Pancakes!

     Well here we are, August 19th yet again which means not only are we on the verge of escorting summer out and fall in, but today is our anniversary!!:)  I can't believe it's been 13 years since she said "I do" and changed my life for good!  I could spend this entire post talking about all the good times Kelli and I have had over the years, but instead I'll just be real for a minute.  We got up this morning, I should say Van got us up this morning, and we immediately decided pancakes were on the menu for the special day.  So I made Van his two silver dollar pancakes as per usual, then I made Kelli a heart pancake.  Now this heart had good intentions of being the most perfectly shaped heart pancake ever made, but like many of my intentions it looked much better in my head than it did on the plate:)  

     This particular pancake heart had some rough edges to it, never one to miss a great opportunity at a living metaphor, I elaborated to Kelli about what this pancake heart signified to me.  I explained that when your young and engaged you tell yourself that your marriage is going to be perfect!  Your never going to fight, maybe you'll have the occasional disagreement, but never a fight.  Your going to enjoy each others company every single second, always agree on decisions around money, and your kids are going to be so much better behaved than every other kid you've ever met!  In other words, your pancake hearts are ALWAYS going to look like they were made inside of a cookie cutter.

     Then 13 years of life hits you square in the eyes and you suddenly realize that all of those misconceived notions you had about what marriage was supposed to look like are mostly wrong.  You understand now that some fights are necessary and good for growth, we all need a little alone time once in a while, you'll hardly ever agree on anything money related, and your kids are just as normal(crazy) as everyone else's!!  In other words, your pancakes kind of look like a heart, but could also be slightly resemble the continent of Africa!

     What I tried to do this morning, and likely failed, was explain to Kelli that although our pancakes may not look perfect to everyone, they tell our story and I wouldn't change a single bit of it!  Our life together has led us through lots of so many of life's most difficult emotions, joy, anger, frustration, patience, satisfaction, bliss, and hope to name just a few.  We have gone through deep loss, the kind of loss that lingers for a lifetime, and also been blessed with pure joy, the kind of joy that fills your heart with happiness over and over.  Through all of this the one constant has been our love for each other!  

     I believe that in order for us to keep our heads up and moving forward in the right direction, leading the lives that God has in store for each of us, we HAVE to have a solid foundation.  Kelli is that foundation for me!  Without her I am nothing in this world, and with her I feel like we can accomplish anything!  I know that probably sounds cliche, but it's the truth!  I know no matter what this journey may lead us into in the coming years, as long as we go at it together we will get through it and come out the other side with even more rough edges on our pancake heart.  The best news is, it tastes just as sweet no matter what it looks like:)


Remember, enjoy the rough edges of life, they're likely the most memorable pieces.

Been too long!

     Wow!  I can't believe it's been over two years since I've posted on here!  I guess that proves two things to be true, time really does fly by the older one gets, and maybe blogs are a thing of the past?  Never the less, we're back!  So now where do we begin?  I think it might be best to summarize the last two years first, so here's a list of all the big events since Vans gotcha day post:

• Van turned 1!
• We were blessed to be able to move from Coeur D Alene back "home" to Missoula!
• Van started walking!
• We bought a house in Florence, just south of Missoula
• Kelli started doing dental hygiene again.
• 4 months later we sold the house( a story for another time)
• We moved into an apartment in Missoula
• We began to wonder if we'd ever buy a house again
• Van turned 2!
• I blew out an artery cheering at a Griz game. (another story for another time;)
• We lucked out and bought a house! (number 6 if your keeping track)
• Grandma and Grandpa sold their house and moved into Missoula!

     I would have put dates in there for a timeline of events, but that would have just made us seem crazier than we already are:)  A lot can happen in a couple years!  I know I certainly missed some key events in there, but that gives you the basic run down.  The house we bought is in a great neighborhood, but it's been a rental property it's entire life, so there is no shortage of updating to be done.  So far we've opened up some walls to create more of a n open concept, and completely remodeled the kitchen.  The list of remodel ideas seems to be longer than our funding will ever allow for, but Kelli keeps reminding me that we don't have to get it all done in the first year.  

     Our days now have found a continual rhythm of our new normal, which consists primarily of exhaustion!  Turns out there's a reason most people have kids in their 20's and early 30's, the amount of energy that comes out of this tiny little human is unbelievable most days!  Most mornings he puts on more miles running around the house before noon than I will the entire day!  Thankfully there's this miracle liquid that was created by God for the sole purpose of maintaining a level of sanity among parents across the globe, COFFEE!!!  After the artery incident mentioned above, I had to take a 6 month hiatus from caffeine, it's nothing short of a miracle that we all survived that time frame!

     I'll close out this return post by simply sharing two pictures.  They say pictures say a thousand words, well I would agree when trying to show just how quickly time flies by there is no better way than to share a couple photos from a short period of time.  2 years does not seem like that long of a time, but these pictures sure make it seem so!  I look forward to hopefully posting on here with a little more frequency than bi-annually, and hopefully there's at least one person who still reads it:)  

This is the day before Gotcha day!

And these two are from 2 years later almost to the day!

Remember, don't discount the little moments, they're most likely going to be the things you miss the most!