So for Jamie and my birthday which was July 15th and 17th respectively, we had a joint cake. I had asked for a fancy cake but Mom and Shaina went all out and made a four tier cake with fondant!

This photo does not do the cake justice as it doesn’t even show the top. Bad photography on my husbands half. That’s why I don’t like having him pick the better pictures!

This was my moms first time working with fondant and also doing a million tiers on a cake like this. For the first time doing it I think it’s fantastic!

Actually, it was a pretty awesome cake in my opinion. I helped a little with rolling it out and you have to blame me for the placement of the covering because I’ve never worked with different shaped layers like this one was. So it was a learning experience all around.

They did a fantastic job on the cake and it was even delicious. 5 stars!

Last Wednesday was Jamie and Nick’s karate promotion. They were going to go for their orange belts and it’s usually a lot of hard work on their parts.

A lot of hard work for my butt too since I have to sit for two hours on a metal chair. Not butt friendly!

However, after all the sweating, drilling, and taking breaks they actually did pretty well. Well enough to advance and become orange belts now!

I was more impressed with the older people in the class that advanced to their yellow belts. Their ages ranged from 50-65 I think it was. They were doing really good and kicking butt!

Jamie’s trying to get me to go to karate too but it’s just not for me. I would probably need to drink a lot of Nespresso to get up enough energy to be able to keep up with all of them.

However, this is exciting as this is the second advancement that they have gone through. Next belt is blue!

I love looking around at my family members and just enjoying their presence. Of course there’s one in particular that I can’t get enough of and probably never will. It’s that guy.  My Aussie.

I know I say this all the time but I swear I love him more each day! I recently figured it out that our 9th anniversary is coming up in a month and a week or two. Can you imagine? Nine years! That’s quite a bit for getting married at 18/19 years old.

Make sure you look around your family members and think about what you truly love about them.

Jamie’s birthday was yesterday. He turned 28! Can you imagine that? 28. I remember when he was 16..or was it 17? I can’t remember. It’s been a long time that we’ve known each other and it feels like an eternity.

Our birthdays are so close together that we just ‘celebrate’ it on a day after ours. They are only a day apart after all. I’m going to be 27 tomorrow. I’ve almost been alive for 30 years. That’s insane to think. Of course I still feel like the 14 year old brat I was. Oh wait, I still am, only worse and with more years on me!

Trevor got that job he wanted. Finally! I think it had something to do with Carrie, our neighbor, who also works there. She put in a good word for him and her nephew which is Trevor’s best friend. So they, of course, both got the job. So, that’s a good thing and he’s awfully happy about it. We all are. His second option was going to be the military if he didn’t get a job and didn’t get into the electrician thing he wants. Which he is to still hear from.

So, tomorrow, on my birthday, my plans are to take Trevor to finally do his driving test and get his permit. Thankfully for him he doesn’t have to do his test in the Presidential (the Suburban) as he doesn’t like driving it for some reason.

I took my drive test in it, it’s not hard. So he has the Oldsmobile to take his test in.

I’m sure he’ll do fine though. He better!

I like to think I’m one of the lucky ones. Every morning I get to wake up next to him and every night I get to go to sleep next to him.

When he walks into the room my heart still skips a beat and I still get butterflies in my stomach. Catching him on these occasions where he is deep in thought about cars or mowing the lawn and I have the camera in hand, I can’t help but snap some pictures.

Then the pose changes and I can’t tell if he’s posing or cocking his head in thought. Either way, I’m still clicking away at the camera getting all that I can until…

Spotted! Drat!

Either way, nine years has passed since we married, well, nine years in about four months anyway.

The heat hasn’t died down. The “seven year itch” was never experienced and I still find myself lucky to be with such an amazing man who takes me as I am. Even though I have a flaw or two he puts up with it and loves me all the same.

Some people wait a whole lifetime for love like this. I just have to look to my side for that special love that comes once in a lifetime.

For that I am thankful for everything I have and the life that I breathe.