Six Years

This past weekend Chris and I celebrated six years of marriage.  Six years...it doesn't sound like a very long time, but yesterday, as I sat down to look back through old pictures while the girls were napping, it felt like we've covered a lot of ground, physically and emotionally, in those years (not to mention a lot of hairstyles).  It felt like much, much longer than six years as I looked back on how we've grown and changed, both together and as individuals.  

It's amazing how images of past memories and experiences can provoke so much emotion--how they can conjure how you felt in that season of life, in that very moment the photo was taken.   

Each photo holds a story of its own, and when these photos are strung together, they tell a bigger story...our story...a story that is still being written by an extraordinary Author.  While our story so far is much deeper than a blog post can reflect, I still wanted to map out a little chronology of life with my main man as we celebrate six years together as husband and wife...

[warning: this is long.]

    

May 2004; a deserted alcove of Catalina Island

Just three weeks after Chris and I met, he found out he was to be deployed to Iraq.  We had six weeks before he left.  This time line expedited our relationship, as we wanted to spend as much time together as possible before he left.  Chris invited me to go back home with him to southern California so I could meet his family.  He planned for us to sail out to Catalina Island and spend a few days there.  Chris was the captain of this small sailboat and I was the (extremely seasick) passenger.  Chris showed me his love for sailing and the ocean and shared with me some of the things he enjoys most in life.  We always say that Catalina is where we fell in love. 

Before heading back to San Antonio, TX, where we lived at the time, Chris introduced me to the infamous "In-N-Out" Burger.  I had never heard of In-N-Out before that day, but it lived up to its reputation.  I love this photo.

After this In-N-Out photo, we don't have any pictures together until September of 2004, as Chris was in Iraq.  It was a hard deployment...but we made up for lost time when he returned home.

October 2004; Oak Island, North Carolina

One month after Chris got back from the desert, I took him home to meet my dad and mom for the first time.  It was on this trip that Chris asked my dad for my hand in marriage.  And one month later, we were in NYC...  

where Chris proposed to me, November 13th, 2004.  Chris planned an elaborate, romantic, surprise weekend to NYC.  He told me it was a "birthday trip," but I was onto his game.

And a few weeks later, we were suddenly in New Orleans for Thanksgiving with Chris's mom's dear friend, Nancy, who spoiled us rotten!  We ate a lot of beignets and listened to some amazing jazz.

December 2004

A few weeks after that we were in Lake Tahoe so I could introduce Chris to my dear friends, Jad and Tiff.  Here we are on the frozen lake.

February 19th, 2005.

Our wedding day.

Six years ago.

Honeymoon in Figi! Chris pulled another quick one on me...he told me we were going to Cabo, Mexico.  I found out we were actually going to Figi just five minutes before boarding the plane.

 April 2005.

Our one-year dating anniversary (what can I say...we were newlyweds...we still celebrated things like that). 

Chris surprised me with these flowers at work--I was working nightshift at the time.  When I look at this photo, I remember that Chris and I had just been in a massive fight--the kind that newlyweds have in the first year of marriage, when the wedding and honeymoon are suddenly over and you've come back down to reality and are left to navigate the art of learning to live with each other.  These flowers were a peace offering.  

June 2005.  

Chris was finishing up his duties as a flight surgeon and gearing up to start his intense Ophthalmology residency, which consumed the following three years.  The days of a low-key 8am-4pm work schedule would be long gone...and photos of us together dropped off for a while.

[Please note: I did NOT have a perm in these photos...my hair used to be very curly...until pregnancy.]

February 19th, 2006.

One year wedding anniversary.  

We ate our left-over wedding cake and popped a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, the same champagne we had at our wedding.

August 2006; Black Point Inn, Maine.

Chris was in Maine for the entire summer for an Ophthalmology course, and I got ten days of leave to come see him.  I was about 13 weeks pregnant with Tess and horribly nauseous!

Another shot of us in Maine--Acadia National Park

Fast forward to Christmas of 2006.

Seven months preggo with Tess.

February 19th, 2007.

Our two year wedding anniversary.

The day we brought our first-born Tess home!

This anniversary will always be so special to us.
I love our expressions in this photo--a mixture of excited, scared, and what the heck are we doing?

Our first dinner out after Tess was born--at our FAVORITE sushi place in San Antonio...good ol' Sushi Zushi.  We were amazed at how portable newborn babies are.  My first Cosmo in nine months. Holla!

spring/summer 2007

Our first big date night out without Tess.

Thanks Tia!

January 2008.

The beginning of what would be a very hard year.

This is closest picture I have to our third anniversary, which was one month later.  That anniversary went undocumented, which seems characteristic of what happens to chunks of your relationship once you have kids.  Chris was in Honduras during our anniversary and the following months were crazy, as Chris was studying for his residency board exam and we were getting our house ready to put on the market.

Easter Sunday, 2008.

Celebrated with the Johnson family!

June 2008.

The Eye Ball. 

(aka Chris's graduation from residency!) 

Tess and I had already moved up to Salt Lake City, UT, where Chris was to do his cornea fellowship training.  I flew back down to TX for the graduation.
(Thx Kells!)

December 2008.

Solitude Ski Resort, UT.

Our favorite getaway and respite during a hard year.

I made the transition from skiing to snowboarding after a lot of coaxing from Chris, Mr. Surfer-Snowboarder himself.  It took all season, but I finally caught on!

 Beers at The Porcupine--our favorite hangout in Utah after a day on the slopes!  My usual order: a pint of Polygamy Porter.

 May 2009.

Chris graduates from his fellowship in Cornea/Refractive Surgery!

This was the dinner to honor the residents and fellows at the University of Utah.  I was first-trimester preggo with Lucy and sick as a dog...couldn't even touch my chicken that night.

July 2009.

Lake Berryessa, California.

We'd just moved from Utah to California and Chris had some time off before starting to work as a staff Ophthalmologist at Travis AFB.  On a whim, we decided to rent a little pontoon boat and spend the day on the lake.

summer 2009.

Coldplay concert.

Holla!

Fast forward a few months to November 2009.

We'd just moved into our new house and I was 8 months preggo with Lulu. Chris's work colleagues threw us a surprise baby shower!

Heavenly Ski Resort; Lake Tahoe

February 19th, 2010.

Celebrating five years of marriage.

Spring 2010, Laguna Beach, CA.

We went down to SoCal last minute when we found out Chris was to be deployed to Afghanistan in May.  This was our last big dinner out as a couple before he left.

April 2010.  

Coffee at Bouchon Bakery in Napa, one of my favorite places in the whole world!  We went up to Napa for the day with my parents, who came out to Cali to see Chris off before he left for Bagram.

No more photos of Chris and I together in the summer months that followed.  It was a long, hot, dry summer.  A horrible year for the Napa vineyards.  A  challenging, arduous, and life-changing time for me, which ironically, has yielded a lot of fruit in our lives.

In late August 2010, Chris came home and we went away for a secret "honeymoon"...

French 75 Bistro, Laguna Beach, CA

September 2010

We continued our celebration of Chris's homecoming from Afghanistan into the fall, when my dad came out and took us to Joseph Phelps vineyard for a wine-tasting.

November 2010.

When Chris was gone for the summer, I knew I wanted to get some photos taken of us when he got home.  

Thanks Nic!

February 20, 2011.

And here we are, finally caught up to the present.

This shot was taken last night at Bouchon restaurant in Napa, where we celebrated six years of marriage.

CHEERS, MY TOPHER JOHN.

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN EVER.

I LOVE OUR STORY.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME.