A 7th Wedding Anniversary

Chris and I have been together for 11 years now, and married for 7 years.

There's been so much change in all these years!

Let's see...we've moved 5 times in 7 years, lived in 3 states, bought 2 cars, been through 4 surgeries, been through 1 long military-related separation and a few short ones, had 2 children, and now we are in the process of buying our first house!

Along the way, we've had so many adventures, good and bad! We've done some traveling, which I've discovered is my favorite thing to spend money on! You can't put a price tag on the memories and experiences you get from taking trips together!

We lean very heavily on each other. That's something that the military brings to the forefront in a marriage - you have to have each others' backs. There are lots of long hours and things that pop up and separations and commitments. They say when you marry a soldier that you are actually "married to the military". We have to have strong communication skills and extra understanding and patience. The adventures of not knowing where you will move next can be very exciting, but also very trying and stressful and sometimes it just plain sucks! You learn to rely on each other when you suddenly find yourself in a new town with no friends. You have to dig deep to find ways to make the best of every situation. 

I've learned so much about my husband, our marriage, and myself in these last 7 years!

So how did we celebrate our 7th year of marital bliss?

Haha well let me tell you!

First, we both realized we forgot.

Then, we decided "oh well!".

After Chris got home from work, we decided we would go out to dinner with the babies!

I changed out of my spit-up clothes and fixed my second-day mom hair. 

We went to Olive Garden and thankfully both kids were very well behaved!

The best family selfie we could manage!

He was content in the car seat for a little while!

Being silly, as usual.

And that was about it. No gifts. No big deal! We don't need gifts to define the love we have for each other. And we've always kind of felt that way. 

And it really takes the pressure off of "needing" to buy something because we are "supposed" to! Words and actions are more meaningful to me than any gift.

While we would have loved an elaborate date night, it was still special to us - the evidence of our love for each other was right at the table with us - Ava girl and little Liam!

And those two gifts are pretty special!

A little rumpus time before bed!

And this is for all you ladies out there...the dress I wore to dinner didn't hide my post-partum belly very well.

Guess what - I decided not to care!

So here I am, proudly showing off my belly in my new favorite dress! 

I mean, I spent 18 months growing babies in there! I certainly didn't just snap back to my pre-pregnancy body, and I don't think I should have to hide it! I'm still about 7 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight with Liam, and then I'll need to drop an additional 10 pounds to get to my weight before Ava. But I'm not putting pressure on myself! And you (yes YOU) shouldn't put pressure on yourself, either!

Just keeping it real over here, as always! ;)