Trucks

Brandon had a truck while we were dating, and he has always talked about getting one again "when we're rich". On Sunday we had a conversation with Brandon's dad that went kind of like this.

Me: getting a big truck would be stupid, if we have a bunch of kids.
Brandon and his dad: TRUCKS ARE NEVER STUPID. You can tow stuff.
Me: We can just get a suburban. What are you towing, if we can't tow our kids?
Dave: What ever you want.
Me: We don't have anything to tow, and people will constantly be asking us to help them move.
Brandon: Exactly.
Me: It's stupid to have a car that all your kids don't fit into.
Dave: You can tow a little camping trailer
Brandon and I (in unison): We're not buying a trailer.

That was the end of the conversation. Sorry Dave, your son married himself a "city girl"

Our suburban will pull our boat just fine, thank you.

Three years

Holy Crap it's been three years. I love my husband, but you know that. I thought I would share a few of our adventures in the past three years.

In three years we have:

Lived in California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington
Made and successfully raised, and potty trained a two year old
Driven 50,000 miles
Been in 7 states, and 3 countries
Both graduated from undergraduate with a 6 month old
Survived almost 3 quarters of Chiropractic college
Moved not 2, or 3, but SIX times!
Seen a grand total of 5 movies in theater

Brandon asked me if the next three years would be as exciting. I guess we'll see! You can look at the rest of our wedding pictures via the link the on the right hand side of the page.

Motherhood

Last month when my friend Emali was asked to speak on mother's day, we talked a little while about what she should speak on. The conversation ended and we moved on to our work out. The question, "what would I say about mothers, if I was asked?" wandered around on my mind for a few days, then got replaced with laundry, groceries, diapers..etc. (no doubt). Then this morning as Chandler and I ate breakfast together, and he managed to get yogurt on his nose (no really it was cute), I felt like I needed to share my thoughts.

Mother's day talks, relief society general meetings, messages to the women in general are usually about awesome we are. These aren't without due cause, everything said is true. But I think we spend a lot of time talking about the sacrifices women make, and how difficult things are. NO ONE ever talks about how amazing playing mommy is. I wonder if mom's everywhere will hate me for telling you all this.

*disclaimer: this is from my personal experiences, and everyone's experiences are different.

• Labor and delivery isn't THAT bad. I thought it was a magical, beautiful experience. To be fair I got my epidural after a few hours, so I wasn't in much pain. But I had swim workouts that were harder than labor.
• Yes, you bring home a baby that wakes up in the middle of the night, but I was always excited to see my new baby... if he didn't wake up and I did, I was sometimes tempted to poke him awake (I didn't)
• People stop and tell you how cute your baby is, and people want to come visit you. It fills me with pride, like I really have something to do with how good looking he is.
• You get a built in fan club. Chandler likes me and Brandon better than anyone else. There's an odd security in knowing that someone likes you best. Kind of like 7th grade when you realized your secret crush liked you too.. but BETTER.
• You don't have to go to work, no one can tell you what to do (some restrictions apply), you don't have deadlines on school work. Basically we go where ever we want, whenever we want.. and almost no one can stop us!
• Your office is the play ground. About a month ago, after the rain went away, we were at the park, sitting on a blanket, the weather was perfect, and I couldn't help but say out loud, "This is the best job ever!" I would rather sit on a blanket in the sun, than go to class.
• There is a serious sense of satisfaction when your baby learns something new. And they seem to learn something new every day. Chandler's such a genius, and I like to pretend it's because I am an awesome mom, but really it's because he's a genius (hahah kind of).
• You get to watch little kid shows and no one will make fun of you. Common, you know you still like Pooh Bear. Personally, Arthur if my favorite.
• Life fills up with amazing experiences that are irreplaceable. On the day before mother's day we were watching imagination movers, and they were singing a song about how much the love their mom's. Chandler watched intently, then come over and gave me a big hug and kiss. '
• Babies need their mom's. There is nothing better than being needed. Maybe that's why it's hard for mom's with grown up kids that don't need them to help them put their pants on anymore.
  
• EVEN AFTER TWO YEARS I can still go into Chandler's room while he's sleeping, and get teary-eyed because he's so perfect.

No motherhood isn't always perfect, the pay is low, it's sometimes messy, and it can be exhausting.

BUT all, in all, it's amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for any other job, experience, or amount of money. This is God's divine calling for women.

"To nourish children and raise them against odds is any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons." -- Marilyn French