Shelly Monson:  

5/05/09: On April 25th my husband & I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary by exchanging wedding vows. Unlike our original wedding this felt more important. Not only did we have our 4 kids and daughter-in-law standing up with us we had family & friends present that are very important people in our lives. Why was this time more important than the 1st wedding...we have 22 yrs together, we have raised 4 wonderful kids together, we have an awesome daughter-in-law and I can't leave out my 2 grand-dogs. I have done things that I am not proud of, but with the unconditional love from my husband we are going to make it!!! During this time a truly found out how much he loves me and never wants to be without me...that's a great feeling after all these years. We have reached the point in our lives together, we are starting a whole new chapter. We still have our youngest home, he's a junior in high school. Robert & I are (for the 1st time) finding "our" time together. We can go away for the weekend and not worry about kid. It is really different to learn who your spouse is after all these years. We spend so many years passing each other taking this kids here, or you need to pick up that kids there. You hit the bed at night exhausted and dream of the day your not so exhausted. Our oldest son Ralph will be completeing the paramedic program in Sept and loves working for our local ambulance company. It's hard to believe that he and Stephanie (I know it gets complicated when both Stephanie's are in the room together) have already celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary. She is a wonderful person and we are very blessed to have her join our family. Our daughter Stephanie has moved out and is beginning her journey that only God knows what is in store for her. Sarah will be completeing her freshmen year of college and is excited about making A's & B's in her classes and moving on to next year. She is going to New York this summer with her boyfriend and his family, she has always been my independent child and as I sit back and watch her grow into an adult. And last the last child God blessed us with, our son Cory is 17 yrs old. He towers over me, yet has such a tender heart. His struggle to recover from the auto accident he was in with his grandparent (my mother-in-law died from her injuries months later) has been our focus for 3 yrs now. You think it's been 3 yrs why would he still have problems? Well...he loves his family, the loss ...Expand for more