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| Here we are two years ago. |
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| Here we are 25 years ago! |
I cannot believe we have been married 25 years!! Life is so very amazing. This man whom I love, has been by my side for over 25 years! We have lived so very much life together! Here are the highlights:
January 1990: Got married.
December 1, 1990: Had our first baby, Slim
December 31, 1990: Took our baby to the hospital, had emergency surgery. Didn't know if he would live or die. We were in the hospital for one month. Then we brought our baby home with a colostomy.
June 1991: Slim had his second surgery.
August 1991: Miscarried our second pregnancy.
September 1991: Had my wisdom teeth removed
November 1991: Drew had an appendectomy
February 1992: Learned the house we were living in was being sold. Found a new place to live.
July 1992: Had our second baby, Spanky.
End July 1992: Discovered our second baby had ventricular septal defect (VSD) and was drowning in his own blood. We only spent one night in the hospital but had to give him consistent medication until his heart was big enough to not need it and function properly. Lots of doctor's appointments between the two boys.
August 1992: Discovered Slim has an anaphylactic peanut allergy. Spent the better part of a Sunday at the pediatrician's office receiving three injections to calm the allergic reaction after innocent nursery leaders fed him peanut butter sandwiches at church.
August 1992: I went back to school at BYU.
June 1993: Slim had surgery to restore his colon and normal bodily functioning. Included seven minor surgeries and two major ones over a six month period of time. June was the final surgery.
August 1993: Drew graduated from BYU.
Fall 1993: Moved again. Landlords wanted us to sign a contract that made us responsible to reseed the lawn in case of a drought, and be responsible for any plumbing or electrical problems and pay the property taxes. Ya. We moved.
June 1994: Drew received his first Big Boy job. We had been unemployed for 10 months after graduation.
July 1994: Had our third baby, Scuff! He is allergic to corn and didn't sleep for about six weeks until we figured it out. I felt like a crazy lady!
January 1996: We had our fourth boy, Sport! (When I found out we were expecting this baby, I cried and told the Lord not to send any more babies, until I told him to. I was exhausted and didn't think I could handle any more!) Sport was the best baby and had the greatest hair ever!
August 1997: I finally graduated from BYU!!!
September 1998: We moved to California (20 weeks pregnant with our fifth son!) Our new job only paid half of what we were making in Utah, and we were only making $25,000 annually. It took serious faith to make the move.
March 1999: Drew was called as Elder's Quorum President. After our interview with the stake president, we went to the hospital and delivered Speedy, the same night.
May 2000: (Somewhere around here) Drew accepted a new job with the Elections Office of our county. He was assured it was a full-time, permanent position.
November 2000: Within weeks of the election being over, Drew was fired without warning or explanation. He came home on a Friday at lunch, lamp and box in hand. Later that afternoon, he went to see the Court CEO who had originally hired him. The CEO told him to show up on Monday and they would find work for him to do. What they needed him to do is what led him to the job he currently has. If we had never accepted the other job and then been fired, Drew wouldn't be working where he is today. Being fired was a blessing and necessary in the Lord's plan to get us where He wanted us.
April 2001: Had our first and only daughter.
October 2001: Drew was called as the Bishop, 1st time.
September 2002: Got kicked out of our rental because they thought we had too many kids in their house. We had two property managers quit because they weren't willing to do the dirty deed. The second one told us they were quitting because the owners wanted us out and were going to hire someone who would do it. He told us to start looking for a new place to live right away. Yea for small blessings, huh?
March 2003: Had our sixth son, Shorty! Lived in a very bad neighborhood, kept our front blinds closed because of the drug traffic outside of our house. Had three other ward families live within one block of us. Even though the neighborhood was bad, we supported each other and helped each other and became really close. They are still some of my very favorite families!
May 2003: We spent one week in the hospital with Shorty who had contracted Bronchiolitis and could not breath. He continued to need nebulizing treatments on and off for the next two to three years.
June 2003: Drew was released as Bishop.
December 2004: Had our seventh son, Smiley. Smiley was the only baby who was ever late. He was more than a week late! It was a stress for me because I had a personal agenda of having him born before the end of the year. He actually arrived at 11:17 p.m. on New Year's Eve. I'm not sure I could have cut it any closer. It was part of my personalized curriculum that things happen on the Lord's time table, not mine.
No specific dates after Smiley was born:
- Someone stole my clean laundry out of my laundry room and off my back porch. All of my favorite clothes, including my garments, and entire load of baby clothes. I was not amused! I had the feeling to bring the laundry in the night before, but did not heed the prompting. Didn't realize it was a prompting until the laundry was stolen.
- Came home to find a skunk at the back door eating the cat food. Went in the front door.
