Our 18th Year Wedding Anniversary

 Our 18th anniversary falls on the day of the funeral of a family friend.  So glad that my husband  worked at home that day, not that he intended it to be for our anniversary but for us to attend the funeral.  He was super busy with work that he actually forgot that it was our anniversary.  To be fair though, he  so mentioned it to me few days ago before  the exact date and bought me  a gift already  so I didn't mind.  It was funny, I handed him the card after we attended the funeral and he said "what is this?"  Lol, I just laughed.

I am grateful everyday that I married a man that really values family.  I always tell our children of how lucky they are to have a loving Dad like him.  

For our 18th wedding anniversary, our major project was the kitchen.  We're both glad that we have it done finally.  It's not cheap and it might  put us in a bind with  budget but I'm glad it's done and over with.  

We didn't do anything fancy, I didn't even cook a meal since we were too busy, in fact we  just ate  pizza from Di Carlo's!  It might sound terrible but we were all together so that's what matters.  Again, with funeral and everything, I just didn't have the energy to  do something special, I was emotionally drained.  Our friend's mom was a special lady, she was part of my children's childhood memories so I was very emotionally affected by her passing.  

16 Years and Counting #WeddingAnniversary

"Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, 

which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, 

with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church." 

- Pope John Paul II

16 years ago today, hubby and I decided to officially seal our long-distance relationship.  We've dated online for about 8  months and despite  skepticism and a lot of opposing opinions from other people, we gave it a go and believed that we could make it work.  Thank God we did because when I look at my  children now, I always think,  what if I listened to those voices and did not try us?  I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.    

Life is really unpredictable.  You never know what  will happen so it is best to take risks and try your  best to make it work.  I believe in destiny and fate.  Who would have known that a 30 year old me would  met a guy from almost-heaven, West Virginia.  I did not even  imagined I would go out of my country.  My childhood dream was to finish school and  find a good job and  hopefully meet a man and have a family we could both  raise.  Never in my dream I would  marry a foreigner and live outside my comfort zone but here we are 16 years later.

"The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue.
It's a choice you make - not just on your wedding day, but over and over again -
and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife. "
Barbara De Angelis

I thank God for blessing me a wonderful man, a great and loving husband and father to our children.  I thank him for choosing a little feisty Bicolana and bringing me here in WV, I love it here.

"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. "
- Martin Luther

Thank you for marrying me and for being with me for all these years.  I hope that we could continue to celebrate blissful years like we have been since year one.  

I hope and pray that  we could grow old together.  That even if our hair turned grey, we  could continue to be  each other's strength and love each other till our last breath.  Thanks for the love, humor, and faith in me.   

"A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love,

 trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. 

The order varies for any given year."

Paul Sweeney

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“The real act of #marriage takes place in the #heart💕, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It's a choice you make - not just on your #wedding day, but over and over again - and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your #husband or #wife.” Barbara De Angeli #WeddingAnniversary #16Years

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Crystal Clear: 15 Years and Counting

Love works in mysterious ways!  I would have never thought I would end up  here in "Almost Heaven, WV" but it must be fate, thanks to this wonderful guy who  got smitten by  a little Bicolana from the  Southern part of the Philippines (lol).  He convinced me that love can survive just about anything.  You just have to work together, have faith, and be honest and respect each other.  Not everyone I know  believed we will ever get this far but it is CRYSTAL CLEAR now, the naysayers were wrong.  

Through the Years

 Growing up, I never dreamed of  marrying a foreigner.  In fact, my childhood dream is to  finish school and  find a job and that's it.  I thought having a family is hard as I watched how my parents struggled raising us 9 kids.  My goal since I was a kid was to succeed in school no matter what the circumstance is  so I could find a good job when I get done.  That explained why I was already 30 when I  got married.  Thanks

Since it is our 15th year, the crystal represents it.  It said that the costliness of crystal is representative of the sacrifice and investment that the  couple has made to the marriage over the past fifteen years. It  also symbolizes clarity and transparency, reflecting the state of the couple's relationship. Below are some of the crystal things we have at home.  My husband's chinese animal is rooster and I am an oxen, he got these when we were first got married to represent us.

