Countdown to the Anniversary: Matt and Shaina through the Years

This Sunday, November 8th, is our first wedding anniversary. Ahh! Can you believe it? I certainly can't. This year has really flown by...we've had a great year and, even though we're missing most of our second year, I can't wait for all the years to come!

For fun, I thought I'd post some wedding photos and whatnot this week, leading up to our big day. But I was looking through some old photos and thought I'd post photos of Matt and I over the last few years, up until a few months before our wedding last year. Enjoy!

This is the first (good) photo of the two of us that exists. It was taken on Matt's 24th birthday, at the Taste of Arlington in VA - a food festival that we went to every year until we moved away. It always falls on or around his birthday, so it became a tradition. I love this photo!

Since Matt was active duty when we started dating, he was gone a lot for trainings and whatnot. For the first three months of our relationship, he was only in town about half that time...typical Army! Anyway, this photo was taken after he came home from a 4-6 week training (I can't actually remember how long he was gone...it was June 2006!). I crack up every time I look at it!
Love this one...taken at Great Falls National Park in Virginia.
For July 4th weekend 2006, Matt and I went to Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Mountains. It was so much fun! Our first trip together. We did a ton of hiking and just hanging out...it was a great time.
Same trip...beautiful scenery.
This is kind of an ugly photo...but I'm posting anyway, mostly to show you how damn tan he gets and how ... white I stay. :) I can't remember when this is, but it's at the Chart House in Annapolis, MD.
And a couple of photos of just Matt...with the other man in my life, Oscar. Look how cute and tiny he was!!! Check out that Army brown t-shirt...blech. And yes, before Matt and I moved in together, he furnished his entire apartment with Rubbermaid containers. This was the apartment he lived in when we met. It was...sparse. This was after we brought Oscar home in late July.
Another hike in Virginia ... nicknamed Rattlesnake Mountain because Matt's friend saw a rattlesnake there once. Not sure what it's actual name is, but it was a beautiful hike. I love this photo and have it up in my kitchen.
Thanksgiving 2006...our first "family photo!" Matt was on call for Thanksgiving, so my parents drove out and we cooked Thanksgiving dinner in my tiny apartment. Right as everything was coming out of the oven, Matt got called and had to go deal with a situation at the Navy Yard...a bomb dog sat down outside of a door they couldn't get open. Argh. We ended up waiting and waiting, even though he told us not to...and he finally came home at 8pm and we had our big dinner. Even though we had only been dating about 8 months, but I knew that he was the person I'd spend all of my Thanskgivings with...I just didn't want to miss this one!
New Year's Eve, 2006/2007. One of the first times I saw Matt with facial hair. :)
Imagine how excited Matt was to get his very first Michigan t-shirt??! Here he is, showing his excitement, and me showing my bedhead. Awesome.
Hmmm....I guess this is Matt's 25th birthday, at Mount Vernon.

And the same year, a few days later at the 2007 Taste of Arlington.

And apparently we didn't take any photos from May 2007-New Year's Eve. Oops. I think I should take this time to note that Matt hates having his photo taken. This is...NYE 2007/2008. Fun times!
TA DA! Engaged! We actually don't have any photos from that night (we got engaged on our 2nd anniversary, March 7, 2008), but my parents drove out two weeks later and here we are at a celebratory dinner. The next day, I bought my wedding dress!
April 2008, our friends' wedding.
We're next!
Hope you enjoyed these...they were so super fun to look back on. Coming up next...the day before the wedding!