Lucky 13?

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. Woo hoo!

(you'll have to excuse the quality of these pics. This was before digital cameras, and our scanner is not great.)
Half of me is amazed that I am old enough to have been married for thirteen years. Most of the time I am still 16 years old in my head.

The other half of me is absolutely amazed that I chose a dress with such poofy sleeves. At the time I thought it was beautiful. I will be urging my children to get simple, timeless wedding dresses. Like the ones that are popular right now.

When I look at these pictures I am amazed at how small my family was. We only had 5 grand kids. Now I think we are up to 36. And 5 more spouses. Our family pictures are far bigger now. And half of us are still procreating.





We were looking at our honeymoon pictures (Wendell won't let me post any, because we were mostly in our bathing suits on our cruise) and Wendell said, "It looks like I married a little girl!" I look at 19 year olds today, and agree. Although at the time, I thought I was old enough, and perfectly mature;)

When I look back on that day I can't help but think of how incredibly lucky I am. Although we dated for a year almost to the day before we got married, there are certain things I couldn't have known.


Like what a fabulous father he would be. How he would take turns taking care of our infants in church so that I can actually listen in my meetings. How he doesn't flinch at changing a diaper. How all of the little ones in our family would flock to him. How he recognizes that we are co parents, and taking care of your own children is not babysitting.


Or how he recognizes my needs and doesn't balk. How could I have known that when I had a barely two year old toddler and an 8 month old who hadn't yet taken a bottle he would urge me to go ahead and go to Utah for Women's conference with my sister for three days and leave the babies with him. His exact words?"I promise she won't starve. just because she has never taken a bottle doesn't mean she never will." He was right. By the end of the first day she finally gave in

How he realizes (possibly because of the above experience) that being a stay at home mom can be every bit as demanding as a job, only with longer hours. he is willing and able, every now and then, to just take over at home after along day at work.

Or how he would encourage me to take time for myself when I need to. That's right, I didn't say "allow" I said "encourage" without complaining. Go scrapbooking with my friends. Go to lunch with my sisters. Or even the occasional out of town concert. Somehow he just knows that I will be a better mother and wife if I get a break every now and again





How could I have known how handy he would be? How we wouldn't have to waste money on hiring a professional every time something went wrong with our cars or our house. How did I know he could put together furniture, or even install flooring?

Or how he could figure out everything he could ever need to know about the computer. And everything else for that matter. I am not what you would call the queen of common sense. But I am now because I married the king!;) He can always figure out how to do things more efficiently, or to make something work out when I don't think there is a way..


How could I have known he would trust me to handle all of the bills in our household? Or that we can be almost equally frugal, and discuss money issues before any major purchase. This is a comfort, because money is the cause of more than half of all divorce in our country.

Or that he would be sensitive enough to cry with me when I lost my father, and take care of me while I was grieving. And not expect much the first couple of Father's Days afterwards.

The more I see of the world I know how lucky I got on this day thirteen years ago when Wendell and I started our eternal family and were sealed together in the Mesa temple. The more I see of the selfishness of people the more I am grateful for a husband who is basically not.

At 19 and 23 we may not have known exactly what we were doing. And we still don't. But we have been able to figure it out together. We still have many challenges ahead of us. Like teenagers. Yikes! And who knows what will happen to our family in the future. But I am not afraid. I know we will be able to work it out together.

Here's to at least 50 more!