 He gave me this  swarovski crystal roses  when we were just dating.  I thought, it's way better than fresh roses.

In 15 years, we have traveled quite a lot in different places.  That's one of the many things we have in common and enjoys a lot doing together with the kids.

6th  anniversary - Mount Seorak South Korea

8th anniversary - Disney World

12th anniversary - Hershey Park

I am so glad I  gave the online dating a try.  I have one of my  student assistant to  thank for that.  If it wasn't for her, I would have never  discovered  this  online dating thing lol.  I was busy  writing my  thesis back then and she   told me she is going to make me a profile, I just laughed and thought she was just kidding.  Well, the rest is history.

11th wedding anniversary

14th anniversary - Grand Canyon, Arizona

We don't do  lavish anniversary celebration.  We  sometimes pre-celebrate our anniversary with our travels but mostly we spend it at home.  Above are just some of the most memorable ones we  have had.  Actually, every year is special, I just don't have time to dig  each event ha ha.  I might update this post later when I get a chance.  

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“Don’t #marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can’t live without.” -James Dobson #marriage #inspirationalquotes

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Let's Get Lost: #FamilyPictureAugust

Part of the plan on our   vacation to Las Vegas  (which I haven't blog yet), was visiting the Grand Canyon.  It was a far drive but we enjoyed the road trip.  It was  the day of our anniversary when we went.  Vegas was  nice but it is so busy and was too hot that a day on the road would do us good.  We got up really early and head on to Arizona after  we ate breakfast

Driving through the desert-like  view makes me appreciate our state of West Virginia more with all it's green scenery.  There is something  about looking through absence of trees  that made me feel a little down but as my husband said "it's quite unique" so we  tried to just enjoy the ride.

We stopped by at Williams, Arizona for a restroom break and put on our anniversary shirts that says 14 Years and Still Enjoying the Ride.

 I should have brought my tripod but it takes a lot of space in the suitcase so I didn't.  Our daughter took these photos so she wasn't in the picture.  

 I am grateful that my  husband love to travel and  doesn't mind driving because we get to  go places.

Both hubby and I  have terrible sense of direction so having the GPS saves us from getting lost all the time.  We still get lost from time to time when the GPS is late in telling us  about the exit but it is part of the journey.  I thought the  theme for this month's BeautyBox5 box is perfect for us.  Nobody wants to get lost but hey when you are enjoying the ride, why not.  Let's Get Lost box has Luseta Beauty argan oil hair masque, Styli Style line and seal yeliner, Manna Kadar Cosmetics Glo illuminator, Seraphine Botanicals Quince and Crimson crayon, and Nanacoco Rio 2 nail polish.    

I never want to get lost but hey #BeautyBox5's theme this month is that so bring it on . I love the Copacabana Coral nail polish! #BeautyBoxSubscription #ArganOilHairMasque #NailPolish #beautyProducts

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My favorites are the Argan oil hair masque and the nail polish.  The heat of the summer makes my hair  a bit dry so I  gave  it a treatment using the Argan oil mask and  it's awesome.  It makes my hair so soft that I can  just stroke it with my fingers and it looks like I  brushed it or straighten with a hair iron.  

Have a blessed Sunday y'all! #OOTD #churchOutfit #SundaysBest #keepingupat44 #fashion #womenFashion #dressingUp

A post shared by Chubskulit Rose (@chubskulitrose) on Aug 27, 2017 at 7:41am PDT

It's been a while since I painted my nails so I was glad to see a nail polish in this month's box.  The color of the nail polish  kind of matches my shoes!  If you enjoy what you see in the box, head on to BeautyBox5 and try their  subscription.  It's fun and affordable

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the complimentary product/s mentioned  for testing purposes and to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

14 Years and Counting: Ivory #WeddingAnniversary

Wow, I can't believe that it has been 14 years since I  committed myself to a great man, the love of my life.  He has been the best partner, supporter, companion, friend I can  share my thoughts and feelings, and the best husband I could ever ask for.  Thank you Hon for all these wonderful years  that we have been married.  

