5 Years!

Five years ago, I was married to my best friend.

  That day was the best day of our lives.  In the time since then we have had lots of fun together.  

We have had ups and downs and it hasn't always been perfect in this short amount of time.  But I am absolutely in love my husband still and I love spending time with him.  I'm ready for more.    

This past year in particular has been hard with him in school and we have both been frustrated at times.  On one of those frustrating days recently I thought back to reflect and ponder. 

"We've had a great marriage thus far, and we haven't had that many problems. Five years isn't really that long, and the hard times come eventually (and they'll probably get a lot harder than this), and I know life is not meant to be easy.  We have to work hard to get anywhere. And when times get hard," I thought, "I'm not just going to quit trying.  I'm going to keep supporting and trying my best, even when things don't go the way I wanted them to." I'm not the only one who gives themselves pep talks, right?

 I'm still learning a lot about what the future holds.  And acquiring the skills to make it through them. I think of our future together and all that we are yet to do. Everything we learn will help us in what is to come.

Briant and I didn't actually get to spend our anniversary together.  He had to go to NYC as part of his internship.  So the next day, I rode the train to meet up with him. (Sorry the pictures aren't the best, I was too afraid to bring my nice camera).

Lancaster.

Philadelphia's stop looked creepy.

Philadelphia again

And again.

Lots of graffiti.

 I went through my very first tunnel under water! I thought it was cool. When the train came out, I was in Penn Station.  While I was waiting for Briant to meet up with me I had someone approach me for money. She told me she was mugged and didn't have anything.  Then she told me not to go outside by myself.  THAT was a great way to begin our trip in NYC.  After that I was super nervous. 

Amtrak at Penn Station

We did finally meet up and  got checked into our hotel....

...right next to the Empire State Building!

Our plans were to go to it the next day, but it was too foggy.

We walked to time square.

Panoramic View.

We went up to where we would be going that night.

I was SO excited!

A walk through Central Park.
Phew!  I finally had my own bubble again!

NBC store.  SHH!  Briant is listening...

After dinner it was WICKED time!

As  you know, you can't take pictures.  I'll sum up the show in one word:
AWESOME!!!

Time square at night.  In the rain!

 As I said, we weren't able to go to the Empire State Building as planned. So we changed our plans and went south.

Riding the subway for the first time.  I know it seems
cheesy, but his was on my bucket list.  Country girl!

We went to ride the ferry to Staten Island.  We loved the ferry's name.

So foggy, you could barely see the new World Trade Center.

I love this lady.  I've seen her before back in 2004,
I would love a chance to go to the top, but I don't think
they do that anymore.

My sweetheart, with the fog.  Hmmm, I remember there was
something I could see through the fog,
but can't remember what it was and the camera didn't pick it up. 

Hey look kids, good times!

On the way back the fog cleared up and I was
able to get a good picture of the city.

Brooklyn bridge.  Would love to walk across this some day.

After the ferry ride, we hit the financial district.
The famous bull.

This is a really old cemetery.

Alexander Hamilton is buried here. I love what his stone says:
The PATRIOT of incorruptible INTEGRITY.
The SOLDIER of approved VALOUR.
The STATESMAN of consummate WISDOM.
Whose TALENTS and VIRTUES will be admired.

Wall Street.

The new World Trade Center 1 Building.
Now the tallest building in Western Hemisphere.

... with some empty space in the sky beside it :(

We then walked up to get our bags.  We saw the
Empire one more time.  Some day, I'll get
to the top of it.

Briant had another slice of pizza.

I had a NY hotdog.  Another thing on my bucket list.
I was disappointed.  Never again water logged dog!

Briant let me have a bit of his.

This is back in Penn Station.  Hmmm, I wonder if this play is
at all accurate of what Mormon's actually believe.

On the train back home.  Bye bye big apple!

Andrew loved pulling our bags!  We were happy
to see him again and hear he was a good boy
while we were away.

Now onto the next 5 years!