One third of a year.

Happy four month anniversary to me and Louis!  To mark today's occasion, a little update from our backyard. 

During our wedding ceremony, Louis and I incorporated a tree-planting ceremony.  We chose this over lighting candles or colored sand because we're both outdoorsy people, and we knew we'd be buying a house soon after the wedding and wanted to plant the tree in our new yard.  The idea came to me from a few wedding bloggers who had done the same.

Turns out, saplings are really hard to get a hold of in early June.  When I mentioned this to a colleague, Kim, he said he'd "look around for one."  I had to laugh when he came back to me later and told me he didn't find any...springing up in the office parking lot!  The next day he brought us two samples, maples, from little seedlings that were popping up in his own backyard.

And here we are planting our tree at our wedding (or transferring it from the container to the green pot):

Here's what Joan, our wonderful officiant, said:
"A marriage is a rooting down of one’s love, life, and commitment to another person.  May this tree be a reminder that today’s commitment to each other is part of a life-long journey.

I now invite you to plant the sapling."

And we "planted", with our green gardening gloves that were a two-weeks-before-the-wedding find in the dollar bin at Joann's! :)

Joan continued:
"Let your love for each other be like this tree.  Let it grow tall and strong.  Let it withstand the harsh storms.  Like a tree, your marriage must be resilient.  It must weather each day and the passage of time.  You must give this tree, like your relationship, nurturing.  I invite you to water the sapling."

And I watered with our little green watering can. :)

And Joan concluded:
"Remember to nourish each other with words of encouragement, trust, and love."

We found our house (and gigantic backyard) only 4 days after the wedding.  Add in another month to close + a few mini vacations with both families + general forgetfulness, with a mix of "we really need to plant that tree." "yeah, we do." followed by not planting the tree.

Until September 19th!  One month ago we finally were home, working in the jungle, aka our overgrown yard, and we picked a spot, dug a role, and crossed our fingers that little tree would make it!

We were out in the yard tonight planting some bulbs we received as a housewarming gift, and we decided to check up on our tree.

Here is his one month (of being planted back in the ground) photo!

Still hanging on!  We believe in you, little tree!