looking back...

After we told Michelle and Ella that today we have been married seven years, Michelle really was interested. She wanted to see wedding pictures (she's seen them before) and see my wedding dress and asked a lot of questions about our wedding. She even wanted me to put my wedding dress on... I complied with her request, although, of course, I can't zip my dress up at all right now. This caused me to reflect on our wedding day and on why I love and appreciate Alfredo so much.

Ever since we started dating, Alfredo has bought me flowers. Often red roses, but not always. He buys them for most special occassions but also from time to time just because. Along with flowers, he always buys beautiful, sentimental cards to express his love. (For those who know how funny he is, you may be surprised to hear that he's never bought me a single funny card.)

Here's a wedding picture of us. Speaking of flowers, Alfredo is quite talented at arranging flowers. He did all of the bouquets, boutinniers (probably spelled wrong), and the flowers on our wedding cake for our wedding. As well as the bouquet for my bridal pictures. Along with being talented at arranging flowers, he is also good at decorating. He is the one who has done most of the painting, arranging furniture and decorating of our home. Most of the nice things we have are things he has purchased. (Just one funny example: We have about 6 different shower curtains, most with matching floor mats. He likes to change them every couple of months.)
Here are a couple of scrapbook pages from our wedding album. I know that since it's a picture of a scrapbook page that it isn't super clear. Sorry.
We were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful day. It was windy which kept it from being too hot and it started raining just a little while after we finished our pictures. We had a luncheon at Marie Callendars with a really nice program and ring exchange since none of Alfredo's relatives could go to the temple with us. Then we, of course, had a reception. But we only did a line for an hour (or maybe an hour and a half, I can't remember for sure) and then had dancing for the rest of the evening. We used to go Latin dancing quite a bit before we got married and for the first year or so after. Anyway, we had a DJ and spent about half of our reception dancing to all kinds of music. Our reception was fun!
Here's a picture of us today, seven years later. I had Michelle take a few, and this is the only one I'd dare show. I look HUGE (awful, whale-like) in all of them. This one was taken farther away and with Ella draped across us, I don't look as bad.
Here are some other things I love and appreciate about Alfredo:

1. He is hard-working.

2. He is a great dad. He loves his girls, and they love him.

3. He is funny. There are moments when I don't appreciate his humor, but most of the time I do.

4. He has been so sweet and concerned about me the past couple of weeks. We don't have a cell phone (I know, I know... we're the only Americans that don't. Crazy us!) and so he's been really careful to let me know exactly where he'll be and how to get a hold of him. He's offered to cancel plans to stay home with me on evenings when I wasn't feeling that great. He calls often just to see how I'm feeling.

5. He is always so willing to help others in his family or his friends.

6. He is handsome.

7. He is a good cook. He doesn't cook that often, but he is a great cook.

8. He does a lot of housework. On his days off, he usually cleans the house and takes care of the girls while I work.

9. I have two beautiful girls because of him. I can't imagine my life without Michelle, Ella and Alfredo.

10. He loves me.

I love you, Alfredo! Thank you for being the great husband and father you are!