Holding Tight... 1st Anniversary

"Marriage is intended to bring joy. The married life is meant to be the happiest, fullest, purest, richest life. It is God's own ideal of completeness."

1 year ago today, at exactly this time, I married my Mark.

It makes me well up with those same tears, l year later just thinking about it.

In 1 year we have already made a lifetime worth of memories.

We have welcomed a beautiful daughter into the world. Loved each other through the postpartum blues, the stresses of being in school and at work while raising a child, career losses and career gains. We've held each other tight through the joys of being first time parents as well as the fears. We've been through 3 moves, and 4 cars AND many many Stars, Mavs and Texas games :)

Laughed. Cried. Loved. Lived Life.

We have both watched our marriage grow as we have grown in Christ, and I thank God every day for bringing you to me. You are my best friend, my partner, and the guy that makes my heart go pitter patter.

It's true, the 1st anniversary might not be quite as impressive as the 5th or the 10th. But, it is the anniversary of the day our life together began - the day that makes all these days after it so incredibly remarkable!


Happy anniversary, baby!

Updates...

It seems like every day now Claire is learning something new. I literally can't wait to get home everyday to see what she's learned. She's definitely a little ham, and after she successfully completes any new trick, she will clap for herself and won't stop until we start clapping and praising her as well. She recently learned how to wink, and I actually caught her winking and giggling at a little boy today in the Dr.'s office(not a good sign). She bobs her head to music and ooohs and aaahs whenever music is playing. She even barks like a dog sometimes...I can't imagine why :) Here are some new pics in a cute new summer outfit...

Great Great Grandmother

Very few people can say that they've ever met there great-grandmother, much less there great-great-grandmother. Claire has done both now. My great-grandmother actually turned 100 years old the weekend before Claire turned one, pretty amazing! We unfortunately were not able to make it to the party so we decided to pack up this weekend and head to Amarillo to let Claire meet grandmother Sis. Words just can't express how happy it made me, to make my great-grandmother so happy. She thanked me over and over for bringing Claire up to visit, and I am so thankful to one day be able to show Claire pictures of her with her great-great grandmother.

Claire's Big Day

So, the big day finally arrived. We spent all morning preparing for her party...and by we I mean Lane. Man, I'm sure glad we have someone in the family that is crafty and creative! Lane managed to help us pull everything together with all of the little finishing touches that she added. My favorite, being the pictures of Claire that we hung from the chandelier with decorative ribbon...too cute! She was also our cake lady and made an adorable cupcake cake as well as a smash cake for Claire.


Despite the morning stress of preparing for the party, the day turned out great. Claire had so much fun with her little friends, and we got to hang out with some of our favorite people :)

Children and Subluxation

If you have children, or if you have spine for that matter...than this is a must see. I do have some pictures of Claire Bear's birthday party that I'll post later :)

Children and Subluxation from Ben Lerner on Vimeo.

1 year old

Here are some of the pictures we took in Claire's Birthday outfit. I can't wait for her to wear it on her big day! We got the pictures taken at this pretty little canal in Irving, by the wife of one of my classmates. She did an awesome job, considering Claire was in a miserable mood that day because she was teething. I think they turned out super cute!

Playa del Carmen

I have to say I was a little hesitant when Mark told me he wanted to take a belated honeymoon to Mexico on my next break. I've never been comfortable spending large amounts of money on entertainment. I mean you can do alot with 2 grand. So anyways, I agreed to the belated honeymoon, and Mark was off! He spent the next 2 months researching and reading reviews, looking and pictures, and talking about this trip endlessly. I had a hard time getting too excited because I had so much on my plate with school, and part of me thought something would happen and we wouldn't actually ever get to go. So when Saturday rolled around and we boarded our plane, I finally started getting excited. The day of travel getting there was pretty frickin horrible, but once we got there. Well, all I can say is paradise! We were immediately greeted with champagne and were upgraded for free to an ocean view. Here are some of the pics of our room and the view.







Seriously the most comfortable bed we've ever slept in and the bathroom was pretty cool too. We spent most of our days laying out by the beach and took advantage of our "all inclusive" stay. We drank every frozen fruity drink imaginable, ate at all 6 restaurants, and tried out all the different water activities.





Some of the activities we did included swimming with the dolphins, snorkeling, scuba lessons, kayaking, a 45 minute swim in an underground cave and many trips on the catamaran. That was probably our favorite. We stopped and took some pictures out in the middle of the ocean. AMAZING!












We were also able to get a few professional pics taken of us on the beach while we were there.




All in all, it was an absolutley amazing trip! I'm so glad Mark "made" me go. We had a blast and will definately be returning for round 2 after I graduate. Anyone want to come?? Oh, and for those wondering...we didn't get the swine flu or hasseled by any of the drug cartel :)