family.
- Digging out the space for our patio (which became a not so favorite memory after a while...).
- Serving in the sound booth together at church.
- Having BOTH OUR FAMILIES over for Mother's Day (it was seriously the best ever).
- Going on a roller coaster together for the first time.
- Discovering the best place to get onion rings.
- Roadtripping to and from our vacation destinations.
- Getting to spend a week in the same place we went for our honeymoon.
- Playing Minecraft until very late at night together.
- All the Starbucks and surprise dates he planned over the year.

Marriage Lessons:
- Everybody says love is a choice... and it really is.
- Participating in his hobbies will make your husband really happy.
- Serving the Lord and other people together is the best.
- This is a little more personal: Doing what you normally do (cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc.) doesn't speak to your husband's "Acts of Service" love language. Find something to do that HE usually does.

Read anniversaries 1 and 2 for other things I've learned.

Three years later, Dearest Carl still shows me how to love better, serve better and just be better. He is the kindest, gentlest, most hard-working person I know and I learn from him every single day. Here's to another year of learning, growing and adventuring!