Five Years!

Today is our Fifth Anniversary! WAHOO! It's been rough, but somehow we've made it through. Just kidding...everyone knows Greg is a great husband and I am pretty much a perfect wife, so the past five years have been fabulous.

My cousin Marlee made this scrapbook page for us when I was making Greg's birthday book. All of our wedding pictures are in a box somewhere in storage, so this is the best I can do.

Here are some highlights of our marriage:

• We lived in a cute little fourplex apartment in Spanish Fork for the first year of our marriage. Greg was taking a few classes to finish his degree and working for a small construction company. I taught 6th and 7th grade English at Payson Middle School. (Also known as PMS.) We served as the "nurturing couple" for the Young Single Adults in our ward. Very interesting calling....
• After living in Spanish Fork for a year. we found a sweet basement apartment in a mansion in Mapleton. We loved the family we lived with and our apartment was GORGEOUS. Some of the neighbors were a little uppity, but we really enjoyed living there for two years. I'm grateful for the opportunity we had to live in a more affluent neighborhood because it taught both of us to really appreciate our simple upbringings. We learned that there are good (and not so great) people everywhere and being wealthy has absolutely nothing to do with being sincere, kind, and generous. We taught a very energetic and lively (aka WILD) group of 5 year olds in Primary our first year in Mapleton. After we had been there about a year, I got called to be the Second Counselor in the Young Womens and Greg became the Executive Secretary. We made some really fun friends who were also poor renters like us (Jordan/Keri and Rob/Sarah) and had some great times! The area was beautiful and we loved going for walks, drives and four-wheeler rides. I continued teaching at PMS and Greg was done with school and worked for a big construction company in SLC.
• In December of 2006, Greg got a call from a construction company in Logan he had mailed a resume a year or so earlier. They offered him a job and we decided to take have him take it. I was in the middle of a teaching contract in Payson and didn't feel good about just quitting midyear, so Greg moved to Cache Valley in January while I stayed in Mapleton until the end of May. Living apart and only seeing each other on weekends was definitely a huge challenge, but somehow we made it. We liked to tell people during this time that we were "separated" and Greg was living with my parents. We got some funny looks on that one...
• Literally the second the bell rang and school was out for summer, we loaded up my stuff and drove to Cache Valley to be together again! We moved in my uncle and aunt's basement apartment and are still living here, but are getting very close to starting construction on our house. Finally!
• When we moved to Cache Valley, I was offered a job teaching 8th and 9th grade English/Reading/ESL at South Cache 8/9 Center. Shortly after accepting the job we found out we were expecting Garrett. I truly enjoyed teaching at South Cache and made some great friends there, but after Garrett was born in March, my heart wasn't in it anymore and I decided to try being a stay-at-home mom. We've definitely missed my income, retirement, and insurance, but it's been well worth it.
• Greg continues to work in construction and keeping Garrett away from disaster keeps me busy. The 6th year of marriage is already looking to be a great one and we're already looking foward to some great things--like hopefully being in our own home!