10 Year Anniversary

Today we celebrate 10 years of marriage. I can hardly believe that it has been 10 years since John and I got married in the Manti temple. The years have just flown by. So much has happened in those years. Here is somewhat of a timeline of our marriage.

2000- We got married and were both BYU students. We were so poor. We made less then 10k that year but life was simple and fun. I remember we were so poor that John's sister Sarah had to pay for us to go to the dollar theater one time. But being poor students really taught us about needs and wants and put things in perspective. Little did we know then that we would be living the poor college life again a few years later.

2001- In January John got a job offer in San Francisco so we headed to the Bay Area. I was in my final semester at BYU and had to drop out and leave. This was so hard for me. I was so close and I was determined to finish up. I refused to be one of those mom's that only had a few classes and never finished.

2002- In August we had our first child Paige and what a change that was. The first little bit was very a hard. There were some kinks that we had to figure out because Paige was not gaining weight but once that was settled it was smooth sailing except for the part of her not sleeping. I remember when I would tell family Paige never slept they really didn't truly believe me and honestly I probably would not have either. One time when Julie came to visit she pulled me aside and told me that she believed me now that Paige never slept. Now Paige is a great sleeper and I have learned a lot through trial and error and have never had such a horrible sleeper since.

2003- In the middle of this year John applied to the BYU MBA program on somewhat of a lark and got in and received a scholarship. We were both so surprised. He applied very late like in June and by August we were packing our things and heading back to Utah. This is where our poor college days started again. John was not able to work the entire first year so we had to live entirely on our small and I mean small savings and student loans. Good thing we didn't really have student loans before. I also was able to get back into BYU and finish up my classes. I was so excited about this. What a relief to know that I was going to really finish!

2004- I graduated in April and soon after we moved to Phoenix for the summer. John got a summer internship in Phoenix. Also I was pregnant at the time with Johnny and this was not the best place to be pregnant, living on the third floor apt, and carrying a 20 month old up the three flights of stairs everyday multiple times. But we had a lot of fun in Phoenix. There was one great thing that came of Phoenix. We became great friends with the Broderick's and Dana and I have remained friends and have kept in touch ever since. In November we welcome John Jr. into the world. John always tells me that Johnny is actually a mini me but with his name. I guess John's clone would come with our next child Coen.

2005-John got a job yeah! And starts working before graduation which really helped out financially. In Feb. right after the job offer we start building our first home!! In April John graduates with his MBA and we start to live a somewhat normal life again with real money.

2006-We started the year off on a good note. We moved into our first home and have lived here ever since. This is a big deal to us since we had moved around so much before this. This was our 9th move since we had been married. I was beginning to think we liked to move or something but that has proven wrong since we have lived here 4 years this month.

2007- We welcomed our third child Coen to our family in October. He is by far our easiest child and that is a good thing since Johnny is somewhat a challenge at times.

2008-In April of this year we went on our first real trip together. We never had gone on a big trip together so this was a lot of fun. We went to visit the Broderick's in NYC. It was so much fun. We took Coen with us since he was still a little one but that was no biggie. We had the best time. This is by far the best trip we had and have taken. It was so great to see all the sites and visit with friends and eat at great restaurants. I wish we can go back someday but probably not soon since our free hotel is no longer there! As soon as we got back from NYC John switched positions with his company and departments which John was really excited about and is still in that position now.

2009- This year was the year of splurge for us. We never really spend a lot of money on big purchases. So at the beginning of this year we started it with a bang. In one months time we went to Disneyland, bought a new car, bought a big screen TV, bought a new table and bought a king size bed. Most of those except for Disneyland and the TV were actually really and I mean really needed. Good thing we don't spend like that all the time. I can now see how so many people get themselves in trouble with debt. I am just so glad that we were able to pay for all of these without debt except for the new car obviously. We have been so blessed.

2010- This year has just begun but we were able to get away for the weekend and spend sometime together just John and I. We have never been on a trip without at least one child since we had kids. It was so nice to be able to do what we wanted when we wanted and not have to worry about kids. I love my kids don't get me wrong but it is nice to be able to spend time with John and talk and just relax. It was a much needed respite because coming this April we will be having our fourth child and third boy. I am sure fun times await us. We are really blessed. We have the gospel in our lives , John has a job that pays him well, I am able to stay home with my children and not work, we have a nice home in a nice area, we live near both of our families and we all are in relatively good health. What more can we ask for. Everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings in our lives because I know that we really are so blessed and we owe it all to him.

Here's to another 10 years!!!