Fantastic Five

 

Josh and I are celebrating FIVE years of a relationship today! I can’t believe how quickly that came! When we met, I was 19 and he was 18. We were both beginning our spring semester of the first year of college! Now, we’re both graduated, working, we have two dogs, and we’re married! That’s some crazy stuff, you guys.

I always crack up when I think about how we “officially” started dating. For a few weeks before getting into a relationship, we were just going on dates and testing the waters. After about a month of fun weekends and meeting up between classes, I blurted out, “Are you ever going to ask me to be your girlfriend?!” Being the genius I was, I didn’t realize that it was literally the day before Valentine’s Day! Poor Josh looked so stunned and he said, “Yes…tomorrow…with a picnic and me playing your favorite song on my guitar”. It was too sweet!! Of course, he did all those wonderful things, but we always celebrated each other on the 13th of Feb.

All the pictures of us are from over the years together! Here are some of my favorite memories (in no particular order):

• Staying up till 3 am talking about anything and everything. We did this a lot when we first started dating and we still do it as husband and wife! I really cherish these moments.
• All of our Skype dates when we were doing long-distance for several months. I used to race home after all my activities, set up my laptop with my studies and dinner, and we would hang out! He also used to send me the sweetest monthly care packages during those times.
• When he moved from New York to Arizona! I remember being so excited to live in the same place again and to see him in person every day! I was also so proud of him for deciding to continue his degree at the University of Arizona (which he knocked out of the park…humble brag haha!).
• Going on road trips to San Diego (my hometown) from Tucson! Especially the first road trip we took with Shadow after just getting her from the Humane Society. We tried to take her to dog beach, but she was still so skiddish from all that time spent in the shelter that she couldn’t have a good time!
• Roaming farmer’s markets on Saturdays in San Diego and exploring Little Italy. Little Italy was my stomping ground growing up so it was so cool to show him everything!
• Taking him to San Luis Obispo for the first time! We saw elephant seals on the San Simeon beach and across the road, in the grassy hills, were zebras from Hearst Castle just roaming around. Seeing the look on Josh’s face was the best! On the last day off the central coast, we decided to walk down the Avila pier before heading home. As we were enjoying the ocean breeze, a killer whale popped up 10 ft. away! I couldn’t believe it!! Out of all my years of going to Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo, and that pier, I had never seen a wild killer whale. It popped up twice and we and another couple were the only ones to witness it. Such a special moment.
• Exploring San Xavier Mission in Tucson together. We’ve been a couple times and, last year, even had brunch up on the hill. We were chatting so much on the drive down that we almost missed our exit and drove into Mexico! If you ever come to the south west in the US, a mission is a must-see (even if you’re not religious).
• Celebrating holidays together! We’ve celebrated many a Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. I cook for each of them and it’s so fun to have a day together, celebrating life and sharing in festivities!
• Driving up to Phoenix to get Kodah! When we got Kodah, she was only 7 weeks old. I was hesitant because that’s super young for a puppy. Usually, I don’t like getting puppies under 12 weeks because it’s best for their health to stay with their mother until then, but the family selling her was leaving for several weeks and really wanted someone to take Kodah off their hands. We drove through a sandstorm and then through a pretty bad monsoon before we finally were able to pick up Kodah! I got to cuddle her in my arms the whole way home and Josh was so jealous 😉
• On a random note, some of my favorite memories are our food fights are some of my favorite memories! We’re totally children. Actually, they were all started by me because I’m really two years old. One of the best ones was when I made this strawberry meringue cake. I had to scrap it because the recipe was no good so I picked up a piece and started a cake fight! It was so fun! The dogs, the walls, and the carpet (and us, obviously) were covered in cake and frosting! The dogs loved it 🙂 We definitely had to steam clean the carpets after that…but it was so worth it.

I think I’m going to stop there before I write a novel! Josh and I are making mimosas and he got me an amazing Lush Valentine’s Day gift with several bath bombs! I’ll have to do a haul on it later. Anyway, here’s to five years and many more!