16 years

16 years and counting....we've been married 16 years. That seems like ALOT and it is! I LOVE that we've gone above and beyond the 15 year mark. The next big milestone is 20 years and that's not too far away.

For our anniversary we decided (ok, I decided) to hike to the Y. For those of you that don't know, it's this:

Yep, straight up a mountain!

Funny thing is people kept on telling me to do something else. There ARE prettier hikes to go on, but me and my strong personality, I wanted to accomplish something I had never done before. How can I live in Utah almost my entire life and never have hiked up to the Y on the mountain I have been living under for many, many years? No longer. I was going to do this!

So here we are at the base, ready to start hiking:

Oh wait, maybe I DON'T want to do this. Nah. I'm not going back down only to have to come back up and do this all over again, when I'm ready to attempt again. Better to do it right the first time, right?

It's funny how the climb went actually. Pretty close to the beginning Ken saw a trail (if you can call it that) that went straight up the mountain instead of the path that zigzagged a less steep way for all of us "normal" people. Ken decided he wanted to go up that way and meet me where the paths converge again. He made sure to ask if that was ok with me, and since I'm not one to say no, I said go for it.

It took him just as long to travel the steep path as it took me to slowly climb the regular path. (I was still getting used to the climb and started out pretty slow). Then from there on out we traveled our paths differently. Since I was slower, Ken would hang back a bit and let me move forward, then run up and catch up with me. Or sometimes he'd run ahead, but then get to wait for me. A lot of the time we walked hand in hand though, and often he got to wait a moment while I sat down to give my breath a rest.

It reminded me a bit like that poem Footprints in the Sand. Sometimes we walk alone, sometimes we walk together. But always we were aware of each other and our place on the path. For some the path is easier, for others they prefer to take life more at a leisurely path. Some can't make it up the hill, they turn around and go back. Some were carrying their children on their backs. Some traveled in groups, others traveled alone. But we were all there to experience life to it's fullest.

Alright, so enough of that. But really, I was REALLY glad I chose to go. This is exactly what I needed and wanted to do at this moment in my life. Here we are at the top. You can see the background is white and that is the painted rock that makes up the Y.

As you can see, it was pretty dark by the time we got up there:

Magical kisses:

And memories:

So happy to be together. Life is good, even when it's hard sometimes. It's worth it. It is. Better to travel this world together, then apart. I love you Ken. We've created something wonderful. And we're still creating each and every day. May God Bless us and may we always strive to be the best we can be.