10 Years And We're Just Getting Started

I love Matthew, absolutely love him. If you don't want to read a long, gushing post about how much I love him then stop here. However, I will try not to make it too cheesy or vomit inducing.

But here's your fair warning; I love him a lot.

10 years ago this month, I met the man I would marry, unknowing of this fact. I was only 16 so marrying him was the last thing on my mind. In fact, I tried to hide from him the first time we met. We "met" online at ldsfriends.com and after becoming "online friends" decided to meet each other. Except at the last moment I got nervous and ran over to my neighbor's house so he wouldn't find me. My mom told him where I was not knowing I was deliberately not home. Anyway, I will never forget my initial reaction to him as I opened my neighbor's door; "What a nerd!" And about 3 minutes later realizing he was one of the best guys I'd ever met. The rest is history... 5 years of dating, 5 years of marriage 1 and half sons later... the guy still shows up at my doorstep every day. And I love it.

Our First Date at Sugarhouse Park April 4, 2000

There are many things I love about him;

I'm thankful that he is still plowing through school. In 2 weeks he will have his associates. He started off with a Scholarship at UVU (he was a sterling scholar in computers) and then life brought him up to Salt Lake to marry me, work full time, raise a son AND keep going to school at SLCC. He's finally finished and boy, did that boy earn his degree! Now off to the "U"...

I love his ambition. Frankly, he's a "workaholic" (sorry, honey... but you are...) and that has only served our family tremendously. He started as the "window teller" making 7 some odd dollars an hour and clawed his way up the food chain. He works hard and is meticulously efficient. His boss is always giving him random bonuses as a thank you and now he is the Collections Manager of all the branches of American United Family of Credit Unions, and let's just say he's making more than his starting position of "window teller." Our First Prom Together, 2000Matthew has a very stubborn way of doing things in a "all or none" fashion. Sometimes this is not always the best trait (for example if he doesn't think he has the energy to clean the whole house then he doesn't even want to do the laundry.) However, in many ways this trait serves him well. We were in a rut of not being active in church and not even really preparing ourselves well to raise our family in a spiritual home. When we held all 4 pounds of our first born though, everything changed. Andrew was a 4 pound missionary sent from Heaven to help us get our act together. On our son's first birthday we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Matthew started paying tithing for our family and is faithful with it every week. Like he does with everything else, he takes our religion very seriously and puts his whole heart into it. He was made Elder's Quorum 1st Counselor and has worked very hard in that calling.

He is extremely savvy with finances. I whole-heatedly trust him with our finances. In fact, he pays all the bills and completely takes care of the organization of that in our family. He's cautious and does not frivolously waste our money. I'm thankful he has the wisdom to keep us from going too far in debt or taking on financial responsibilities we can't handle. He was also smart enough to get AFLAC which has helped tremendously with medical bills in our family.

(Look at the rock on my finger. Yes, he purposed while I was still in high school. We were young but smitten with each other.)

Matthew is the ying to my yang. The cookie to my milk. While he is rational, practical and analytical, I am emotional, impulsive and free-spirited. We balance each other on most things and even occasionally have fun in the process.

Our Honeymoon in San Diego. We were headed for a nudist beach called Black Sands. While we were there we kept our clothes on be enjoyed watching all the dolphins. At Sea World on our Honeymoon.
June 26, 2004. Our Wedding. Nearly six years to the day we are expecting our second son.We were fortunate enough to have our wedding at my Grandparent's cabin in Lambs Canyon. There is no more beautiful place in the world to me. It was the perfect place for us. Thank you Muffy and Pops!

I know that in this blog I mostly gush on and on about Andrew and it may appear that he is all that matters to me in life. I know that one day he will grow up and move out and create his own life. I want to have all the memories of raising him to be able to keep forever. However, Matthew is my rock. I know I will always have him standing by my side. He truly is my strength and stability in life. The thing I treasure the most about Matthew is the reservoir of strength that he processes and taps into to carry us through life. It's not easy at all to work half a day, spend 6 hours at Primary Children's and then go to school (an actual day for him once) but if something needs to be done he does it. When I am beaten down with struggles or too worried or upset and emotional, Matthew is the support I need to keep going. He may come across as indifferent at times to me but then I usually realize that he has a quiet, subtle strength that propels both of us through the situation. I know he has a lot of stress in his life and it makes him grumpy or frustrated, but not matter how stressful things get, he never gives up on his responsibilities. He is our stability and I know that Andrew was blessed to have a father that gives his all to provide him a good life. He is an amazing Dad and would give anything for Andrew, as well as myself. I know he loves us with his whole heart.

I'm thankful for the 10 years I've had with him. I look forward to growing older with him. I'm glad we have each other to hold hands while we travel this mortal life together.