With this ring, I thee wed…

Seven years ago today at 4:55 pm, Denny and I said these words to each other.

We kissed to make it official, and then we threw an awesome party to celebrate (and it was awesome if I say so myself)!

There are few, if any, things I would change about these seven years as husband and wife.  I might take more opportunities to do something nice for Denny, and I might take less opportunities to take out my frustrations or tiredness on him.  Perhaps we could have found time for more date nights and maybe another vacation or two, but otherwise, it’s been a great ride!

But if I could go back to those vows… if I could take what I know now and go back to those words we stood up and said to each other in front of all the people we love so much, here’s what I would add to them.

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I, Erin, take you Denny, to be my husband…

I, Erin, also take you Denny, to be my fellow explorer when we toured Aruba on four wheelers on our honeymoon, my golf partner, my taste tester of new recipes (sorry honey!), my fellow house hunter, my co-swearer when the basement flooded on day 3 of home ownership, my painter, my grad school study buddy, my fellow flip cup teacher to the new neighborhood, my pizza orderer because you’re so much better at it than I am, my car buying companion, my personal masseuse while in labor, my co-diaper changer, my listener during hormonal meltdowns, my supporter when I just don’t know what the baby needs, my photographer when our daughter took her first steps, my voice of reason when we found out we were pregnant again, my rock when we had an unplanned c-section, my coffee getter when we were just so darn tired that only a cup of Timmy Ho’s will do, and my favorite co-tourist when we feel brave enough to take the kiddos out & about.

To have and to hold…

to listen and to respond, to screw up and to try harder next time, to challenge and to be challenged, to aggravate and to apologize, to pick up dinner and to share cleaning duties, to support and to appreciate…

from this day forward.

For better or for worse…

for wedding weight and for baby weight.

For richer, for poorer…

for times of savings and for times of broken water heaters, for cheap pasta dinners and for overly-expensive trips to the beach.

In sickness and in health…

in times of emergency appendectomy and in times of devastating miscarriage, in times of sunburn and in times of diaper rash.

To love and to cherish…

to make laugh and to barely tolerate, to share the remote and to share kids bed & bath duties, to share glances when we get a chance and to share nights out when we get a sitter, to enjoy our awesome kiddos, to learn, to grow, to try my absolute hardest every day to be better than the day before…

And I promise to be faithful to you until death parts us.

This part never changes.

This is my solemn vow.

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Happy Seven Years Denny McGee!  Looking forward to writing our next years together.

XOXO

Five Years!  And Yes, I’d say I Do all over again!

(Denny, I sure hope you feel the same)

This year has brought the most change so far!  I can get wordy and sappy and long-winded about this year, but instead I’m going to use the same method to explain how I feel as 554 million users do each day… hashtags!

In honor of 5 years of marriage I’m going to recap our years together using only 5 hashtags for each year!  (Don’t try this at home)

Here goes…

2004 – The year we met…

#IWasOnlyCallingForADonation      #StarsAreAligned     #HottieHottieAlumni

#TimeToMeetTheParents      #SoHappySoSappy

2005 – A Year of Fun and new Zip Codes

#BricksAndBeer     #PompAndCircumstance     #TimeForABigKidJob

#UnexpectedJobTransfer      #WeMustLoveEachotherToDriveThisMuch

2006 – The Year we found out if we really liked eachother

#FinallyLivingInTheSameState     #LifesBetterInTheBuff     #Don’tTellGrandmaWe’reLivingInSin

#MeetLexiKitty     #WhoKnewWeEvenLikedCats

2007 – The Year of Will You

#WillYouMarryMe?     #YES!!!!!!!     #WeddingPlanningPalooza

#GoodThingWeGoToSoManyWeddings     #WhereWasPinterestWhenIWasABride

2008 – The Year of O-H-I-dO!

#TheCountdownIsOn     #FunHappyBestMostAmazingDayEver     #PartyInAthens

#WeHeartOurFriendsAndFamily     #AmazingAruba

2009 – The Year of Being Adults

#SOLD     #WereHomeowners     #RememberWhenWeThoughtPaitningWouldBeFun

#WhyDidWeThinkGradSchoolWasAGoodIdea     #INeedANap

2010 – The Year of Surviving on little sleep (or so we thought)

#75HourWorkWeeksSuck     #UhOhWeHaventEvenStartedThatPaper     #MmmmmCoffee

#SpouseStudyBuddies     #WeLoveTakeOut

2011 – The Year of Lots of Celebration

#GradSchoolGrads     #FlipCupAtTheMcGees     #BahamasBaby

#FreeTimeRocks     #BabyMaybe

2012 – The Real Year of Surviving on Little Sleep aka The Year of meeting our Makenzie

#WerePregnant!     #ItsAGirl    #MeetMakenzieRuth

#WereMadlyInLove     #BestYearEver

2013 – The Year of Hey We’re Parents

#ItRocksToBeParents     #WereCluelessAsParents     #MakenzieIsHilarious

#IStillNeedANap     #HeyWeMadeItFiveYearsAndWeStillLikeEachOtherMostDays

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And it’s the truth!  We Still Like Each other (most days) and we still love each other all days!!

Denny, I don’t think I’ll ever stop asking, How’d we get so lucky?  With each other, with our families, with the opportunities and experiences we’ve been given and with our awesome little family.   We got lucky.  Really Really lucky!

I Love You!  Here’s to 50 more, xoxo

PS  Maybe by then we’ll really figure out how to learn hashtags!

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If you think pretending to use hashtags is fun,

you should join Mommy McBlog on Facebook!

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