2003 -  Legazpi City, Philippines - The beginning of it all.   The foundation of what we had and still have  till today.

2003 Cebu City Philippines - Our honeymoon  after our Civil Wedding 

Our second wedding (church wedding)  - 2004

2005 our daughter was born - I was scared for the responsibility  of a Mom but you were there to assist me.  It made it easier knowing that I can lean on a strong shoulder.  

2006 - Pensacola Florida -our first travel  since our  daughter was born.  I feel in love with the  Florida weather.  I wish we could have that weather here in WV, that would be a dream come true lol.  It was nice  feeling like I was in the tropics again.

Pensacola Florida 2006

2007 - Our son  was born.  Motherhood was never an easy job but you were there for me every time I needed a boost so thank you for that.  I am so blessed to have a husband who truly love his children.  I could only wish that every father  would be like you.  Every children deserves a  Dad  like you.

2008 - Chinhae South Korea  - Spending the  last two years of your tour in the Navy with you  in the land of the morning calm  was a great adventure.  It was a great experience I will never forget.  To be able to  experience it with our children was  a blessing.

2009 - Seorak San Park, South Korea - Traveling in South Korea was  fun and a  great adventure for us.  

2010 - Celebrating our 7th Wedding Anniversary - I can still remember when you told me the  7 year  itch and I was like "What is that?"  So glad we never had an issues with that.

2011 - Disney World, Pensacola Florida - Another great adventure for us especially for the  kiddos.  It was a magical way of celebrating our 8th year anniversary.

2012 - First Niagara Pavilion, Burgetstown PA - Attended a  Jimmy Buffet  Concert, it was an experience I will never forget.  This was the second time we have gone without the kids.  It was short-lived but fun.  I realized that  attending concert is a not a good idea  for a person with  migraine like me lol.  I was trying to enjoy  the moment  despite the  migraine but when the drunk guy poured a beer on my back, we left.

2013 - Settlers Ridge, Pittsburgh PA - Even a simple  anniversary celebration turned out to be special because  you always find a way to turn  ordinary adventure into an extra ordinary one.

2014  Beaver Valley Mall, Monaca PA

2014 - special moment  at home.  

2015 - Jamestown, Virginia

2016 - Tappan Lake Park, Deersville, Ohio

2017 at Home

Dang, looking back at these photos makes me realize how much we aged in 14 years lol.  However, physical change is  normal, what is important is that we still love and respect each other .  Happiness  in marriage comes within.  I am so glad that God gave me a man who  truly appreciates  who I am and a man who loves his family dearly.  Together we will try to raise our  children the best we  can.  I pray that God will bless us with great health so we can grow old together.  

Capturing Another Year of Peaceful Marriage

One of the many things that I  am thankful with my marriage is that, we work together in making things work for our family.  We might not have the luxury  in the world but we are grateful that  we can pay the bills and put food in the table and send our kids to  school.  For our 12th anniversary, we just went out for dinner and spend the rest of the day with our children.  

Hubby  bought me the blue dress that I am wearing as anniversary gift so I thought that we should take some family  pictures to remember this day,  

 If course when I take pictures, my kiddos  always  makes funny faces lol.

 Hubby wore the shorts that we bought  recently at  TJMaxx to match my outfit.   Our son  goes with pur blue and white theme.

 The little Miss  wore the  dress that I  bought on sale at Macy's.

 These two are  our precious gems, the only treasure that hubby and I are very fond of.  We will continue to  guide and take care of them until they are ready to spread their own wings and face the world.

 

I found this article online about the meaning of each years of wedding anniversary.  The 12th says:

Silk

A couple that reaches twelve years of marriage has, undoubtedly, sailed through many rough waters and overcome a great many obstacles in their relationship. Having been strengthened by enduring difficulties, they now eagerly anticipate that the road ahead will be smooth as silk. It is time to enjoy the finer things in life. Celebrate this anniversary by taking time to indulge in luxury and pleasure.

I find it very interesting to read all the symbols and meaning so if you want to check yours, you can find the article here.

In twelve years, we have so much to be thankful for.  Above all that, we are grateful that we were given the chance to become parents and to provide for them.