Today we mark our 4 year wedding anniversary. 4 years ago we set out to build our version of happily ever after. Building it has been different than I imagined. Kids are more work than I anticipated. My house is messier than I ever thought possible (or tolerable). If you would have told me 4 years ago as I said “I DO!!” that I’d be living 6 miles from where we said our vows with 2 daughters, I would have told you how nuts you are.

But most everything else is far better than I imagined. Love that you think can’t get any better, does. Babies you think will never sleep, do. And things that used to be so important, like afternoon naps with the cats, are immediately replaced with the giggling of a two-year-old putting a diaper on a stuffed animal.

While I’ve had the most idyllic day, there was a moment when I wished we were back at Cape Canaveral, eating at Thai Thai on the beach. But sitting out back, with Kelly asleep on my lap, the weather a perfect 73 degrees, and Sara and Greg playing a game of catch off of the deck of the playhouse…I thought, nah. This is different than where we started out. But this is exactly where we wanted to go.