It's Our 9 Year Anniversary!

It was just 9 years ago that Noel and I tied the knot. We got married in Chicago, Illinois at St. John's Ev Lutheran Church off of Foster. Sadly I tried to google it so I could show you all the church we got married in, but it no longer exists! So after I got over my disappointment, I tried my second option which was to google the banquet hall we had our reception at, and again, sadly it's gone too!!!! I feel like my past has just disappeared now. At least I still have the man I married on that day! So glad he didn't disappear too!!!!

Noel and I met at our old Church in Chicago. I knew he was the one for me when I met him. He was speaking at a special church function when I learned of his deep love for God and others. To make a long story short, I fell in love with him as we went on dates to get to know each other. We dated for a year in a half then he proposed to me in my home town, Elk Grove Village, IL. He took me to Bussy Woods, a forest preserve that my family and I use to go to a lot. My dad taught me how to canoe and fish there. So after Noel and I visited my old Junior High School and old neighbors, we headed our way to Bussy Woods where we canoed and had a romantic picnic on one of the islands in the middle of the lakes. He got down on one knee and after a bunch of mushy love words, he asked me if I would spend the rest of my life with him. I kept saying, "no no no no!", not literally meaning to say NO, just in shock that this was it! I was so thrilled and happy that he wanted me to marry him. After joyfully exclaiming my yeses, we hugged what seemed like forever! He then went on to express his desire to have EIGHT kids! My heart sank as I took in his sincere dreams. He's an only child, so I guess he has pent up feelings of wanting a bunch of siblings and decided to use me to fulfill that for his own kids! Ha, not happening! After he babysit with me for my friends newborn, his dream quickly changed to just two kids. And years later, we made that dream a reality. We have two fantastic kids. Miranda, 7 years old and Jaden 4 years old.

Here are some photos of that special day Noel asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. Warning, we didn't have a professional photographer as you can see! I knew nothing about photography back then and had a so so photographer for our wedding day! So please bare with me!

Here's me at just 21 years old.


I'd say Noel is happy, don't you!!!!




I would post more photos of our actual wedding day, but they are in the attic gosh darnit. Sorry!
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Noel and I spent our morning together going to a yoga class. We will then go out for dinner tonight. We usually go somewhere for an overnight, but this year we don't have any free nights to continue on with that tradition.

I can't believe we have been married for 9 years. I would say it's been a great journey! Good times and rough times. We are currently working on our marriage for we have gotten too busy with life that we have gotten lost with all the many changes we've made in our lives. We are on the road to make the time for each other, to do things together more, and to continue to grow in our bondingness. If there's such a word! I love him very dearly and am so happy that he's mine. I really think we have a unique relationship where we truly are in love. We may be busy all the time, but we are always growing and doing new and fun things in life.

Our deep bond just gets deeper and deeper. I love him so much!!!!

For all your brides that are going to be getting married, enjoy this time in your life. Cherish one another and savor the things that matter the most. Flowers don't matter. DJ's don't matter. The kind of car you drive off in is so insignificant. I mean really, the flowers I had at my wedding are DEAD, the DJ was terrible but I don't even think about that, what really matters is that you are getting married to the man (or woman, if you are a guy reading this) that you have a special bond with. Things always go wrong at a wedding, my wedding started an hour late! Noel realized that mornig that he didn't have any clean clothes to pack for the honeymoon, so he did laundry which made him an hour late!!! Talk about something going wrong. It was a good thing that my limo driver got caught up in the Chicago traffic. Because of that, I showed up an hour late too so I didn't even know he was late. My photographer was not all that good, but I could only blame myself for that one, I was ignorant back then and didn't know how important it was to book a GOOD photographer. We skimpped on the photographer and that IS my only regret!!! All your party favors, decorations and etc., don't last, but your photos do. Choose wisely.

Love,

Darice