Ten Years and Counting...

Dan and I celebrated our ten year anniversary on January 3rd of this year. I can't believe I am that old, or that we have been married that long. It has gone by so fast and we have so many great memories that we have created so far. When Dan and I got married we were both in school finishing our degrees. I had a year and a half left and Dan had two years left. Needless to say we were poor married students. Our first place was a duplex right by the Arizona Temple. We did the lawns there, moving, edging, and irrigation in exchange for our rent. It was a great, especially while we were both in school. After one year we decided it was time to move and we found a great place right by the Mesa Country Club. They were cute two bedroom duplexes hidden right before the entrance of the country club. The best part about it was all of the fun people that lived there. After living there for two years we decided to buy a house, we were expecting our first and Dan was working at Deloitte and Touche and I was teaching sixth grade at Zaharis Elementary. We bought a cute little three bedroom house in Higley Groves. It was the perfect started house in a great neighborhood. We had Hollyn shortly after we moved in and lived there for two and a half years. Dan was accepted into the law school at the University of Nebraska, so we sold our house and moved to Nebraska for three years. Nebraska was a fantastic place to live for school and we made some really great friends. Dan graduated this last May, we moved back to Arizona and then took and past the Bar in July. Which brings us to the present; Dan is working for a firm in Mesa, Hollyn is in Kindergarten, Paige is in preschool one day a week, and I am working on closing the short sale we are buying. It has been ten hard working years, full lots of laughter, a few tears, and more importantly a ton of love.
To celebrate Dan surprised me and took me to the same restaurant where he purposed, Vincent's. It is the most amazing French food I have ever tasted. After dinner we went to a movie, and then rang in the new year with our fabulous friends the Larsen's who where watching our kids. On our actual anniversary, Dan took the day off and we went to lunch, shopped for furniture for the new house, and just spent the day together. Now for the corny part, you may want to close your eyes, I am so grateful for Dan and for all he has done for our family. He is one of the most hard working guys I know, and he puts 100% into everything he does. Dan is my best friend and from the moment I met him I know that there was something special about this guy. He is the only one who can make me so mad and then make me laugh at the same time. Dan is an amazing dad, husband, friend, and provider. I love you Dan!!
Oh, and the biggest news, WE ARE GOING TO ITALY!!! We decided not to take a big trip while we were buying our house, so Dan promised that in the spring of 2012 we would be going to Italy. Dan's brother Josh and his wife were just stationed in Naples, so we even have a place to stay and people to visit.
Sorry for the dorky pose, but it's the same one we did for our engagement picture. Just picture two people who look similar just ten years younger, and no braces.