13

This post is dedicated to Nels, my partner, lover, & friend.

Today marks thirteen years of marriage for my husband and me. Thirteen years of waking up to one another. Thirteen years of choosing each other over and over again. There have been good years and bad years, but through it all, we've have been a team, and we never gave up. I look back at all the choices we've made and how we have grown, and I'm just so crazy proud of us. I'm proud of the relationship we have with one another, and I'm proud of the life we have built.

We were young when we got married. Too young in the minds of most people, but you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. People say, "but you missed out on being young and wild in your 20s." To that I say, we both did our fair share of partying and being young & wild before we got together and honestly, we have had a blast being young & wild together. We genuinely enjoy each other's company. He tells me I'm his favorite person to hang out with if he has to choose to be with anyone. (His absolute favorite person to hang out with is himself, ha!) Neither of us feel like we missed out on anything along our journey. Because we were so young when we met & married, we have gotten to watch each other grow up. The growth I've seen in him still blows me away- personally & professionally both. We each have our hobbies and careers that keep us growing as individuals. We have our kids, our house, our financial goals and our relationship that keep us growing as a couple.

Over the last 13 years we have turned a house into a home, we became parents and today anxiously await baby number 3, we have traveled to 17 states and 3 countries, buried loved ones, attended countless weddings- most importantly those of all four of our siblings, welcomed nieces and nephews to the world, cried together, laughed (a lot) together and formed an unbreakable bond that we continue to work on every single day.

Nels is my guy and my favorite human. I can't wait for what the future holds for us. Here's to the last 13, the next 13 and the 13 after that.

Happy anniversary, my love.