Silver Anniversary for the "Silver Haired?"

Ok, maybe we're not "silver haired" yet, but back in 1983 when my DH and I were married, 25 years seemed like such a looooooooong time. We made it and we're not even silver haired yet! (shhh! only my hairdresser knows!) Pictured above, we had just celebrated 20 years together. We are at the LDS Salt Lake Temple Square in the springtime of 2003.

Yesterday, while the rest of the country was celebrating "Tax Day," my DH and I were celebrating 25 years of marital bliss. And as Daughter #2 said, "25 years of marital bliss and not one fight yet." Ok, we call them loud discussions.

Well, we went to dinner with Daughter #2 and her Sweetheart, and my BabyBoy, to our favorite restaurant Red Lobster. Just being with family was wonderful. (I'm sorry we missed being with Daughter #1 and her Sweetheart...who live in Utah, but I'm so glad we had a chance to see them a few weeks ago.) In a couple of weeks my DH and I will sneak away for a weekend together, perhaps to Idyllwild, where we went on our honeymoon 25 years ago. My DH also brought home these beautiful flowers. I put them in the living room and the scent fills the entire house. I love them.

I must tell you about an awesome gift I received from Daughter #2! For the past few weeks, she has been tirelessly working on the most wonderful scrapbook for us. She apparently sent out letters to many of our dear friends and family asking them to contribute memories and well-wishes to this book. I was blown away! My DH and I were both brought to tears as we opened such a wonderful, thoughtful gift.

Let me share a bit of it with you...

Now I must tell you this was a real stretch for Daughter #2 to do. A scrapbook? She does not consider herself a 'crafty' girl at all. But she did a beautiful job. Her Sweetheart helped her with it too.

This is a page showing how my DH and I looked when we first met. We were missionaries in the Missionary Training Center. We were both learning Spanish and preparing to serve LDS missions. My DH was going to Peru and I was going to Spain. (I look so "espanola" in this picture!)

After our missions, we met up again at BYU. Shortly after that we were engaged. Here's our wedding announcement picture. My sister-in-law saw this picture on our family website. She thought I looked the same, but asked who the deacon was. (You see, in the LDS Church, a deacon is usually 12-years old!) It's true though. I've always looked older and wiser than my DH!

Throughout the scrapbook Daughter #2 included quotes from friends and family. She even went through my journals and included quotes from them! Yes, I was an avid journal-writer when I was younger. She was able to include excerpts of when we were first married. I wrote in detail all about our wedding day. I'm so glad I kept those journals! At my age, I can't always remember those special, precious details. I'm glad I wrote them down.

On the page below we are pictured with our parents at our wedding reception. The picture on the bottom right is very special to us. It is one of the last photographs of my mother-in-law standing up. You see, she died from complications of MS a few years ago. All the years I knew her she was in a wheelchair. She was a dear woman who is greatly missed.

This page shows our early married life...even our first home.

Here's a page dedicated to the weddings we had last year. Daughter #1 in July and Daughter #2 in December. Happy times. The best part of the past 25 years has been our 3 wonderful children.

Here we are with The Purse Dog...our little baby.

I'd like to think we haven't changed a bit, since those early days of marriage in 1983. But it's true, we have changed. We are older and wiser and our love is deeper. No, we are not perfect, but we continue to work at our marriage. I look forward to the next 25 years and beyond. And no 'silver hair' for the 'silver anniversary!'...ok, maybe just a few silver hairs!

Thank you Daughter #2 for all your hard work on such wonderful gift!