Semper Ag: They Say "7" Is Lucky

Lucky number 7.

7 years of marriage on the very last day of May.
"They save the best for last...."

3 States.

5 different addresses.

2 special duty assignments.

2 combat deployments.

2 kids.

1 year long separation.

1 EAS out of the Corps.

1 cross country move.

1 half cross country move.

Then there's all those summers at OCS for Nick as a Sgt Instructor...

Then that one summer he decided to be an actual candidate....

Does that all even fit into 7 years?

I feel like I've been married a LIFETIME already, and from what most military couples tell me, I'm not the only one.

With as much "life" that the military forces us to cram into such a short time, 7 years easily feels like 20 some days.

Some days, 7 years feels like only 2....(like seriously..."where has the time gone?" type of days).

But one thing is for certain...

There isn't another man I'd rather do this life with.

Some people say that the 7th year of marriage is the toughest.

They call it the "7 year itch".

But I'm convinced that our "7 year itch" happened during year 6.

Six was a rough year.

I transitioned out of the Corps, kinda lost my identity for a while, was forced to move to New England where I was absolutely unhappy and depressed...

Our marriage suffered....

I suffered.

But I can confidently say that year 7 has been "our year"!

+Nick was baptized!!

+We FINALLY got to leave the frozen tundra I call New England.

+We moved back to Texas, and even better, we moved BACK to my home town!

+We bought a cute house in Castlegate.

+We were blessed with some of the best neighbors we could have prayed for.

+We go on date nights every month.

+We make it a point to tell each other every once in a while how much we appreciate each other.

It's like year 6 was God's way of giving us a year to improve ourselves and our marriage.

All the heartache, headaches, and low points were all worth it when I look at our marriage today.

I'm confident that we will probably hit more bumps along this journey of marriage, but I am also more confident than ever that we have the tools to overcome it.

We have Christ centered home, and we make sure we invest in our marriage first before our children.

Healthy marriage = better productive parenting.

Happy Anniversary to my love!

Here's the year 8!

And for our anniversary this year, Nick got us a room at a bed and breakfast at our local winery (and also home to my FAVORITE pinot grigio).

He even found overnight sitters for our kids (that I trust with my own life).
We are absolutely so blessed to have such amazing, loving, caring, and selfless neighbors.
They've become one of our BEST friends, and they're the main reason I never want to move out of my house....
Thank you Greg and Kayla for opening your home to our children!

Kayla's gonna be such an amazing mom...
My kids have such high expectations from me after spending time with her!

Look how happy he was!!!!

Y'all are a GODSEND!
BEST NEIGHBOR/FRIEND/BABYSITTER AWARD!

Our room was absolutely quaint and adorable.
We came into a bottle of chilled champagne and port wine chocolates waiting for us!

Cheers!

My handsome date.

ALL that delicious wine...
We did a cellar tour and wine tasting.
I got to taste their pinot grigio (my fave), white zinfandel, merlot, and a port wine straight out of the barrel.
I'm not a "wine connoisseur" by any means, but I do love merlot and pinot grigio.
I drink enough of it to know what I like and don't like, and I can confidently say that they both taste much smoother out of the barrel!

We had dinner at the Vintage restaurant at the winery.
We've been here before and love their food.
I chose to have their special that day which was a pan seared red snapper on top of a bed of fennel, spinach, fingerling potatoes, and a peach pureé.
It was perfection...

The next morning we were treated to a European style breakfast and of course MIMOSAS!!!
Gorgeous chandelier that was imported from Belgium in the background!