old school photo albums

does anyone else have a stack of photo albums that look something like this?  

so different from the mini photo books that i now get printed for each occasion/major photo session,

this album covers 3 years of photos,

and represents hours and hours of creative work cutting and pasting and layering and stickering.....

and though my tastes have changed quite a bit over the years, i can still appreciate the love and effort that went into creating these books.  i sit down and flip through them on occasion. 

this album is the story of bud and i. 

and this is the first photo that we ever had taken together.......when we first started dating back in the spring of 2004.  

don't worry, i did happen to notice that was ten. years. ago.  i think that actually might be part of the motivation for this little walk down memory lane....

you see....

i have a big birthday this year.

one that ends with a zero.

and i am dreading it.

kind of.

that is a conversation for another day.....the reason i mention it is simply because i realized that i have now spent a third of my life with this man.  my husband.  my friend.  my confidant.  my partner.  my love.  my hubby.  my soul mate.

he is perfect for me.  

he compliments me, challenges me, grounds me, encourages me, and makes me laugh more than anyone else i know.  

when i look back at the photos of these two lovestruck kids.....i just giggle when i think about all the growing up that we needed to do......

(sidenote.....these are my younger brother and sister who just turned 18 last week..........they were just babes back then!)

this handsome athlete still makes my heart flutter, and i still support him in his endeavors as diligently now as i did when i would watch him play football in the rain!

and though we may not go to parties like we used to.....we still know how to have a good time, and have embraced the family date night routine for this busy stage in our life!  

he has been a part of most of the big milestones in my life....

college graduation.

first real jobs.

buying a house.  (times two)

welcoming babies into our family.

finding my real passion for photography and turning it into a career.

and i have watched him work very, very hard to turn his dream as a young boy of becoming an architect into a reality.  this guy loves to design and create and he is very good at it.  he works so hard, and really loves what he does  ;)  

that is just plain good for my soul.

and then there is our wedding album.

as a photographer, i get to experience weddings more often than most, and i have seen how those trends have both drastically changed, and yet also stayed the same over the years....

thanks to pinterest, i would probably do a few things differently if i had a wedding "do-over"......

though at the end of the day.....i would have still married the same man.  and i would have still wanted to celebrate with the same people.  so i guess, my wedding day, was in effect just perfect!

there are parts of that day that remain fresh as if they were yesterday, and then other parts that i can hardly remember, even when i am looking at the photos.

memory is funny like that.

the most random moments come back to me at the most random times, and i try to take special care to share those memories with my kids.  

to get out these albums and look at them together.

to tell them the story of how mommy and daddy met.

to talk about what our lives were like before they were born.

and to tell them how much i have loved them every minute of their lives.

okay, so i may be getting old......

but i have done a lot of living.  

and i am thankful for the 30 years that i have been given.

and for all the people who have been a part of my life during that time.

and though i am not super thankful for the wrinkles that i am seeing on my face these days.....

my hubby reminded me that i have earned every. single. one. of them by smiling everyday of my life so far.  

and you know what?  

there are far worse things. 

:)