10 years!

I wish I knew how to scan pictures onto this blog–old, hard copy pictures–because I know you’d all love a reminder of what Curt and I looked like 10 years ago on our wedding day…Dec 29, 1999. Ha! Many of you probably remember that day–it was a 50 degree sunny Iowa winter day and everyone was anticipating what Y2K would bring. All we knew is that we’d be on our honeymoon when the clock switched over and the world ended–and that was okay with us! Two weeks after our wedding, we moved to West Michigan, and have been here ever since.

Curt and I have experienced alot of life together–the decade of our 20′s with all the searching and identity confirmation that brings, 3 little wonderful babies being born to us, multiple jobs as we’ve both searched for a good fit, several home environments–from our first home to living with 10 college students, among many other life experiences–both wonderful and painful. We’ve grown to love West Michigan, something we both never thought would happen. We’re now raising our family together. We’re both in careers that are satisfying and enriching, where we feel like we’re using our gifts. And we can both with all honesty say that we are in the most wonderful year of our marriage so far. God’s grace, for sure.

To celebrate our years together, we drove to Iowa. Okay, we didn’t stop there–we just dropped off our three little ones with Mom and Dad VK for 8 days. Now, providing this tender loving grandparenting for 8 days is quite the anniversary gift–thanks, Mom and Dad!! From there, we flew to California. We stayed in Palm Springs at a beautiful hotel (thanks Mom and Dad Kuiper for letting us use your timeshare!). We created so many memories, many of them enjoying the outdoors together-something we love to do together–running, hiking, sightseeing in the San Jacinto Mountains. We enjoyed alot of local restaurants, something else we love to do together. We lounged alot–gave ourselves permission to fully unplug for the week. This was awesome! At the end of our trip we drove to Huntington Beach, stayed with our dear friends Anne and Dennis, and ran the Surf City half marathon together. Yes, we missed our kids, but I don’t think we’ve ever savored or enjoyed time away from them like we did this trip.

Our return to GR was pretty eventful. We flew back to Iowa, literally sprinted across MSP airport to get our connecting flight (this was the day we ran the race and we were SO sore!) Good thing we sprinted because they had just closed boarding when we arrived at the gate! The flight attendant laughed at us because we were so out of breath. After boarding, we promptly waited on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting for our flight to take off. And then our luggage didn’t arrive. And then we left DesMoines and only made it 37 miles before we pulled off in Newton, IA for the night due to weather. And then the next morning we left again and only got to Joliet (outside of Chicago) and pulled off and stayed the night again….quite the adventure. Curt and I were so exhausted by the time we got home. The kids were so wound up, excited from their 2 nights of pools, jumping on hotel beds, having pizza for supper, and watching America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Now we are home, getting back into the swing of things. Entering year 11 together…

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Sunrise the first morning in CA–from our hotel balcony. Saw the sunrise due to the 3 hour time change!

Palm Springs Streetfair–lots of artists/booths

Some of you may want to keep this one for future use…

Hike at Indian Canyon. Beautiful oasis’ and fan palms.

A treat for us Michiganders in January…

Trio restaurant, downtown Palm Springs. Recommend it!

We took a tram (the world’s largest, in fact) up to the top of this mountain. If we would have known this was here, we would have brought heavier hiking gear. There are miles and miles of wilderness hiking at the top. The view was unbelievable.

Next stop, Joshua Tree. This place is other-worldly. Strange, but beautiful in its own way.

There’s been so much rainfall this year that this area called Barker Dam in Joshua Tree was full of water. This is very unusual. We hiked around this area for some of the day.

This is Emma’s favorite photo of our trip.

Again, such a treat in the winter.

If Curt ever looked like a giant…
(Surf City marathon expo)

The medals were cool. And it was fun to run with 20,000 others on such a beautiful day.