June 15, 2002 I married my very best friend and today we celebrate our 9th anniversary! As usual, Bryson has lavished his love on me and made celebrating our 9th anniversary so sweet + fun. Each day for the past 9 days he has done something sweet for me…

Day 9: Surprised me with 9 roses…one for each year of marriage. And a homemade card in the shape of a 9.

Day 8: 9 attributes that he loves about me written on 9 colorful cards.

Day 7: 9 flower seeds (and a new coffee mug!)…symbolic of watching our love continue to grow? Nah. Truth is, he just wanted to get me the coffee mug, but that didn’t follow the 9 trend, so the 9 flower seeds made it count. After 9 years, I had recently admitted that I hated our coffee mugs and that is why I couldn’t drink coffee at home in the morning. He remedied that.

Day 6: photo collage of 9 pictures of us together from our travels around the world. Oh the memories…

Day 5: 9 gourmet mini-desserts. Chocolate is my love language.

Day 4: 9 hand written cards with 9 scriptures

Day 3: 9 Lottery Tickets…”Thanks for taking a chance on me!” (Side Note: I am admittedly legalistic when it comes to gambling so it was very funny to watch me scratch off the tickets. I kept saying, I’m going to win thousands of dollars…then how am I going to explain that to everyone??! I’m still working through my issues people! And I only won $3.)

Day 2: 9 significant songs from our 9 years together. This one was AWESOME because I was driving the kids to WV and it was so fun to listen to the songs. I definitely cried during each song!! So many memories!!

Day 1: 9 videos of him sharing his favorite memories of us. So sweet! He is in Africa so I’m not able to talk to him today, so this was a sweet way for us to remember together.

I am so thankful for a husband who loves me so well and makes our relationship a priority. Marriage is hard work, but so worth it. Grateful for the past 9 years…and can’t wait for the next 9!

**Side note: I found my wedding dress and tried it on today. It fit…kind of. Okay, not really. I couldn’t quite get the zipper all the way up. I guess 9 years and 3 babies will do that to a girl? Sigh. The experiment did give me new inspiration to work out. I’m gonna kick that wedding dress’ butt by year 10!