Celebrating 20 Years of Marriage

Yesterday Nick and I celebrated our 20th anniversary!! How amazing that it's been this long already. We have so many memories that we've made and when we look back we just can't believe how time flies.

I worked the night before so after my nap I got ready and we headed out for our dinner reservation at 5pm to try hibachi for the first time! We ate at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse in Rochester and had front row seats to watch the chef cook for us.

We started with a salad and mushroom soup. Both were delicious! Then the chef got started cooking veggies, rice, noodles, and our chicken.

We did get to try saké as well! All of the food was so good and flavorful. We were very happy with the dinner and ended up taking a small box of leftovers home!

The evening didn't end there! We found a Dairy Queen (for nostalgia's sake) and shared a banana split and a cheesecake blizzard for dessert. Yum! I can't even remember the last time I had a banana split.

We got home just in time to tuck the boys into bed, then we put on comfy clothes and watched a show together with a glass of Moscato. The BIG celebration will be in April when we take our first family cruise to the Bahamas!!!!! We are all very excited about that.

Some of you may have known me back in 2003 when Nick and I got married....yes I was VERY young but I didn't let that get in the way of what I wanted. I had Friday January 17 off of school so we grabbed our moms and headed to the OKC courthouse downtown to get married by the JOP! Very romantic indeed. (Fun fact, the same JOP performed the marriage for my brother Eric in 2015). 

On our 1 year anniversary in 2004 (yes I was still in high school!) we had an actual ceremony at the church and did a reaffirmation of vows with a reception at my mom's house! So by the time I graduated high school I had already been married 2x haha!

Our first year of marriage was bare bones, starting from nothing! We lived in my inlaws empty rental house in exchange for fixing it up and keeping it from being broken in to (OKC south siders you know what I mean) but we had no bathroom sink, just a mini fridge in the kitchen, and no heat. Our mattress was on the floor, the hot water in the kitchen didn't work, and we used an electric blanket to stay warm at night. Wow!

Announcement from the newspaper (I don't think they do this any more unless you submit it?) I wonder if the other young couple that was married that day is still together.

A couple pictures from us dating in 2002.

Every bit of progress we made was due to hard work and careful decisions to follow our goals and bring us to the life we have today. We have seen family and friends' marriages dissolve and with every argument we both know it takes hard work and mutual respect to make it last! We've worked very hard to break generational curses, overcome poverty, and start a new amazing beginning for our boys. I know before we realize, they will be grown with families of their own. We hope we have set a good example for what a strong marriage looks like, and we can't wait to see what the next 20 years will hold!