About Laurie

13 Year Anniversary


Last Monday was my 13th year wedding anniversary. I’m not sure it was a coincidence that our Internet went down, my iPhone stopped working, and since we have Vonage we didn’t have a working home phone either. (If the Internet is down – my home phone transfers to my cell phone. Oops.)

Unlucky #13 – maybe that explains my run of bad luck this year. Um – probably not. I’m a terribly unlucky person. However, there is one area of my life where I’ve been extremely lucky! And it started the day Jason convinced me to marry him.

Yes, Ladies it took a lot of prayer, fasting, and even a father’s blessing for me to calm my freaking out head and listen to my heart. Jason chose me, worked hard to keep me, and we’ve been grateful for those early struggles ever since we got engaged.

I saw him at his worst and he saw me at mine. There hasn’t been any surprises since.

I wouldn’t get engaged until Jason moved back home, enrolled in school, and picked a major. He did and we were very young and very broke when we got married. But my mom made the gymnasium of our church beautiful.

We asked our wedding party to all wear black and white.

Lisa, Annette, & Michelle were my bridesmaids. My mom made their dresses and I still like them today.

The groomsmen wore white tux’s with black lapels and ALL the father’s wore all white tuxedos. Getting these “good ol’ boys” in tuxedos was a true testiment of how much they liked me and welcomed me into their family.



Our first dance.

My mom also made my dress. I totally had to have “puff sleeves”. I wanted a dress just like the one in “Little Mermaid”. How silly is that? Ariel looked so fab with her puff sleeves and skinny waist. I had to do it too. {{giggle}}

My mom made the wedding cake. She even painted the little people on the stairs to match my bridesmaids dresses and hair color. You know I love OTT.

I love this picture of Jason. He’s constantly putting up with my crazy ideas.

Who ever decked out our car were professionals. It took years for all the bird seed to get out of the air ducts. Geeze!

To this day, I consider this special moment the day I stopped sleep-walking through life and really started living it. Jason and I challenge each other and have worked together to have the life we have today.

We’re so much alike. We fight the same, we like the same movies, food, and have the same interests. Together we have created a life that we didn’t think was possible. I’m so grateful that he chose me!!

“J, I love you more than the universe!”

19 thoughts on “13 Year Anniversary

  1. Just lovely. I wish I was able to have a wedding like that but we had to it the very much el cheapo way. Court house and dinner at a local diner. My oldest was just over 18 months when we got married.

  2. ♥ Great pictures! Everything looks fabulous! Your MOM IS AMAZING!!! Not only the fabulous sewing skills but the cake too and decorating the gym! AWESOME! 🙂

  3. congrats on 13 years! love all the pictures and the OTT wedding! thank heavens for moms that can do it all. my mom sewed my dress, did the food, and decorating too! not the cake . oh but she did all the flowers!

    congrats!

  4. Congratulations! I love your photos. Your mom must be so talented to have done all the dresses and the cake too. Here’s to the next 13!

  5. Congrats on 13 years. I loved reading your story. The nice thing about black and white is that its classic and doesn’t date as much.

    Great post. Happy Anniversary!

  6. oh… this is soo sweet! happy anniversary! i have to say you guys have a wonderful marriage, and I know how real it is because I have lived near you, been with you guys and traveled with you. there is never a moment without you guys holding hands or being sweet to each other. we need more of you guys in the world! hats off to 13 yrs! you both are amazing friends and dear friends to us. we love you!
    di

  7. Congrats on 13 years! It’s almost an oddity these days to hear of young couples staying together. May the Lord bless you with many more happy years together! God Bless!

  8. I love a good love story! They seem so rare these days!

    Hope your anniversary was wonderful!

    And you were a beautiful bride. Much prettier than Ariel!

  9. Thanks guys! I really appreciate all your encouragement and shout outs. Yes, my mom is insanely talented and I'm very grateful for those talents since we were on a next to nothing budget.

    It makes me very sad that I don't have a daughter to throw a wedding for. However, my hope is that one of my boys will marry a girl like I was. Hopefully she'll let me help pay & plan their wedding. {{fingers crossed}}

    Thanks Diana for your comment. That's so sweet of you. Yes, it's true I adore my man probably more than I should. Since my boys are a little tough, I look to him for hugs, reassurance, lots of love, praise, and encouragement. He totally gets me and loves me anyway. 😉

  10. It’s always so fun to look at pictures. I can’t believe your mom did all that. Hats off to her!! Congrats on 13 years.

  11. I just randomly found your blog, I love that you posted your wedding. I am quite impressed about your wedding for one reason to me that hits home: the input and help of your mother. It always stuns me to see moms who actually care and are involved in their children’s lives to do something like paint little people on their daughters wedding cake! I couldn’t convince mine to even help me look for a dress, even after I pleaded how I would pay for a taxi and a plane trip here. instead she created a big smoke cloud fight, hung up on me and refused to speak to me. I went to look for a wedding dress completely alone with a swollen face. Now, believe it or not I am ok with this now and seeing posts like this is helpful to me. It gives me hope that I can provide moments like this to my own daughter. I fight like the dickens to be uber normal for her and my husband and not repeat patterns.

    I just wanted to repeat something you probably know so well: your mom is one fabulous gal.

    Your blog is adorable and your children are beautiful.

    Warmly
    Patty (random girl in my 30’s with 3 children, living outside of Dallas, trying to keep normal with a horrible upbringing)

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