you know you've been married forever when...

Skirt c/o Azazie

Thank you everyone for all of the sweet anniversary wishes all over social media! It made our celebrating that much more fun! Gosh, I remember when we were newly weds and five years seemed so far in the future... then I blinked and suddenly we've been married for eight years and have two babies! Marriage isn't always easy or fun, Eric and I still haven't figured out how to stop arguing over some of the same dumb things we've been arguing about since day 1 (ha ha), but I wouldn't want to experience the nitty gritty with anyone else! Marriage is worth fighting for and I'm so grateful for our relationship, our loyalty to each other and every moment we've experienced together!

Good ol' snapchat :) Find me @courtneybrink

Eric ended up having 5 days off over our anniversary and sadly we didn't realize it in time to plan a little getaway. Instead we had to do lists, doctor appointments and other lame adult stuff ;) But we made the best of our time together and I'm definitely feelin' the "Monday blues" today as it's his first day back at work. We kind of celebrated all weekend long in the simplest of ways, but it was just perfect for where we are at in life right now! Saturday night we put the kids to bed early and sat in front of the TV with some take out and binged on food and our shows. Brought back memories of how that was the norm before we ever had kids, ha! We were true party animals and stayed up past 9! No worries though, we were dead asleep before 10 ;) Eric and I each planned a date to celebrate our 8th anniversary so Monday night, Eric took us all out to Cheesecake Factory. He had hoped to get a sitter but I had already snatched one up for my date! Tuesday morning my friend took the kids and I had planned to take Eric shooting (we haven't done this together since Mia was 6 months old!) and enjoy a picnic... but we don't live in Utah anymore! There really isn't desert that we know of where we can drive out and shoot guns, and when I finally did my research late the night before, I discovered the shooting range is only open on the weekends. Oops! So I thought I'd surprise Eric with golfing instead. Well, who knew you had to have a reservation AND that it takes hours to complete the course?! Not this girl because, you guessed it, I didn't do my research, HA! James doesn't take a bottle so we had a timeline to keep to, so instead of doing the course, we hit up the driving range and actually had a ton of fun! It was totally relaxing to not have to worry about the kids for a couple of hours! We got to play, be goofy, relax and enjoy being carefree for a couple of hours. It was just what we needed!! And it made me realize once again how precious dating each other is! I've made it a goal to get a sitter once a month so that we can get out and have some care free fun together! Anyway, our celebrations were so simple (I didn't even wax my out of control eyebrows... you know you've been married for 8 years instead of just 1 when.... ;) ha ha!) but just right! I am excited for the years to come, growing pains and all, with Eric by my side!

8 years later and I couldn't be happier with my life and the people in it! LOVE my family!