A Happy Anniversary

A lot has happened since we got married 9 years ago. We started by finishing.

...University, that is. I graduated from BYU in 2002 with a BA in Music. The following year I taught school and a lot of piano lessons until Matt graduated cum laude in 2003 with both his bachelor's in accounting and a master's in tax (also from BYU). We have fond memories of those years - as most newly married couples do - during the times of educational pursuits which, like most, included a lot of working hours (both in school and out of school), a tight budget and a few adventurous internships for both of us.

By the middle of 2003 we were ready to leave all the adventure behind, settle down, start a family and be "normal." We got pregnant, moved to Minneapolis, bought a house and Matt started his accounting career with KPMG. But, much to our surprise, the adventures continued...

In July 2003 our house burned down; a week later our first daughter was born. It's worth noting that we coped a lot better with the house burning down than we did adjusting to a new baby. Ironically, that did not prevent us from having another baby 2 1/2 years later.

Our second daughter joined us the end of 2005, December 29th to be exact, and Matt was especially thrilled... because her early arrival meant we would get the child tax credit for 2005 instead of having to wait another year.

By 2006 our "new" house started to feel small and Matt was working such long hours at the firm that Toddler Amy began to ask why Daddy didn't live with us anymore. This prompted some discussion and within a few months, Matt had landed himself a tax position with Caterpillar in Peoria, IL (and consequently, a better work-life balance).

We moved to Morton, IL in May 2006 where we spent the next two years in relative peace - if you consider "peace" including potty training children, removing wallpaper from every room of the house, ceramic tiling bathroom floors, and manicuring a 1/2 acre yard with over 25 rose bushes, a vegetable garden and a 2-tier playground/sandbox combo. We loved every minute of it and were glad to have finally settled into that "normality" we had sought after those years earlier...

We have since learned to not seek after "normality" as it doesn't really exist.

In February 2008 we accepted an overseas assignment with Caterpillar and now find ourselves loving another new adventure in life, this time in Peterborough, England. The house is smaller, the yard is smaller, and the WORLD is smaller. Just in the last year alone we've not only traveled throughout England, but also Scotland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta and Egypt and have plans to visit a few other countries as well - something we had only dreamed about for our retirement years!

The little girls continue to grow beautifully and never cease to amaze us by exceeding our expectations in so many ways. We love everything about our family; it is our greatest blessing.

So because of that day, 9 years ago, when Matt and I were married and sealed together in a temple of God, for time and ALL eternity, we celebrate this little bit of TIME we have spent together and look forward to all that awaits us both in this life and in the eternities to come.