Happy Anniversary

Today (well almost..30 min. to go)is my anniversary! October 30th. So nine years ago today I was full of butterflies and fairly humming with excitement and stress! I was also doing a lot of packing (with a lot of help from my family). I was getting ready to wear the dress my mom had made (she did a great job)and walk down the aisle.
We got married in Coffeyville, KS, where I was living at the time. Colin had flown out a week before the wedding and his family flew out about two days before. We had our rehearsal dinner at Better-n-Nothin' in South Coffeyville (I know, not a great name for a restaurant, but I promise they had great food).
Our wedding was in the afternoon and the reception was in the church. Just cake and punch, nothing super fancy.
The funniest thing that happened at our wedding was our unity candle. It would not stay lit! The church had a ceiling fan going right over the candles. So Colin and I were lighting the unity candle during the song Doubly Good (I love that song). Anyway, we lit the candle and we're gazing into each others eyes, when we noticed the candle had gone out. So we tried again. Nope, same thing. Colin's brother handed Colin a match or lighter and Colin tried that to no avail, it would not stay lit. So we stood there quietly laughing at the silly candle until the song was over and then my pastor said a prayer. We didn't realize until later that Colin's dad (who was our co-pastor for the wedding) tried to light the candle while we were listening to the prayer. His dad stepped back before anyone opened their eyes. We never would have known if it hadn't been for the videotape of the wedding!
After the reception, we headed for Springfield, Missouri. Well, after we got in the car. My brother had parked the car so Colin would get lots of birdseed on him. He parked the driver's side closest to the building, knowing that Colin would have to go open the door for me and then come back. It was a good plan, only Colin forgot to open the door for me, so I got the most birdseed on me!
We had a nice dinner at Cracker Barrel in Joplin on our way to Springfield. In Springfield, we stayed at the Walnut Street Inn. It was a great bed and breakfast. I wish we could have stayed more than one night. I'd love to go back sometime and stay longer.
The next day (Halloween) we went back to my parents house and finished loading up the Rider truck and we headed out on a week long journey to Washington state with a Rider truck full of stuff and a miniature schnauzer in tow.
It was a crazy beginning to a new life as a married couple and it's stayed pretty crazy for the past nine years. Life is full of surprises and I'm happy to face them with Colin by my side.
Happy Anniversary, Colin! I love you!