Happy Anniversary, 7 years and counting!!!

THE FACTS
-married July 3rd, 2001
-Bountiful, UT
-married about 3 months after our first date

HONEYMOON
-what's that?
-we spent our time driving to Canada for another reception and then driving to Iowa for school. Real romantic, right?!

HOUSING and MOVING
-July 2001. We moved into a tiny little spider infested top half of an old old house across the street from a high school and the college where Rich went to school. Little did we know that the high school marching band had practice every morning at like 7am (way too early for newlyweds). We got to memorize all their songs before we moved 4 months later.
-October 2001. in Iowa we then moved to some apartments where we managed 156 apts for the rest of our 3 years there. It was an awesome deal. FREE RENT, and a salary! We were not your typical starving college students. We had a job!!
-March 2004. within a couple weeks at the end of our time in Iowa we made the spontaneous decision to do an internship in Pittsburgh, PA. So in those short weeks we packed our car and van with everything we needed for a few months and moved and settled into the first apartment we looked at in Cannonsburg, PA is a little town 20 min from Rich's job. I loved our little new apartment. It came with a washer and dryer!! But it was on the third floor, with locked doors and I had 2 little ones! Still, the trade off was worth it to me.
-August 2004. after 6 months there, we brought all of our things and were fully settled in, and had a good job offer on the table, Rich refused it and wanted to move to Utah. I thought he was crazy... I wanted to stay. But, we sold our car for a little extra cash, packed and were ready to move again in 2 weeks. Off to Utah! And we've been in Utah ever since.

CARS
-we married owning our own cars. A 1989 and a 1990 Honda Accord. The A/C was out in both (which made our drive across country very hot and interesting in the middle of July
-we drove them into the lot at the dealership in August 2001 with the cars barely functioning with brakes on the fritz in one and a bad clutch in the other. And ended up leaving with a brand new- 0 miles - 2001 Hyundai, Elantra. We loved that little car and still miss it! (On a side note, the next month Sept 11th happened and ALL car prices and everything else for that matter dropped significantly and we felt ripped off!) But we paid it off in 2 years instead of the 5 contracted. We're still proud of that one.
-One child (and a half) and a few years later we decided to join the mini van club. In Nov. 2003. We were a couple months pregnant with Peter and saw a deal we couldn't pass up! A year old mini van, fully loaded of course, ready to fit our growing families needs. So we bought it, and it may have seemed silly at the time, having only one child, but we have used every feature (including the built in air compressor) and every square inch of our mini van, including all 8 seats from time to time, and the built in car seat, great feature. I LOVE the two sliding doors too!

JOBS
-I waitressed at Olive Garden for a few months when we first married. Can anyone say SORE FEET!!
-Then we managed apartments for a few years. Rich did light maintenance and I did everything else.
-Rich took a job learning the ins and outs of a chiropractic office in Pittsburgh for 6 months.
-Now we are self employed... It is a tough and long and hard road. We aren't all the way there yet, but have made good progress over the last 3 years.
-I worked for Rich for about a year in his office(and we took the kids with us almost every day!)
-now I have the life long sentence of stay at home mom. The 24/7 never ending job of love. Usually it is wonderful, but there are those days that I have to remind myself that I WANTED THIS...

KIDS
-Sophie. Born Feb. 6th, 2003. I was 23 and we had been married about 18 months when she was born. We didn't find out her sex and wanted it to be a surprise, but I was pretty sure she was a girl. She was a really hard baby, but easy toddler.
-Peter. Born Jun. 1st, 2004. Sophie was 7 months old and SURPRISE!!! We were pregnant... This time we found out the sex of our baby boy, but I was sure before we found out. The first year with the two kids is a complete blur of hardship. But it got easier after that. And now it was well worth it.
-Maxwell. Born Jan. 27th, 2007. I wanted him for a long time, but timing didn't seem right while starting our business and living in his parents house. But after we denying our feelings for so long we jumped in and got pregnant. I have admitted to a lot of you that I was longing for a girl, and was really upset for a long time that we were having another boy right then. But now I wouldn't trade him for anything. He melts my heart everyday!! (Sometimes he boils my blood too!)
-Baby boy. Birth date TBA 2008. The kids keep asking me what his birthday is and they get frustrated when I say I don't know. Yes, another baby boy, and yes these last two are close again. About 18 months. It will be an interesting change of lifestyle for our whole family (and especially Max) when baby boy comes. But it will be wonderful after all the kinks get worked out. We can't wait to meet him (and I'm getting so big that I can't wait to be able to see my feet again!)

ANNIVERSARIES
-Rich plans the odd years and I plan the even years. And we plan every 5 years together.
-1st - Rich turned our bedroom into a Hawaii paradise. Removing furniture, setting up an elaborate set including everything from a life size poster woman of a hula dancer to cardboard palm trees on the wall. Very romantic and fun! 2 weeks later we went on the fastest trip to Florida with some friends. We counted it as an extended anniversary. We spent one of the two days in Disney world! Very fun!
-2nd - I planned an elaborate scavenger hunt followed by a paddle boat ride at this little lake near by with a picnic at a secluded spot across the lake. It was perfect.
-3rd - we were here in Utah and Rich made reservations at the Roof restaurant (yummy) followed by a long romantic carriage ride around the city. I loved it!
-4th - Turned out to be everything but what was planned. We spent more than an hour driving around the city trying to find this little restaurant. Never found it. But opted for another nice random and close restaurant. We also walked along the river at this strange bizarre. But we were together and alone. And that was enough.
-5th - Dirt poor, in Utah. We made tinfoil dinners and ate them at home in an empty house. And then took our blow up bed to the office for a free over nighter... Good memories.
-6th - Again, plans change. But we ended up having a whole day together. We each bought a new outfit together (a luxury for us), and planned to go jet skiing, but the place was closed, even after calling to make sure everything was a GO. We ate free sandwiches from Great Harvest Bread and free drinks at Jamba Juice. We picked up baby Max and went to SLC. We ate free Ben and Jerry's ice cream and made Max a build-a-bear that we saved for Christmas. We ate dinner at Rodizio's. One of our favorite restaurants. We love the never ending flow of Brazilian cuisine! And got to watch fireworks in North Salt Lake on the drive home.
-7th - Today is the day. Our plan is to drop the kids (not Max, he'll stay with Grandma and Grandpa) off at Rich's sister's for the weekend and we will go to the temple and the Roof for dinner. Pretty low key this year, but wonderful. Hey, I am 8 months pregnant...

HOPES and DREAMS
-just a few of the basics
-to have our business be stable and successful
-to buy our own house
-to buy a second car
-to raise healthy, smart and well mannered children
-to have a lifetime of happy memories

And that's our story, in a nut shell.