An Incomplete History

A while back I was tagged by Lori. I know I have been tagged a lot lately and am guilty of not playing - it because I was working on this tag - including finding and scanning long-lost pictures. I think I went a little overboard on the pictures for this, but it was too much fun. :)

I'll start at the beginning - August 2000. We don't have a fairy-tale beginning or anything - we met at a bar. We both worked in the restaurant industry (Kevin was a chef and I was a server) and there wasn't much else to do after work but go to a bar, so that's where it all started. :)

Here is Kevin is all his Chef-glory - isn't he cute in his chef-pants? He was a sous-chef at the young age of 21. I didn't know he was only 21 when we first met. I had just turned 26 two weeks before and he was about to turn 22. When I figured out he was younger than me, I decided this probably wouldn't work out. But he was persistent and I gave in and went on our first date (out to dinner of course) with him.

This is one of the first pictures we have together. Kevin never liked this picture but I love it. He was meeting my Dad and Stepmom for the first time and for some reason they took pictures of us together.

This is the dog I had when we first met. She was 15 years old and took care of me as much as I took care of her. Her name was Tessa and she adored Kevin. He was so sweet to her - this picture is from a day when we got 12 inches of snow. He took her out and bought her a coat because he thought she would be cold. It was then that I knew for sure that he was the one. The way to my heart was through my dog. :)

Here we are at the restaurant Kevin worked at when we met. I think this was from a wine dinner - 5 courses all paired with wine. I remember feeling very proud of his food - he is a very good chef.

In April 2001 we got our first dog together. Little Tess had passed away - Kevin had helped me through every step of that - even helping me to make the decision of when the time was right and coming with me to the vet to say goodbye. A month later we got our little Hammie. This is when it became apparent that Kevin was going to be a great dad. He doted on this dog non-stop.

Halloween 2001. I have no idea what I'm dressed as. Or Kevin for that matter. It was fun though! I mean check out that chest hair! (Not really his :)

Our first vacation together. We took pictures of ourselves. :) We had SO much fun.

My birthday - I think my 28th?

In December, 2002, Kevin asked me to marry him. It was very sweet and I couldn't have been happier. I kept saying, "Really?" until finally he asked, "Are you going to say yes?" :) I did.

Our wedding invitation. We weren't very traditional as you can see. (You might have to click on this to get the full effect.)

Our wedding shower. We look pretty excited about that rolling pin. Too bad I don't know how to cook. (Good thing I fell in love with a chef!)

The Big Day...

Our wedding day was a lot of fun. We had our ceremony at a museum and the reception on the 10th floor of the same building. We didn't have a sit-down dinner - just stations of food (of which I ate none!) and passed hors d'oeuvres. We had a swing band too - my dress was a lot of fun to swing dance in. (I should add that I'm not really a good dancer - but with a good partner I can pull it off. :)

On our honeymoon. This is when we decided not to wait to have children, but to start trying right away. I'm glad we made that decision.

My 30th birthday. The next day Kevin took me for a surprise vacation to Hilton Head. His 30th is coming up and I'm taking him on a surprise vacation. (Any suggestions?)

Our baby shower. You can't tell, but we are sitting in the same chair as our wedding shower. Our BFFs Chris & Rob had both showers for us. They are pretty great.

And, all of that led us to this...

We are very lucky - to have each other and to have our sweet babe.

(I really think I went overboard with the pictures! :)