Sweet Sixteen

This is my favorite wedding photo. But the only copy of it is a large 16 x 20" hanging in my bedroom, so excuse the photo of a photo.

I'll tell you why I love it so.

A few weeks before my wedding, I entered the home of my Stake President (LDS church leader) for an interview. In the hallway was a photo of him and his wife on their wedding day. They looked young, happy, joyful and carefree. I thought about the limited information I knew about them and their family, and I realized how naive we are on our wedding day about what lies ahead of us.

I vowed then and there to always hang a large wedding picture in a place I would see often. But not just any picture. I wanted it to be one that captured the innocence of the moment and one I would always look back on and feel the happiness and optimism of the day.

When I saw this one taken by a friend, not even our photographer, I fell in love with it immediately. It was taken on a slide and I knew it needed to be printed and enlarged.

16 years later it hangs above our bed.

Mike and I are a lot of things; mostly opposite. Sweet and sour, hot and cold, high and low, optimist and pessimist, relaxed and uptight.

And so despite the fact the first words out of my mouth to him as a newly married couple stepping outside of the LDS temple to greet our family and photographers, were, "Damn it Mike. Quit stepping on my dress."
We've made it for 16 years and we're still IN LOVE, and I guess when you have five kids, a mortgage, and the stresses of everyday life, that's a good thing.

Which I know I've told you that story before, as I have how much I love April 24th, my anniversary day, as I have about my favorite photo above, and  so on and so forth. I've probably told you pretty much every story there is to tell about Mike and me. (Okay, maybe not. But still...)

So today, on our 16th wedding anniversary, I'll keep it simple.

I HEART MIKE.

Due to me flying across the country tomorrow with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mike and I aren't  doing too much tonight in way of anniversary celebration. Of course with my upcoming trip, I have a little too much angst to spend the evening carefreely and will instead be writing notes to my children and Mike and cleaning up personal spaces in case I don't return home. I'm a nervous traveler like that.

I wish I were kidding.
Happy Anniversary.

You can read some of my more detailed and eloquent "Mike and Tiffany" anniversary posts HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.