30th Anniversary

Yesterday Mr. Cactus and I celebrated our 30th Anniversary. Hard to remember that we used to look like this:

We had our first date in the summer of 1978. By November we were married. It happened so fast. He had a degree in accounting and was ready to start Graduate school. I worked at a bank. We met through our church youth group and we both knew right away that we wanted to get married.

That was then. (I thought my kids would get a kick out of some of these pictures)
This is now.
We have 5 children and 2 grandchildren. We've had our challenges over the years, but we've made it to 30 in the blink of an eye. How did time go by so fast?

Many people celebrate their 30th by a grand vacation. What we both wanted was to keep the day simple. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple, and chose to honor the day by attending the nearest temple by our home in St. George.
A very peaceful, contemplative place. We had time to reminisce and think of all the blessings of our life together. We have been fortunate in so many ways.

We also shared a wonderful meal at one of my favorite restaurants here in St. George called "Painted Pony"

Mr. Cactus is very sentimental and brought me a dozen red roses.

We tried to comprehend what the next 30 years might bring. I'm looking forward to every moment.