7 years

August 12, 2011

Matthew and my 7th year anniversary is today. I was reflecting on our first year of marriage a few weeks ago and thought I'd just share it just for fun.

We married August 12, 2004. I had my wonderful bridesmaids there and Heather, my sister, was my maid of honor. It was a nice wedding and I felt so peaceful at the time.

We moved right away to a basement apartment on the north side of campus at BYU. We were tucked in the middle of nowhere, even though we were right by campus. It was a strange experience. Even though I loved Matthew and knew that I was doing what was right, it was still an adjustment to get used to. All my friends were still down on the other side of campus hanging out and now that I was married and only a few minutes away, I didn't see them that much. I did not anticipate the social change from being single to being married. But Matthew was so happy, he was glad he was not living in an apartment of boys anymore :) It was our first place together and we were just glad to be in it together :) My ward was huge and we were put into nursery.

I got pregnant three months into our marriage. I did NOT expect to get pregnant. I was in complete shock. We moved up to Wymount and were able to live by Matt and Corrine and that was so much fun. Then I had to drop out of school because I couldn't walk to class or I might throw my guts out! So I just stayed in that little apartment almost all the time by myself trying to not lose my lunch. I remember every morning if I felt well enough I would try to walk around the Provo temple a few times. (I lived about a minute walk from the Provo temple!) If I wasn't too sick, some exercise actually helped me. In April, we moved to St. George to live with Matthew's parents for three months.

Matthew, however, worked at a scout camp. I had a job there too at the beginning. I was 7 and a half months pregnant and the camp up a windy, bumpy road that took 1/2 an hour and was farther than that away from hospitals. My dad was a little concerned. I thought I would be living in the lodge where there is a bathroom nearby, but no such luck cause another lady was pregnant (only three months, but she had little kids), so someone got us a camper instead. It was the nicest thought, but the bed was uncomfortable and it was freezing at night. I also had to get out of the camper about twice a night and walk in the freezing cold mountains to the stairs, walk up the stairs and hope there were no bears around, and then to the bathroom and then hop back into bed. After only two days I was feeling really sick. I told Matthew I needed to go see the doctor cause I felt so bad. Matthew thought I should just give it a few more days, but after complaining to him that I really needed to leave, he finally took me down. (Matthew ran the whole scout camp and was very busy, some nights he only got a few hours of sleep between meetings and figuring stuff out). When we went to the doctor he said I had altitude sickness (the low iron wasn't helping that either) and told Matthew I could not go back up to camp.

So, Matthew had to still work there so I stayed at his parents all summer. It was just his mom and dad and me for the week until the weekend when Matthew and Jonathan came home. Can you imagine St. George in August? Wow, I would just sit downstairs with the fan on in my lightest clothes and try to get the heat off my nine month pregnant belly! It was so hot! But it was so nice of Matthew's parents to let us stay there with them!

We had Nathan in St. George and then ten days later after blessing him, we drove to Denver where Matthew was going to start his MBA. I had an infection and actually had a fever on the drive. Our air conditioner broke on the way and it was August. Anyway, we got to Denver, I was still recovering, and Matthew's and my parents left us alone and Matthew had to go to school stuff right away! So I was left home alone with this ten day old baby by myself with no family around and still recovering. Wow, what an experience. Nathan had a lot of stomach problems and cried almost all day long. I remember thinking "I don't know what I'm doing..." The upside was that he was the SMILIEST baby in the world! Still, I remember that when he wasn't sick he smiled the BIGGEST smiles ever! He and I became good buddies.

Matthew and I were in love that year (and still are). I sometimes wondered why Matthew was so nice all the time. We were so blessed and I can see how Heavenly Father blessed us along the way in everything. For our first year anniversary we went to Applebees and hoped that Nathan would not be born that day! Nathan came on the 18th, only 6 days after our first anniversary.

So, it was a year to remember. I still love him.