Married For A Whopping 3 Years!

Marcus and I had our three year anniversary this last Tuesday. We go on a little trip together each year on our anniversary weekend and are looking forward to celebrating this year down at Lowe's Hotel in Lake Las Vegas. My friend Sarah had a really cute post on her blog not long ago when she and her husband were celebrating an anniversary where she highlighted the different years and stages of their marriage and I'm totally going to copy her idea. Here goes:

The friendship/dating/engagement stage:
Marcus and I met working EFY one summer. In fact, I met him the first day of training that year. We recognized one another's names because we had a really close mutual friend from the year before. We got to know one another as time went forward throughout May and June and became good friends ourselves. I had a boyfriend back in Laie at the time and was certainly not even considering Marcus as anything more than a fun EFY friend. We worked across the country from one another for the rest of the summer (with the exception of the last two weeks we spent in Provo), but talked on the phone often. I broke up with my Hawaiian boyfriend (wondering what I was thinking ever dating him to begin with...totally not my type) and Marcus it was totally obvious to me and everyone else in the world that Marcus thought we could hit it off at that point. I don't know what I was thinking but I totally disagreed. Long story short, we ended up remaining good friends throughout the fall semester and Marcus snuck his way into my heart. We never really dated and yet we never really were not dating...I like to say we just had a romatic friendship that lead to engagement and marriage. Anyway, he proposed and we were married February 19, 2005 in the Manti Temple (even though we somehow neglected to put that in our wedding invitations).





Year One:
Marcus was teaching seminary at Provo High School and I was working as a unit counselor at Heritage Residential Treatment Center. We moved into our little California Ave apartment (and we're still here). Throughout the year we painted, decorated, and furnished our little place (and got rid of the pheasant patterend hand-me-down couch we first started with). Marcus started the new Exercise Science program at UVSC and dropped out of the BYU Family Studies program he had just gotten in to. He was offered nearly full-time hours teaching seminary in South Jordan...but chose not to take it. This is when our life plans changed big-time. Marcus began working Nightwatch at a Provo Canyon Schools and it was nice because we were both able to pretty much work the same hours each week. We took my little brother and sister on a trip to Texas during the summer and it was so much fun to spend that time with them. We found out we were expecting a baby that fall and we were both happy to discover I feel GREAT when I'm pregnant...no morning sickness, no moodiness, just super happy and energized (for the most part). We got our first little pet, Bevo, and I discovered I actually like cats.





Year Two:
We start year two a little less than one month away from having our little Connor (we think we have a little longer however). I start feeling what we termed "punk"...sort of sick but not really all the time. I figure this is just what it feels like to be eight months pregnant. Eventually I get a killer headache that won't go away for the life of me, I swell up 32 pounds in about a two week period of time, I starte puking my guts out, having seizures, lose my vision and eventually end up dilliriously in the emergency room. Connor is born very quickly via emergency c-section. I remember almost nothing for days, but eventually catch onto the fact that I have a baby...it was like the movie "50 First Dates" for a while...I just kept getting the suprise that I was a mother over and over again. Marcus decides to take the summer off of school to spend time with me and Connor (as well as use the tuition money to pay some of our ginormous medical bills...we had excellent insurance but still met our annual out-of-pocket maximum). We had a blast spending time together and watching our little guy grow. I get most of my vision back by June...I think this is a good thing...I like to see. I think I have a fresh grasp on life and decide to go back to school full-time with Marcus in the fall.





Year Three:
I am not working anymore (although I was only working very part-time after having Connor). Connor is growing up so fast and is totally a little boy now. I love to be a mommy so much. Marcus gets an opportunity to be a paid Teacher's Assistant for a professor he really likes at UVSC. The professor allows him to do most of his work (grading, powerpoint presentations, writing tests, etc.) while he's at his nightwatch job. It's very nice to get paid for two jobs at one time. Connor starts playing with our neighbor Abigail nearly everyday. They swim outside all summer long. We decided we'd like to have two cats so they could keep each other company and Bevo wouldn't be lonely anymore, so we go out and adopt Hemi. Bevo is thrilled, Hemi is not so sure. We got to go on the Oprah show as a family in October and it was a total blast. The semester ends quite stressfully and I decide I officially dislike going to school at UVSC...Marcus loves it though.





Year Four:
I'm pregnant. We are in our last semester of school. Marcus is applying for jobs. WE ARE EXCITED TO FINALLY MOVE even though we have loved our time here in our little apt.