5 Years ago today we were driving a UHaul & lost somewhere in China Town.

(Image via friend Kylie - she's gifted.)

We don't get lost any more, but we're always discovering something new in the city. That's reason #489 why we love it here so very much.

5 Years! From our tiny first apartment on Wall Street, to settling on the Upper East Side - & going on our 4th apartment! Jobs in Midtown, Tribeca & even Greenwich. Restaurants all over the city. Broadway shows. Cupcakes! Lots of wanderings & people watching. Museums, TV show tapings, runs through Central Park & picnics with friends. The corner grocery store, dry cleaner & nail salon - all within a 1 minute walk. Bus rides, subway rides & cab rides. So many good friends & memories. Surviving frigid winters & humid summers. Bagels! We love NYC bagels (& pizza). And last Friday - we finally saw a baby pigeon! It only took 5 years.

We thought about the suburbs once, briefly. But you know what? Nothing is the same as living every day life here. We're so glad that we do.

Happy Anniversary, New York. We love you.

5 Years.

I wore a dress. He brought flowers! And more importantly, he brought flowers that had calla lilies & green flowers (name?) like my wedding bouquet. Do I dare be a total cliché & say swoon? Loved it.

We ate at Gotham Bar & Grill (the desserts were definitely the highlight, although the food was really great), talked about how naive (& young!) we were when we first moved to New York, & reminisced over the last 5 years of memories & adventures. Like when I called Mike crying from Pearl Street downtown because I couldn't find my way (all 2 blocks??) home. Or when he went to his first day of his first job (!!).

We watched Chris Rock's Good Hair when we got home. So interesting, although we didn't finish it until Saturday night because we both kept getting sleepy.

A perfect 5 year celebration, I think - with lots to look forward to in year six. The belly is growing! As my mom said after seeing the last photo, That's great progress from last week!  

Obligatory Blog Anniversary Post (with the utmost sincerity, of course).

Half a decade!

(Plus the almost two that we dated!)

He flew to Washington on New Year's Eve, drove up to the cabin in the middle of winter & got down on one knee (the left, apparently) & asked me to marry him. This from the man who, three years later, would jump off a boat & into the water at that same lake to save me from what was probably the most horrific wakeboarding yardsale / face plant in Priest Lake history (I survived, but didn't eat solid food for a few days). This from the man who brought me to New York & helped me grow confidence & grow up. This from the man who teaches me on a constant basis what the gospel really means. This from the man who would get tears in his eyes every time I'd get really, really sick during my first few (four) months of pregnancy. This from the man who, 5 years later, rubs my growing belly every morning & looks at me like I'm the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. This from the man who last night, as I was trying to tell him something & was very aware he wasn't listening said, I'm sorry sweetheart! I'm just distracted by your boobs! They're bangin'! He makes me laugh, & I love him.

I remember sitting there floating in that water & just hurting. But he jumped in & I knew more than ever that he really, really loved me. And I really, really love him. 

Happy 5 years, love. 

(PS, why did everyone in the Hudson Family Tree decide to invest in bazillion dollar DSLR's & lenses & become semi-pro photographers AFTER we got married??)

Dear Michael.

Loved that day, but love today even more. 

Love you, love us, love that we get to spend the next trillion years together.

xo

Your BFF & wife.

3 years ago.

I love him.

First 2 years.

Honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico.

First apartment.

.

Moving in - sort of what our apartment looks like right now, 2 years later.

.

First job (Mike and me in front of Citigroup).

Pearl Jam concert in Hartford, CT (I used to be a die hard fan- turns out, not so much anymore).

St. Thomas USVI for Anniversary #1.

First subway ride (as a married couple).

Rascal Flats concert w. Tara & Kevin.

Puerto Rico, summer '06


Somewhere tropical.

First NYC summer (Battery Park).

The big day.

April 30th, 2005. Spokane, Washington.

Spokane LDS Temple (it's "mini"). It was about 68 degrees with a slight breeze. Absolutely perfect.

The dress.

The site of the luncheon & reception (Glover Mansion in Spokane).

The bouquet.

Us.

The (Hudson) family. The fish face: We had a family picture taken when I was about 4, and I kept doing the "fish face". We replicated it here... just for fun.

The girls.

(Most of) The nieces and nephews.

One of my favorite pictures from our wedding. Mike's finger swelled up and he panicked when he couldn't get his ring off (I think he was just reconsidering).

The boys.

The shoes (I wore 5 inch heels ALL DAY- adrenaline pushed me through until the very end of our reception, when the back-up slippers [also pink] had to come out).

More kisses.

The bride.

Happy.

The early days.

Tomorrow is our 2-year anniversary. Mike will be moving us into our new apartment, and I'll likely be at work until late. Not exactly romantic, but sort of fun to be making another move together two years after we made our first. I thought it would be fun to take a look back to where it all began.

Mike's first trip to Spokane to meet the family... May of 2004 (after dating since August of 2003).

Motorcycles @ the cabin.

Mike and I met in August of 2003. We dated on and off, then on, then off, and then on again for the first 6 months or so. :) Once we figured things out, it was smooth sailing... But we were in no rush (as college juniors) to take the "plunge". Mike proposed on December 31st, 2004. He flew in from New Canaan to Spokane, and made it up to our cabin at Priest Lake without me knowing. It was perfectly romantic, and I finally said yes, after asking 2,000 times how he got there.

Engaged.

And another.

We graduated from BYU together a week before we got married. We were able to walk together (both in the college of Family, Home & Social Sciences). Fun, fun, fun.