Twenty five years! What an amazing blessing and gift it has been to be married to Kevin this past quarter of a century, and I cannot even express how grateful I have to have him as my partner for eternity. When I think back to those young kids we were when we first started off this journey, I can’t believe how little we knew. But what we did know was that we were in this journey together and wouldn’t want anyone else by our side.

It still blows me away that we have known each other since we were fifteen. We have such a fun and shared history for seven years before we ever got together as a couple. It adds so many fun layers to our story, and made it all the better when a switch was thrown in our hearts and we went from friends to falling in love.

We have been through a lot in the past twenty five years. Military life, moves all over the country, many long separations during deployments and training, the birth of three wonderful children, and so many more things that add to the constant roller coaster of life. But this past year, let’s just say that we have been through the refiner’s fire.

When I had my emergency brain surgery and got my diagnosis last year, we were blindsided, but we were together. Kevin has been with me every single step of the way, holding my hand, making me laugh, lifting me, guiding me, giving me priesthood blessings, and so much more. And when it all gets too much, I crawl into his lap and cry. How would I survive any of this without him by my side?

We started our anniversary weekend a little different than we may have planned for our “big 25th,” with a radiation appointment, followed by my chemo infusion. Good times. But truthfully, it was. Kevin always has everything perfectly prepped and ready for me. He puts my fuzzy green socks on my feet, pulls out my special blanket I only use at chemo, and gets me all situated. Once they start my infusion, we watch “Only Murders in the Building” and laugh hysterically at Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez. And this time he brought us the most AMAZING cinnamon rolls with browned butter frosting to enjoy. Seriously, Kevin is the best 🥹.

We had our anniversary date a little early. Like, right when the steakhouse opened at 11 am on Saturday. The day after chemo it all starts hitting me in the afternoon, so we had to be strategic. And yes, we essentially had the place to ourselves, which was awesome. I only was able to eat about a quarter of my meal, but it’s all good – leftovers for days 😂.

And the sweet server gave us a special dessert for a gift, which we enjoyed while watching a movie together later that night.

On our actual anniversary, we both had to work, after which we “celebrated” by going to my final of ten radiation sessions for the tumors o my spine. Definitely an accomplishment and important check mark. Life is definitely an adventure, but thank goodness I have this amazing man of mine with me for eternity.