Six Years - A Look Back...

Well, it's nearly impossible to condense six years of anything into a single post, but I thought today it would be fun just to share a few highlights from these years... From different life seasons, to trips, to babies, to big life events, to the simple moments, it's nowhere near all of them, but here's a few to celebrate this October 27th!! 

Six years, and I wouldn't have wanted to do them with anyone else!!! 

Year one was packed to the brim... We were newlyweds, I was taking a year off of teaching and interning at a small home staging business and launching my little small math tutoring business. Pierce was in grad school every week night from 6-10 and working two jobs, so needless-to-say, we were busy, but it's a season that we look back on with the fondest and sweetest memories... 

We found ourselves here in this little living room quite often. It has had many different forms throughout the years we lived it, but sitting here with the fire on and a few good books is still one of our very favorite things six years later!! 

After our honeymoon, our first big trip was to visit my brother and his sweet wife in California. We LOVED that trip - we got to explore Sacramento, visit Napa Valley, see the Parent Trap house (!! A big dream still is to visit the London one!!), and just loved our time away a few months married!!

That fall, I took a teaching job at the sweetest little Christian school in town...and the same weekend of Open House and the Meet the Teacher... 

Pierce graduated Grad School!!! A little snippet from what I wrote back then - "Boy am I proud of this man. From getting engaged a week into grad school to getting married during fall break and spending the first ten months of marriage in class four nights a week. He never put school before our marriage and yet graduated in the top 10% in the country. Here's to having an MBA and our nights together again, I'm so proud of you, Pierce!"

Still just as proud!!! 

A few weeks after graduation, Pierce faithfully finished his part-time job at Apple and started his first music business job in downtown Nashville. 

 

We snuck away that fall for our first time to Jackson Hole to visit Pierce's parents!! And have been back too many times to count...it's definitely become a special place to us throughout the years... 

2020 came along and we made it through online teaching and working from home for the first time... I taught many, many lessons from this little kitchen and every once in a while had a special appearance from "Mr. Pierce." 

We visited DC that summer and loved getting to spend time with Logan and Jessy (pre-kids!!!) 

We also spent two weeks that summer in Jackson... 

And went back for New Years and LOVED snowboarding and snowmobiling to ring in the New Year! 

That spring, Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl!!! 

We spent a snowed-in Valentine's Day in Dallas...

And had lots of studio dates and the beginning of The Riddick Family Blog!!

That summer, we spent a week in Cancun, Mexico!!

We redid our "study" (now turned playroom, which you can see here.)

And still look back on that summer as one of the sweetest!!!

The greatest blessing came later fall as we celebrated Baby Riddick #1!!

A lot of change came very fast after this...the Lord provided an amazing job for Pierce, in the form of the finance team for a small apartment real-estate business...

We bought our family car... 

And the biggest blessing of being able to purchase our home! 

Little Jane joined our family that April after a very, very long labor. 

I packed up my classroom after five years of being a teacher... 

And we spent two really, really sweet years being a family of three!! 

We traveled a lot... 

Rang in two birthdays with this little girl... 

We celebrated five years in Vermont!! 

And spent Christmas dreaming and praying for Baby #2...

We could not have been more thankful to the Lord for Little Andy joining our family on June 19th...  

And we spent the summer loving on him and learning the rhythms of a family of four... 

This fall has felt the same of making sweet memories with our little growing family... 

And although we wish we could spend every Anniversary on the beach, we recognized our season and we celebrated with a sweet little weekend getaway in Louisville this year and reflected on the many blessings, trials, adventures, gifts, seasons, moments, and ways in which we've seen the Lord at work in our lives and marriage... 

Six years feels like a blink of an eye and a long time in the same breath... Someone encouraged us a while ago to write "Remember Letters" jotting down little 'ebenezers' of the Lord's goodness so that we can always look back and remember his faithfulness. We added a Year Six Remember Letter this year and we are remembering these past six years, lest we forget the Lord's blessings and gifts in many different forms. 

It's been a sweet journey, one not without its many, many trials, but one in which we choose and work hard to see the ways in which the Lord is teaching and molding us...even here in the midst of what feels like a hard, but sweet season with two littles.

Here's to celebrating the big things, enjoying the little things, and soaking in all the moments in-between (for SIX years now!!) Thanks for walking through this short little memory lane with us... 

I'll plan to see you back here tomorrow!!
Sending lots of love!
XO

Tab