the story of us: part two

the uintas in August

I am just so thankful for this man. 

Boy. ManBoy. (When you meet someone at 21 they will always be your boy.) 

He really is everything to me, 

and wins the #1 You-Name-It award. Husband. Dad. Friend. BBQer. 

All of it. We have so much fun together--parenting, playing, laughing, and adventuring. We have been through so much in these past 10 years, and I am so happy to call him mine. 

Right before our 10 year anniversary (whoa!) I started to write our story.....

.....in case you missed it, HERE is part 1)

Part Two: The Golden State

"Do you have any produce in your car?"

"Nope"

And with that we crossed the border into summertime in California--he was driving the little moving truck with our few belongings, and I was in the car--back seat loaded to the roof.

He had taken a job--his first "big boy" job out of college, and he started in two days. We unpacked our stuff into his parent's garage, where we would stay for a few months until we found a place of our own.

 

I was officially a California Girl.

I found a job--I worked at a place called Dinner Time. We prepped ingredients for several different meals and had them set up in stations. Customers would come in and assemble freezer meals to take home. We chopped, shredded, diced, sliced and helped women with their meals. 

We did dishes for hours.

 We made a few trips to San Francisco over the summer, and came back one time with a secret........

I was pregnant!

 

Nauseous, exhausted, living with deadly heartburn, and gagging every time I brushed my teeth. 

But so ridiculously happy as I quickly expanded out of my clothes.

We found a house to rent in the fall. A little (tiny!) yellow house with two bedrooms and palm trees out front. It was home--our home-- and it was where we would bring our little boy back to live. I continued to work, and lucky for me, I even got out of dish duty when my tummy got too big to stand near the sink. I bought tiny little blue socks and and hats and shoes, and we counted down the days until we could meet him.

 

In April, he came.

Ten fingers, ten toes, and a mop of black hair. Pure joy.

 

We spent our days in our little yellow house playing, reading, and singing songs. We'd walk-- everywhere. We walked to the Post Office. We walked to Trader Joes. We walked around every block, just me and my little boy. Robby would come home to join us for lunch every day. 

We were at our absolute happiest. 

You really fall in love all over again when you see your favorite person become a dad.

We visited Lake Tahoe, road tripped allllllllllllll the way to Montana, and showed our baby boy our favorite places in San Francisco.

We were the perfect little family of three. We celebrated Holidays with family, and learned quickly how much more fun life is with a sweet little babe in tow.

When Robby and I got married, we made a promise to each other.......to never live in Utah. If you're not from Utah, you probably 100% understand this statement. We just knew it wasn't for us. 

Or......

was it. 

There was a job opportunity. We drove out to see about it.....but whatever...it was in Utah.

The job was great for Robby. AND it put us so much closer to my family in Montana. Maybe we could even afford a house? After just a week or two of thinking it over.......

We were filling up boxes and headed to the mountains of Salt Lake City......

.......to be continued.......

Who are YOU thankful for today?

the story of us: part 1

In just a few days we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary. TEN YEARS!!! I decided I wanted to recap our last ten years worth of milestones--large and small--over a few posts in the next few weeks.

So, 

here we go.

It all Happened So Fast

"You really need to meet four-fingered Rob" 

My roommate kept on insisting.

(side note: My husband lost a finger when he was two. Hence, "four-fingered Rob".)

Wait--which one was four-fingered Rob again? Was he the one who asked me to move from in front of the tv because I was blocking the Tony Hawk game they were playing....?

(yes, that was him, and that was our first interaction. yet here we are, ten years later....)

I had been visiting his apartment for a few weeks--I was friends with his room mates, but for some reason hadn't met him yet.

And then it happened.

I was over at his place working on some math with friends, when we just started to talk.

and kept talking.

and talking.

and talking.

 

The hours melted into days into weeks into months.

We became such good friends--so quickly, and enjoyed spending time together with our mutual friends as well. We were all about fun fun fun.

We went snowboarding. I turned 19. We played ping-pong (ok so there isn't a lot to do in Rexburg Idaho in the dead of winter) Ate terrible food at JBs. We went to the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake (ok, so we went to Salt Lake and just hung around Olympic "stuff" with our friends......what college student could afford to go to an event?) We ate a whole lot of nachos (remember this post?) 

He turned 22-I made him a shirt. He worked at Franklin Covey, I called him a nerd.

 He let me borrow his car, his longboard, his graphing calculator.....true love folks.

We went to San Francisco.

We climbed up a hill.

He proposed.

I said yes. (it's true!)

We picnicked in Golden Gate Park.

He played the guitar.

 

Back to school.

Twitterpated.

School's out.

Wedding plans.

Separated for 2 1/2 months.....me in Montana, he was in California.

It was TERRIBLE. 

We worked. hard. Saved money. He roofed (hey Roseville friends--my husband roofed your Target!) 

I sprayed weeds for the county. (yes you heard that right....hey-it paid pretty good money for a 19 and soon-to-be-married-girl.....and that's what you do in Montana, you wear coveralls and spray weeds.)

July 13th, 2002 in the Oakland, California  LDS Temple.

Married. Forever and ever andeverandeverandever.

Happiest Day.

Scorching hot.

We looked 12.

That was a mighty poofy dress.

 

We spent time in Monterey. Carmel. 

We road-tripped up to Montana. Camped in Glacier National Park.

Listening to Dashboard Confessional along the way.

And then moved in.

To our house.

home sweet home.

haha.

This is where the fun begins.

Rexburg was in the process of going from a two year school, to a four year university. The town wasn't ready quite yet. There really weren't a lot of options for married students to live......so we kind of had to take what we could get.

And what we could get was the basement of an old house with 6 girls living above us.

Oh and other minor details like the fact that we didn't have a front door (just a piece of plywood leaned up against a gaping hole in the wall) until late October. (uh yeah.....Rexburg is cold in October). 

Or the fact that the first month of living there the landlord was actually living WITH us.

But it was home....our very first.

He continued work at Franklin Covey.

I was at Sam Goody.

We went to school together in the mornings.

We took a New Testament class together.

He helped me study my Spanish.

He had foot surgery and was on crutches forrrrrrrever.

I carried his books, and used his temporary handicap parking pass.

Marriage had its bonuses.

I could barely cook.

We were poor.

But found money to snowboard, and eat cheap mexican.

And a lot of cold cereal.

We moved out of the basement--bought a condo!

We were so grown up.

 

We ate our first meal in our new home.

We didn't have a table. 

We covered an old couch.

Bought a house plant, because that's what grownups do.

It died.

He worked at Wal-Mart.

I worked at Target.

I finished school.

He did too.

He got a job.....in California.

Goodbye, Rexburg.

......to be continued