5 Years and Our Family of 5

Five years ago today I became Mrs. Scott Connelly. We started dating in October 2003 after being fixed up by our friend Natalae. Scott proposed in March 2004. We closed on our house in June and focused on making it move-in ready. Everyone kept asking for a wedding date so on July 12th, we announced we would be getting married 2-1/2 weeks later on July 30th. We wanted a simple ceremony and on a lovely Friday evening we were joined by 30 of our closest friends and family for our wedding.

It was so simple back then, just the two of us in a house that seemed so big. We went to Italy for on our honeymoon that October and just one year later we welcomed Juliana Grace into our lives. And so began our journey as mommy and daddy.



We debated for years whether or not we would have another child. I talked to friends who are only children or only have one child and tried to convince myself that one chld was enough. Then last summer we made a snap decision to have another baby and before we knew it we were expecting. On Monday, September 29th we received the surprising news that we were going to have twins and in December we found out that they were both boys.

The boys were born in April and it has definitely taken me a while to get used to the idea that I am a mother of 3 children and 2 of them are boys. When I was growing up I thought that I would have 3 children, but then I got older and realized kids take a lot of work and money to raise so 1 or maybe 2 became the goal. Turns out my childhood dreams caught up with me afterall and we are so incredibly blessed to have 3 healthy, happy children.



I consider our anniversary the start date for our family. So each year during the week before or after July 30th, we take a family picture - casual in the front yard (our wedding picture and 1-yr pictures are in Scott's parent's front yard since that's where we were married). We haven't taken this year's photo yet, so I am including a picture from June. In last year's picture, I wasn't even pregnant and this year there are 2 more children in our picture.

Scott and I were both previously married and I think that we have learned from our mistakes. Sometimes marriage means compromise and other times you need to fight for what you think is best, and I think that we find that balance the majority of the time. Above all we love and respect each other and I wake up each day knowing that we will spend the rest of lives together. Even when we are incredibly sleep deprived and trying to coordinate schedules and figure out how we are going to make everything work...if I take a deep breath, I know that this is where we were meant to be.