10 Years

August is just our month, I guess!  Stanton's birthday is July 30th, then we have our Henry on the 7th of August, Cannon on the 8th, and Brigham on the 28th.  To top it off, our anniversary is on the 30th!  It's a busy, happy, great month.  And if our next baby is due in August, we've decided we don't even need to have an ultrasound -we'll just know it's a boy!  :)

Well, anyway, I've had this idea swimming around in my head for a few months as I've thought about this milestone anniversary.  You see, I think it's darn cool that we had our fifth child just a few short weeks before we hit our tenth anniversary.  And it's pretty amazing that we live in the same town we were married in and that our life is just as happy as it is. 

Emily Chadwick (you'll hear a lot about her on the blog over the next few weeks!  I've decided she's our personal photographer nowadays...) was so great to humor me in this vision.  Oh, my vision!  This was my vision:  I wanted a family picture taken on our 10th anniversary at the Logan temple where we were married.  Nerdy, I know, but it was something that was just extremely important to me. 

I'm so, so happy we did.  I love these pictures so much.  I just stare at them and think about how incredible it is that we are here at this phase of our lives.  It seems like life keeps getting better and better.  Stanton and I are more on the same page than ever before.  Our kids are growing up and involved in things that are stretching them and helping them become the amazing people they have potential to be.  Our life is just happy.  I'm so thankful.

 

Looking at the next few pictures made me think of some of our pictures from our wedding day.  So fun to compare them!

 Haha!  Okay, but seriously:

 Yeah, we've definitely aged a little.  :) 

This picture will always make my heart so happy.  Those darling nieces and nephews of mine are so grown up now and I am so happy I have this picture to remind me how little they were and how quickly time passes.  The best part, though????  Count how many cuties we're holding there -- 5!!!  And how many cuties do we have here??

Yep, 5 kids on our 10th anniversary, just like our wedding day!  Oh, how I adore these 5!!! 

Okay, last couple of pictures, I promise. 

I LOVE to look at pictures of my children together.  They are the best of friends (when they aren't at each others' throats!).  I will be forever thankful that we followed the inspiration to have our first four so close together.  And I will be forever thankful that we added Henry to our family this year.  What a life.  What.  A.  Life.

The first ten years have been full.  We've had our struggles, our growing pains, our years of, well...tough.  We've seen so many miracles and blessings.  We've gotten better as the years have gone by and we are happier than the day we got married - that's an accomplishment!  The next ten years are going to be their own adventure - 4 teenagers at once!  Whoo!  Yeah, we'll see how that one turns out.  :)  I'm looking forward to what the next few years have in store.