5 Years Ago...

...this picture was taken.


Today was Brandon and I's 5-year-anniversary. It has been an amazing five years filled with many ups and downs but we have accomplished so much and I am proud of us. I thought I would share a little bit about our story... (feel free to skip this post if you don't have the time or simply don't want to read all the details of our lives.)

We started working together at a factory as summer college help in May 2003. The couple that I babysat for at that time (and still do) were Brandon's neighbors and they both worked at the same factory, just a different shift. Brandon had talked to the husband, Jeff, who told Brandon that I was going to be working there on the same shift as him. So Brandon walked up to me at work a couple days after we started working and asked me if I was Tammy and Jeff's babysitter. I said, "yeah, why?" and apparently I was a little rude about it ;) I don't remember being rude but Brandon says I was and it has been an ongoing joke between the 2 of us. Brandon wasn't sure how to respond and I'm not even sure he did. However, we managed to hold a conversation and we talked frequently. About a week later, we were dating. All I can say is that that summer was awesome!! We spent tons of time together hanging out and going and doing all sorts of fun stuff. That September, we were engaged. Yeah...that fast. And to say the least, we shocked several people. People who thought we would never make it, that we were young and "moving too fast." We were crazy in love and we knew we wanted to be together forever, so why wait? We thought it would be cool to get married on the day we started dating so that's what we did. We were married on May 30, 2003. We had an outside ceremony and it was perfect!

We got an apartment together in the town that we both attended college. About a month after we were married, we were shocked, but excited, to find out that we were pregnant with Miss Aliyah. She was born Feb. 20, 2004....10 days shy of our 9-month-anniversary :) We both continued to attend college, work part-time jobs, raise a daughter, and love each other as much as possible in the process. There were tough times, I'm not going to lie but what marriage doesn't have tough times? And we made it! We decided to move back to our home town in Oct. 2005...mainly to be closer to family. It was a hard decision b/c our life together began in that little bitty apartment and that's where we brought Aliyah home from the hospital. Brandon graduated college in Dec. 2005 with a degree in Economics and Finance. We bought our first house in Oct. 2006 and I finally just graduated this last Dec. with a Special Education degree.

And this is where we are today - Brandon works full time at a bank as a commercial loan analyst. I run a home daycare, which also allows me to be home with Aliyah. And we are only 4 weeks (or less) from welcoming our second little girl into this world :)

To celebrate our anniversary, Brandon planned a little getaway for us. And I'm proud to say that he planned it all on his own (with maybe a little help with the women that he works with, but that's totally acceptable ;) We went to a little Bed & Breakfast to stay overnight last night. I got a wonderful 1 hour prenatal massage last night and then we enjoyed the whirlpool in our room. Then we woke up to an elegant breakfast in bed this morning. It was a really nice little getaway and we enjoyed it. Brandon did a great job planning everything. It was all a surprise for me. I didn't know where we were going or what he had planned. Before we got pregnant, we had planned on going on a cruise for our 5-year-anniversary but we didn't think that would be such a good idea being as pregnant as I am ;) Maybe in another 5 years?

HAPPY 5-YEAR-ANNIVERSARY, BRANDON!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Today also marks 36 weeks for this pregnancy so I thought I should snap a picture of the ever-expanding belly. It is still growing and oh-so-uncomfortable!! It's good to know that if I were to go into labor now, that the baby will most likely be ok.


Tomorrow night is Aliyah's tumbling recital. I can't wait!! I plan to take TONS of pictures so I will be sharing those either late tomorrow or Sunday. Check back ;)