13 Amazing Years! Happy Anniversary to us!

"Great marriages are built brick by brick, day after day, over a lifetime.
And that is good news.
Because no matter how flat your relationship may be at the present, if you keep adding pebbles of kindness, compassion, listening, sacrifice, understanding, and selflessness, eventually a mighty pyramid will begin to grow.
If it appears to take forever, remember: happy marriages are meant to last forever.” – Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Few days ago my husband and I celebrated our 13 years of being married. We started our day by worshipping at the Cebu City Philippines Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where we made covenants with God that we will be together until the eternities. We went there just the two of us. Left our children at home. Giving ourselves some quality time alone without our girls. As always, it was an inspiring experience with the one I love to be in the house of the Lord and be reminded of the promises we made 13 years ago.

Since we couldn't take photos inside, we took a selfie when we were outside the temple. A proof of how we looked after 13 years of being together.

We had our share of ups and downs. But being with the person you love makes the burden and the challenges of the world bearable. We are not exempted from struggles. We have always believed that for a relationship to last, both individuals should make an effort to work it out and develop the Christ-like attributes in us. Be grateful. Be humble. We are far from perfection but we are doing our best to be the best person we can be.
I can say we had amazing years!

I did a simple collage of our wedding photo and the photo we took on our anniversary.

I can see that we had our share of wrinkles here! 😂

After our temple attendance, we went home straight because we didn't want our children to be alone for many hours. My husband took a leave at work for this special day of ours. So he was with us the whole day.

At dinner time, we went to Casa Verde at IT Park, Cebu City. We had a simple anniversary dinner together with our girls.

While waiting for our order, we took a few snaps.

We had the best seller Brian's Ribs and Burger and fries. As always, their food was remarkable. We were filled!

After dinner, the girls wanted to take a stroll to the Ayala Central Bloc which is a few meters away from Casa Verde. There were beautiful Christmas lights and decor along our way. Our children insisted that we take photos.

The original plan was just to stroll and NO buying. 😀Then we ended up buying the girls earrings at Broadway Gems. 😂 It was our two daughters first time to have ear piercings. Our eldest had hers when she was 7 months old. I was not able to take a photo of their faces while the piercings were being done. Both of them felt a little pain but were satisfied they had their first pair of earrings.

Am I the one who is supposed to get a gift on this extraordinary day? It's our anniversary! 😂 Nah, I don't mind! Anything for our children. (As long, of course, we can afford it.)

By the way, they created anniversary greetings for us accompanied by their drawings. So thoughtful of them.

It was past 10 in the evening when we arrived home. Our anniversary was well spent.

Thank you for reaching this far. I hope you are having a great day!

xoxo,

Met