Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Our 9th Anniversary

9 years ago today Jerad and I tied the knot in an outdoor wedding at my parent's house.

I was never one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding all her life.  Honestly never gave it much thought until I had too.  I remember I went in to have my fingernails done and the lady took one look at my green-grass stained fingers and nails and gasped. I mowed some lawns that summer and helped my dad work on the yard and didn't know how bad my nails had gotten. She told me to go home, use a tooth brush and some type of oil stuff and work on my hands and nails all day, then come back and she'd fix them the best she could.  I paid $100 for my dress at a hole in the wall dress shop in Enid, Oklahoma.  I just wanted to keep things simple and be able to enjoy the summer and the day.  And we were poor college students. I remember it rained all day up until my wedding time, and then the sun came out and the temperatures cooled to about 70 degrees.  The weather cleared up and we were ready.  My uncle married us and we were surrounded by Jerad's brother and my sister as maid of honor and best man.  We invited a few hundred of our close friends and ate and danced the night away.  It was a great day! 

We had quite the journey up until our wedding date.  I met Jerad the last week of school at Pratt Community College where we were both attending.  I remember seeing him at one of our softball games, sitting up in the stands.  I thought he was pretty good-looking.  I found out later he was in the Electric Power and Technology Program at the school, as a lineman.  Our neighbor was a lineman so I casually asked about Jerad one night and the next thing I know, his phone number was taped to our dorm door the next night.  I told our neighbor to have him call me, soon after we went out on our first date, and the next night I tore my ACL in our last game before Regionals.  I had planned to go to Fort Hays State University on a graphic design/art degree and to try out for the softball team, it was pretty much a done deal.  Up until then...

After I hurt my knee, everything changed. I had no plan, no idea where I was going to college, what I was going to do.  Jerad and I agreed to try the long distance thing over the summer and see what happened. He moved back to Oklahoma and I returned to my parents house in Kansas. So I had surgery and we took turns driving back and forth.  By the end of the summer, I made plans to go to school in Oklahoma and finish my degree, and live close to Jerad.  In December, we were engaged. 

We got married June 19th.  We honeymooned in Red River, New Mexico.  We went four-wheeling, hiked, fished, went white water rafting, and did lots of sight-seeing. 

It seems so long ago, some days.  But as I look back, I realize it has been a good 9 years so far, lots of growing up, and learning along the way.  Hard to believe we are making our way toward year 10. 

But here we go!








Our dear friends kidnapped our other Basset Hound dog and replaced him with a goat.
Our little flower girl looked much like Leah, but she was not! Just to clarify :)
And this is what we returned to find at our house.








1 comment:

  1. Oh my goodness - y'all look like babies! :) I remember being SO SO SO stinkin' sad that I was in Colorado that summer interning at Focus on the Family and couldn't get off that weekend to attend your wedding. Thanks for sharing....love it!

    Amy

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