Nine years ago today ...

... was the day I married my sweetheart. This was even better than 10 years ago today when I was in Hawaii with my bff Hilary ...

In any case, it's amazing that it's been nine years. Sometimes it feels like we've been married for 30 years (in a good way), and I just can't imagine life without his love.

So, to honor the nine years, here is a list of my nine favorite memories with Paul (but not necessarily in any order):

1. Your surprise proposal. I knew it was coming, and yet you still surprised me. I couldn't have imagined it happening any more perfectly ...

2. Operation Snuggle. Who knew that our joke on President Jenkins would end up (as he says) as a joke on us when we really got together. We started dating on April Fool's. Best joke ever played on me if it was one. (But if it IS a joke, you're doing well at keeping it up now for 9+ years ... ;) Should we tell anyone what we have planned for next April Fool's?

3. Our trip to Disneyland last year. Who knew that one day WE'D be the parents taking the excited, cute kids around to all the rides? And who knew we'd ever be able to afford such an awesome vacation! It was a blast and was perfect to do together.

4. Our wedding day. Of course, how could it not make the list? I always wondered if I would be able to feel totally and completely loved by a guy (apparently I had self-esteem issues after all?), but I felt total and complete love from you. Now this is getting mushy ... sigh ... :)

5. The three days our kids were born. Okay, this could count as three memories, but I'm running out of numbers here! You are an awesome Dad, and I love to watch you play with the kids and make them laugh. Let's have more, eh?

6. Our argument about the bar. I don't know why that still cracks me up so much, but why in the world did we have an argument about where that dumb bar was anyway? I guess it was the only landmark of how close we were to home. (And you should be grateful to this day that I really didn't know exactly where that dumb bar was, anyway!)

7. Your spider dream. How many other women have had the chance to watch their husband think he's having a standing-up seizure in the middle of a dream? I still can't tell that story without laughing ...

8. Our first house. The day we moved in was exciting, then stressful (with the fire), and then touching when you went and bought me flowers because you knew how mad I was about that stupid house fire that made our brand new home stink like smoke! (BTW, for everyone else, there wasn't major damage done, but cleaning it up took longer than the entire move itself! I still owe you, Christina, for grabbing a box that was on fire and getting it out of our house! Thanks!)

9. All those late nights we spent playing games with Aleshia. (The doughnut runs you two made at 1 a.m. were nice, too. :) The three of us were great friends back in our single days. You wouldn't propose to her to keep her from going on a mission, so she left us. I guess without her the only thing left to do was to start dating, get married, and have me 8.5 months pregnant to welcome Aleshia home ...

There are so many more good memories I could include, but who -- other than us -- wants to read them? Turns out maybe you ARE my type after all ...