12.12.12

14 years ago today...

I was at home hanging out with my family when my phone rang.  It was Stephen.  He was working at  Randalls as a sacker and had a break coming up and asked if I would come up there to meet him.  I asked my parents who said that I could.  After I hung the phone up with Stephen, my mom said, "I will just run you up there.".  It was dark outside and I would be driving on a little 2 lane road to get to Randalls and my parents were a little overprotective.  So my mom drove me up to Randalls and I went inside while she stayed in the car.  Inside, I found Stephen and he said, "let's go walk around the parking lot and pick up carts".  So we did.  As we were walking Stephen asked me to "go out with him".  In other words, will you be my girlfriend.  I, of course, said yes.  I liked Stephen a lot and we had been spending every weekend together for almost two months at the movies, eating out, or hanging out with friends.  I was very happy he was asking me to be his girlfriend.  As we made our way over to my moms car, Stephen realized that she had brought me and he was so embarrassed.

The first year we were dating, he would bring me roses on the 12th of each month.  One rose for each month.  Naturally that stopped after the first year, roses are expensive.  It was such a sweet gesture for a 16 year old boy!  I rarely get flowers these days and that is ok.  Today all I want is for him to walk in the door before 7 o'clock- haha!  It's funny how things change over the years.

We have been through a lot in 14 years.  A lot of great times and some really hard times.  But all of that has brought us to where we are today and today we are in a great place!  I can really say that our relationship has never been stronger and I have never loved him more than I do today.  That 16 year old girl dreamed about where she is today.  I have an amazing husband and son and life is really good!

Here are some pictures I found of us in high school.  I know I have better ones somewhere, but these were all I could find right now.  They are pictures of pictures, so not the best quality, but still fun to look at.





Homecoming:





I'm not sure what is going on with my eye in the picture below, I did not have a lazy eye- haha! I think it was probably the flash.  But I love this picture because I remember this day and how much fun we were having.  We were eating at Stephen's favorite mexican food restaurant, Amalia's, and we were with our friends Courtney and Chris and just having fun!



Prom:





Stephen and I were talking the other day about how grateful we are that we have been together so long.  It is neat to think about the things we did as seniors in high school and know that we were together.  Or that we went to prom together.  I am so glad I had Stephen by my side for all of it!

And here we are today:









Those pictures were actually taken 2 years ago and I love them!  We hadn't had any professional pictures of us taken since our wedding and I knew we would be starting a family soon, so I wanted some of just the two of us.  Little did we know that I was pregnant in these pictures.  We found out we were expecting about 3 weeks after they were taken!

This morning Stephen wrote this on Facebook:

14 years ago today I asked Lisa Edds Prather to be my "girlfriend". We have survived high school, college, a long distance relationship, and many other challenges through our young adult life. All of these situations have helped grow our relationship to what it is today. To Lisa, thank you for saying yes! Thank you for having faith in me through all my bad decisions! Thank you for being my wife and loving me more than I could imagine! Thank you for blessing our family with Stephen III! You are a great person, a wonderful wife, and a amazing mother. I love you Lisa! To a great 14 years and many more to come!

Isn't that sweet?  It made my heart burst with joy and tears run down my face!

Stephen,

I am so glad you asked me to "go out with you" 14 years ago.  We were just kids who had no idea what the future held.  I always knew there was something special about you and you have spent the past 14 years showing me.  You are the most amazing husband and the best father I could imagine for our son.   I am so happy that we have spent almost half of our life together and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together.  I love you more than you will ever know and I am grateful to spend my life with someone who makes me feel so loved, safe, happy, and secure.  You make me a better person!  I love you! 

Lisa