Happy Anniversary!!

Five years ago on Sunday, December 21, 2003, Joseph and I said "I do." It's been quite a life since then and we've been thrilled to go through all the ups, downs, changes, disappointments, and adventures together. Thinking of our memories together has given me a lot to be thankful for this Christmas, so I thought I'd share some with you and encourage you to do the same for your family.

Favorites of the last 5 years

• The way Joseph smiled for the first time during our wedding ceremony (while we were going down the isle).
• Exploring Isla Mujeres on a moped, and nearly crashing into the zoo entrance when I tried to drive
• Finding a new room in Salamander Cave
• Driving around a neon green mini-bus in the Scottish Highlands with my crazy mother, two childhood friends, my more crazy cousin, and my most adventuresome husband.
• Just happening upon a 'hostel' in the middle of nowhere Scotland and then happening to find out that the highest waterfall in Great Britain was only a 3 hour hike away and taking off to it.
• Reading Jane Eyre together
• Looking at Saturn's rings from the Clear Creek Trail
• Hearing the Chieftains
• Watching fireworks from a boat on Lake George
• Kayaking on Lake George
• Canoeing on lake Griffy when our AC went out
• You wearing my hiking boots when I was getting blisters
• Reading Pascal's Provincial Letters in our tent while the rain fell outside
• Watching Nashville, TN fireworks from the top of a large column in a brick yard on the river
• The night the bed fell on top of Joseph at 1 a.m.
• Getting stuck in North Little Rock, AR when the Broad Reach van broke down; sending Krammy back to Nashville on the Greyhound, and beating him back
• Driving to Norman, OK with the Bobites after an psychotic ice storm
• Breaking into both of our apartments the week of moving in
• The treacherous and insane voyage to Iona
• Seeing Scotland in snow
• Staying up talking until 3 a.m.
• Watching The Incredibles - and then watching it again
• Hearing Joseph talk about his first (and probably last) experience delivering a calf
• Late nights by my parents' fireplace
• Jumping off a 15 foot cliff into a river at a Mexican amusement park
• Having our dorm room printer suddenly start printing out "I Love You"
• Gloriously failing on our Mammoth Cave vacation
• Sail boating on Lake Michigan
• Hearing accordion music playing from a tree in Bryan Park
• Contra dancing with the hippies at Harmony School
• Exploring gravel roads in the Hoosier National Forest
• Reading Lord of the Rings out loud
• Skidding behind our car in Maxwell Terrace's parking lot
• Playing our recorders together
• Shishkabobing a bird on our antena
• Sleeping in on Mondays where you were in school
• Staying in our pj's all day, looking at Grandma Staveness' Norway slides
• Eating a walnut husk together
• The hike outside of Ouray, Colorado
• Happening upon the Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye
• Eating Creme Brule and staying int he Lincoln Suite at the Grand Hotel
• Spending 5 days with just you in the Sipsey Wilderness
• Working back to back at the old church office
• Sitting in JJ's in Nashville
• Seeing you run down your parent's steps firing a nerf machine gun and wearing a flying pig hat
• Feeling the generation gap at a Manard Ferguson concert
• Watching a thunderstorm come in from the top of the Grand Hotel