- Some nice thieves siphoned the gas out of my automobile numerous times before I realized they were doing it and purchased a locking gas cap for my car!
- Had serious drama and problems with ward people, including someone calling my landlord and telling them that I was moving (when I wasn't) to find out how much my house rented for. (There was a TON more, but I won't go into the details. Just know that it was five years of serious trial and heartache.)
- Had our first 'real' teenager with our own learning curve issues.
May 2009: Our oldest graduated from high school and received his Associate's Degree from college. Then we had an entire summer of fun with him exerting his adult self and resisting against the control or interest of his parents. It was a lovely time. (Can you hear the sarcasm? Just checking.)
August 2009: Our oldest left for college.
May 2010: Our second oldest graduated from high school and received his Associate's Degree from college. And Slim left for his mission.
August 2010: Our second left for college.
September 2010: The baby (Smiley) starts kindergarten!!
November 2010: We found out we were expecting our seventh son and kept it a secret until I was about 20 weeks pregnant. (Being 50 pounds overweight helps to hide things, you know?)
July 2011: Thursday before I had the baby on Saturday, Drew was called as the Bishop the 2nd time.
July 2011: My water broke and there was a lot of blood. We almost had to have a C-section in the middle of the night, but things settled down and we had the baby normally, but two weeks early. Drew was sustained as Bishop while I was in the hospital recovering from child birth.
August 2011: Our second oldest, (Spanky) leaves for his mission.
May 2012: Our oldest returned from his mission! (And I was seriously blogging by then, so if you want to read the day to day, just go back a few years on the blog!) Our third graduated from high school and received his Associate's Degree!! (Then he left for BYU a week later!)
November 2012: I think we started to phoof the man-cave amid many protests from the men who live here. We started with the lamps.
December 2012: Slim and Scuff came home for Christmas and we took family photos in the Redwoods! I got curtains for the man cave.
May 2013: Scuff left for his mission!!
June 2013: Tammers and I painted the man cave! It looks smashing by the way!
July 2013: Tammers left for her mission!!
August 2013: Spanky arrived home from his mission and left for the Y three weeks later.
January 2014: Two weeks before Sport turned 18, we found out, when we went to turn in his Eagle Scout paperwork, that they had added a new merit badge requirement. We had to pump it out in record time.
May 2014: Sport graduated from high school and received his Associate's Degree from college! Slim graduated from the university and I got to go!!! I was gone for four days, including travel to the east coast! Oh, and Spanky got engaged.
June 2014: Slim came home to live for the summer and ended up staying until Christmas.
June 2014: Spanky got unengaged!
June 2014: Sport and Spanky left to go to the Y. Drew and I took them out there and were able to attend our old ward and see our very, very dear friends!! The husband has brain cancer and his life expectancy is not good, so we were so happy to spend a few days visiting with them as we got the boys settled! I love Provo!
November 2014: We are officially now all potty-trained! Woohoo!!
December 2014: Slim decides he needs to be in Utah. Leaves with four days notice. Dealt with emotional drama of the family. No one came home for Christmas, but we all SKYPED several times during the day, including SKYING with both missionaries at the same time due to scheduling mix up!
January 2015: Here we are!!!
February 2015: Tammers comes home!
May 2015: Scuff comes home!
That is a ton of living we have done together!!! Why would I ever consider starting over with anyone else? This man who lives by my side is as much a part of the children's reality and stability as I am! We are a team! We are yoked together, to pull together, to help each other, to be there when we need support! This is our load to carry! These children rely on us to keep our selfishness in check and put our pride away so that our partnership is unhindered in its ability to perform the work we have to do. Our unity is vital to our children's stability, self esteem and vitality. If our relationship crumbles, their identity will follow, as surely as night follows day. Lucifer and the world, will tell you that you deserve to be happy (that is true), you deserve to have freedom (true), you are worth it (true), the spouse you are yoked to is making you miserable (half-truth, some of it is your responsibility and choice), if you leave him/her things will be better (completely false, in most cases). Things will not be better for the children. Things will not be better for you or your spouse in the long run. I will promise you that if you will put your trust in the Lord and plead before Him your trials and heartaches in regard to your relationship with your spouse, and then you will act on the promptings you receive and make the changes required of you, your relationship will change for the better. We all have to acknowledge our part in the reasons why our relationships are struggling. The Lord knows what those parts are, even if our subconscious is hiding them from us. He will help us to see them, teach us how to change them, and give us the strength to do so. Marriage is worth it! The time and effort it takes to become happy and stay happy is worth it!! Keep striving! Keep working! And above all Keep Loving!
Happy Anniversary, Love!
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