Today is an important day! My boyfriend, Aaron is another year older and we are celebrating another year of blissful dating! In honor of Aaron's birthday and our 5th Anniversary, I wanted to share a few pictures from the past year. I ALSO HAVE EXTREMELY EXCITING NEWS TO SHARE...AARON ACCEPTED AN INTERNSHIP WITH THE OKLAHOMA WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT AND HE WILL BE STARTING NEXT WEEK! That means instead of an hour and a half apart, we will now be thirty to forty-five minutes apart. I cannot express in words how excited I am. I have been praying and praying that he will find a job and that it will be something that he loves doing and it will bring us closer together. Although it's just an internship, I count it as an answered prayer and for that I'm very thankful! For the first two years of our relationship, we lived in the same town, but the last three years have been apart. It is going to be different adjusting to seeing each other so often, but it will be a very quick and easy adjustment. I look forward to cooking him dinner occasionally, date nights (esp. double dates with my best friend and her fiance who live there), going to church together, spending holidays together, going to football games.....and most of all being able to go see him on the spur of the moment, whenever I want! AHHHHHH....I'm so happy, I literally could explode! The internship will last six months, so please continue to pray that after the internship he will have a full time job lined out for him, doing something he loves!
Because it's more fun to take a trip down memory lane, here are a couple of old school pictures first. This picture was taken the first time Aaron met my parents after we had only been dating a short while. I can't believe how young we both look and I have the roundest face and biggest cheeks I've ever seen, haha!
I think this pic was taken during our first year of dating. He is too cute!
Fourth of July trip to the zoo this year.
At my Me-Ma's 80th surprise birthday party this April.
At the Eli Young Band concert this past Spring.
Before heading out on one of our dates this year.
Aaron's graduation this past December. Hard to believe it's almost been a year.
Thanksgiving in Tahlequah with wonderful friends.
After completing the triathlon last September.
I don't want to get all sappy on you guys, but I just want to express how blessed and thankful I am to have Aaron in my life. He truly is the sweetest guy I know. You can ask anyone who knows him and they will more than likely tell you that he has a heart of gold. He treats me like a queen and never asks for much in return. Just ask his brother, Brian. When I go to their house, he calls me "Queen Quincee." Aaron has far exceeded his duties as a wonderful boyfriend this past year. I can't count the numerous times that he came to see me for a whole weekend even though I had to work the entire weekend. He came anyway and found ways to entertain himself while I was at work. Every time I came to see him he took off work for a day or two just so he could spend the whole day with me....that also meant sometimes he had to put in a day of work on the weekends to make up for lost time. He made time and sometimes cancelled plans to attend surprise parties, weddings, races, etc. I owe him a lot of trips to Edmond to make up for all the gas money he spent this past year visiting me. Probably my favorite memories with Aaron this past year involved running the marathon. Aaron didn't run the marathon with me, but he was my biggest fan. He woke up at the crack of dawn and rode his bike beside me many, many times.....and sometimes those rides exceeded 16 miles. I'm pretty sure that was the longest bike ride he's ever been on and ever will go on for that matter. I remember one time he said to me, "you don't know how happy I'll be when this marathon is over. I'll get my girlfriend back." I'll never forget how sweet, compassionate, and proud he was of me after I finished the race. He probably told me 100 times how proud he was and how great I did. That day he knew I was in extreme pain and he waited on me hand and foot. I didn't have to move a muscle because he was right there asking if there was anything he could do for me.
Thank you, Aaron for being such a great boyfriend. I know I don't tell you enough how much you are appreciated and how much you mean to me. I hope you have the best 24th birthday ever! I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you and me! I love you so much!