April Celebrations

April 26th marked 8 years of marriage for me and Matthew.  That's hard for me to believe because in some ways it seems like our wedding was just yesterday, and in other ways it feels like we've already lived a lifetime together.  

I could probably write an entire book on all the reasons why I love my husband so, but chances are if you know him then you already know all of these reasons or if you're a frequent flyer to this blog, you've heard me tell of them over and over again.  Mostly, I am just so thankful that God knew long before I did exactly what I would need in a husband and He gave me all I could ask for and more in Matthew.  I often wonder what I did to deserve him.  He is the glue that holds this family together and I don't know what Kyndall and I would do without him.

Our actual anniversary fell on a Tuesday which is our busiest night of the entire week so he and I opted for a lunchtime anniversary date and an easy dinner at home that evening.  We ended the day with warm chocolate chip cookies and a few gifts.  It was the perfect way to enjoy the day as a family.

Pretty flowers are always a nice surprise

As always, Kyndall was very thoughtful to make us something for the occasion.  

Giving Daddy his card

She made him put on a blindfold while opening his gift from us.  She keeps life fun!

He got me one for my birthday so I decided to return the favor.  When your husband has everything, it's hard to be creative!

Of course his gift to me was much more meaningful.  He printed the remaining year of my blog, which now gives me the COMPLETE SET!  All of my hard work and all of our family's precious memories since 2010 are now beautifully displayed in a series of books that will someday be handed down to Kyndall.  This is by far my greatest material treasure on this earth and it means so much that he invested the time and money (lots of money!) that it cost to have this done for me.

We couldn't leave Kyndall out, so she got a little surprise as well.....

She actually teared up and cried when she opened the envelope and realized what it was....

Her very first CRUISE!  That's right, in just a few weeks the 3 Hughes will be setting sail on our very first family cruise.  Matthew and I have taken one every single year since our honeymoon as a way to celebrate our anniversary, but with the events of the past two years we've been unable to uphold that tradition.  Now that I'm free to travel again and Kyndall is old enough to tag along, we figured this was the perfect summer to try it out.  We hope she loves it as much as we do!

He has a few more grey hairs and I have crows feet but overall I think the past 8 years have been pretty good to us.  As I sat and reflected on all the past 8 years have held, I found myself feeling slightly overwhelmed but oh so thankful.....

We've lived in 4 cities in 3 different states in 5 different homes.

We've walked the painful and lonely road of infertility and experienced the overwhelming joys and blessings of pregnancy and parenthood.

We've survived 2 major, life-changing surgeries in order to save me from two life threatening illnesses.

We've felt the sting of losing two beloved Grandparents but also welcomed new life as we became Aunt and Uncle to my precious nephew.

We've bought our first house and made it a home.

We've done a lot of living and a lot of loving and our adventure is far from over!  There are more exciting things to come and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next.

Photo credit goes to our amazingly talented 5 year old who loves taking pictures almost as much as her Mommy

We've come a long way since this day 8 years ago!  These two had no idea what was in store for them.

April is also special because on the 24th we celebrate our little Huckabee's birthday.  Before we had a real kid of our own, we went all out for our fur babies on their birthdays, complete with party hats and gifts.  Much has changed since then and we can barely remember to feed them let alone celebrate their birthdays. Nonetheless we did happen to remember his big day this year so Matthew grabbed a cute little cake at Kroger and brought it home for everyone to enjoy.  Any excuse for cake!

Huckabee on the left, turned 7 years old

Huckabee is 7 and Cameron is 9.  We love our boys even if they do get on our last nerves.

Kyndall enjoyed cake before giving Huckabee a few gifts that she made

She made him a necklace and believe it or not, he actually wore the thing

Cam got one too

Happy birthday sweet Huck!  You may be dumb as a box of rocks but you are the sweetest little dog that has ever lived and we love you!