10 YEARS!

My sis-in-law Taryn did a blog post on the past decade and it made me start thinking about all that's happened to us in the year two-thousand...in the year two thou-sand!  (If you watch Conan, I meant for that to be said in the creepy sing-song voice he used to do for that segment.  If you don't watch Conan, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about.)

1999

I graduated from Basic High School and cried my eyes out after my Mom dropped me off at SUU.  Randall was serving his mission in Oregon and cried his eyes out every time his Mom wrote him a letter.  :)

 

 

 

2000

I dropped out of SUU and started working at the Safekey office and attending CCSN and UNLV.  Randall came home from his mission and worked for the family embroidery business while he searched for the woman of his dreams.

2001

I continued to go to college and work for Safekey along with becoming a substitute teacher.  Oh yeah, and I met and fell in love with a super-hot guy and got engaged to him during Thanksgiving weekend.  Randall met the woman of his dreams at a wedding reception for one of his former companions, (even though he didn't remember her because he was on a date with some other chick) and later his companion set them up on a blind date.  He too fell hopelessly in love and became engaged Thanksgiving weekend. 

2002

I moved to Utah and we got married on April 20th.  We discovered that we were expecting our first child on our two month anniversary.  (Go ahead and laugh.)  After that my memories are somewhat blurred, but I have glimpses of me dozing on the couch while holding a puke-bucket and also laying on the bathroom floor enjoying the nice cool feeling of the tile on my cheek.  Fortunately I was laid off the day after I found out I was pregnant, and have been blissfully unemployed ever since.  (I honestly have so much respect for women who work while they're pregnant.  How do you do it?!) We also moved out of our basement apartment in West Jordan and into Randall's parent's basement apartment in Pleasant Grove. 

2003

We welcomed our son Carter to the world on February 25th, and moved into our home in Eagle Mountain at the end of August.

 

2004

Randall was still working for Sew What Embroidery and we found out that we were going to have a little baby girl with spina bifida. Ben, Taryn, and Stryder lived with us for a couple of months, and after they moved out Randall's parents moved in.

 

 

2005

On March 23rd our sweet Lyddies was born.  It was so nice to have my in-laws living with us to help out during a pretty stressful time.  I will never forget how loved we felt throughout this entire experience thanks to all of our amazing family members and friends. 

 

2006

We found out that Carter and Lydia were going to have a sister even though the pregnancy was exactly like Carter's and she was such an active little thing.  We didn't care if it was a boy or girl, I just thought I had a "mother's intuition" or whatever they call it.  Apparently mine's broken along with half the stuff in my house.  

 

2007

Randall's parents moved into their new house, and Meleah Susanne was born on May 26th in our home...without the use of drugs.  (Go ahead and laugh.)  I did a preschool trade-off with some of the ladies in my ward for Carter that was actually pretty fun.  Especially on the weeks that it wasn't my turn to teach.  ;)

2008

Randall and Carter started school on the same day, Randall to Physical Therapy Assisting school at Provo College and Carter to Kindergarten at Eagle Valley Elementary.  Lydia switched from Kids On The Move (an early intervention program that we'd been working with since she was born), to the school district.  This picture is Lydia with one of her KOTM teachers, Aubrey, on her last visit.  We also discovered that we were going to have another boy, a little bit earlier than planned...

2009

Cameron Michael was born on January 7th.  We downsized the business, rented out our house, and moved in with Randall's parents (apparently we just can't stand to live apart from each other).  Randall finished all of his book-learnin' classes and his first clinical.  Who's idea was it to have students work full-time for free (making it nearly impossible for them to have a job) in order to graduate?

So basically, a TON of stuff has happened in the last ten years.  Randall always makes fun of me because when he started talking about marriage I may have mentioned something about still feeling like a little girl and not really feeling old enough to get married.  The crazy thing is...I still feel a little on the immature side and I don't really understand how I can have been through so much and not have grown up yet!  :)  It's been an amazing ten years and I am so incredibly blessed.  Here's to hoping the next ten years are as full of laughter as the last ten, and perhaps a couple fewer pregnancies and a little less stress?!