Anniversary Pictures of Weddings Past

So it's been almost a month since my anniversary and I have yet to post a single thing about it. Which is sad. Partly because our anniversary was so fantastic, and mostly because we have awesome pictures to post from it.

For our actual anniversary weekend we went out of town to Anniversary Inn (our first time ever), and it was really fun. We stayed in the Swiss Family Robinson room, pigged out, watched Unstoppable, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, and slept. A whole lot. We were both so exhausted that it was perfect to just get away, stop, and rest together with no other interruptions. We got to go do a session in the temple we were married in and that was just the icing on the cake. I felt so happy coming out of the Jordan River Temple with Brigham.

Then we took the kids for a picnic at the park for some family time that we had been missing for so long. Really, that weekend was amazing. Too bad I don't have any real pictures to document it.

However. The weekend before, Brigham surprised me with my anniversary present, which was to have my sister-in-law Katrina come retake wedding pictures of us outside the temple. It was a gutsy move, let me tell you. First he had to trust that I would fit back into my wedding dress, that I would get over the stress of getting back into my wedding attire, and time everything perfectly.

At first I thought it was a horrible idea, mostly because I was so stressed about getting ready and looking good. Pictures already stress me out, and trying to look good in my wedding dress, worrying about getting it dirty for nothing, Brigham badly needing a haircut, and figuring out how everything worked, had me complaining that whole morning like a pain.

And then I got my hair all done, and makeup put on, and dressed up in the tiny little bathroom in the front waiting room at the temple. My wedding dress fit and when I walked out..I felt beautiful. And people told me I looked beautiful. I got to pretend I was a beautiful bride all over again. Talk about a self-esteem boost. It was a blast taking pictures and I fell in love with my dress all over again. I never wanted to take it off.

There are tons of pictures that I love from that day, but I'll try to keep the volume down and post my very favorites.

I've been told that these pictures are going to confuse my posterity. It's true. And funny. Which makes me love them even more.

I love the pink/purple trees in the background!

 I loved having my children there and taking a couple pictures with them (though you should have seen some of the raised eyebrows and confused looks we got as we were taking pictures and yelling at our kids in between).

This picture is so beautiful to me because this is my family in front of the place where we became forever.

One of my favorites of all time. I was laughing because I felt really awkward posing for this picture, which made it turn out freaking adorable.

This one makes me want to go find my husband, no matter where he is, and have another kiss.

The weather was sort of drizzly that day, making for incredible skies in the background.

The flowers were all out in bloom, just as they were six years earlier. It reminded me so much of our wedding day that I wanted to go get married all over again. Heck, I was already in the dress! April is such a perfect spring month to get married in.

Though I have more wrinkles, and you can see the trials I'm bogging through in my face, I love these pictures. I like that I had so much more youthful innocence and joy on my actual wedding day. That's how it's meant to be.

And no matter how tired I look, I fit back in my dress after two kids. Boom baby! Now to only keep it up for the rest of the babies I plan to pop out. Hopefully in another six years we can do this again and look back to these pictures and see how far we've come.

So thanks Brigham for such a thoughtful gift that turned out so wonderfully. You had just the perfect idea to boost my spirits for a time and made me feel beautiful for our anniversary.

I love you, I love our six years together, and I love the future ahead of us. As we work as a team we can get through anything!