30 Days of Blogging: Day 7

Let me paint you a picture.  Once there was a 19 year old girl.  She was totally clueless, not the greatest student in the world, definitely a slacker, a complete commitment-phobe, and maybe a little judgmental.  That girl was me.  (Surprise, surprise.)  I'm not going to say I changed the day I met Dan, because that's not true.  But he has definitely been an influence for good.  He's taught me that I can do better than just skate along, that I don't need to take myself so seriously sometimes, that I need to look for the good in everyone, to have patience, and that it's ok (and maybe not so scary) to fall in love.  He's taught me that love takes work, that you need to be selfless and not just expect it from the other person.  I've learned that marriage can be hard, frustrating, painful--but that it's also beautiful, fun, joyful, and full of the best moments of my life. 

A brief history of Lauren and Dan:

Dan doing a solid and taking my friend Lisa to the airport--and putting up with our antics.

After snowboarding.  You know someone really likes you when they still like you after seeing you like this.

This is what falling in love looks like.

General Conference.  Dan hates this picture.

One whole month of dating.

This is about the time the "I love you" bomb was dropped.  And I didn't freak out.

This is when I took home a guy I was actually proud to introduce to my parents.

Classic.

Birfday.  Oh yeah, and I got engaged two days before.

We're precious.

I never thought I'd marry a sports fanatic.  But there you go.

Love.

Dan enjoying North Carolina's finer cuisine. 

Always keeping my life interesting. 

We love cruises.  And aviators. 

Dan's so fun.  Everyone wants to be his friend.

With Dan's cute grandparents.

White coat ceremony.  My hubby makes me proud.

Yup.

Dan just can't wait to be a dentist.

He hates pictures.  So you should be impressed I have this many of him.

Life is always better with Danny around.

30 Days of Blogging