I was just thinking today about Parker and I and trying to imagine someone else in our family. It has just been us for a long time. I don't want to come across as unhappy in anyway that we are expanding our family, but things are about to be very different.
I started thinking that I never ever want to lose sight of the fact that it started with us. Before all of the family stuff we will be doing for a long time, we were just two people who loved each other. We grew as individuals and as a team. We spent a lot of time doing special things for each other and having just one person in the world you would do anything for. I thought I should write down our story while it is still just our story...
Parker and I were both in the Auburn 5th single's branch. I was teaching Relief Society and Parker was the Elder's Quorum president. I just knew him as someone that everyone seemed to be friends with but didn't really know him past that. After all I was only 19 with no intentions of even finding a date let alone a husband and he was a much older 23 years old! haha. Although, I didn't know him I remember the first time I really noticed him. The entire bishopric was out of town so Parker was left to preside in Sacrament meeting. I remember seeing him up there and thinking, " That is the kind of guy I want to marry." He was totally confident in himself, had no trouble being a leader, and he was kinda cute.. :)
I didn't really meet him until a little while later when he called me out of the blue and asked me to go the movies. Unfortunately, at the time I was finishing my last week of beauty school and I had to get in extra hours to graduate on time so I truly didn't have time to go. It makes me totally sick to think that I turned him down and I came so close to losing that chance. Thank heaven's for text messaging!!! I would never have had the guts to call him back and say, "I do really want to date you" so I sent him a text that obviously changed my life. I just said, " I didn't mean to sound like I didn't want to go because I do. Can we go some other time?" Of course, he said yes and we started texting from there.
He was asking me things like if I liked sushi... in which I answered heck no! A day or so later he called me to talk and we talked til about 3 am. After that I don't think there was a single day that we didn't talk on the phone and I mean for hours! My parents cell phone bill that month was 500 dollars!!! Yikes... totally worth the investment in my love life it turns out.
For our first date we decided to throw a party together for the singles branch. I should also mention here that Parker' house was the party central for the ward because his parents were never in town. It was perfect to break the ice.
The next day we had our first alone date. Parker took me to a steak restaurant called The Owl in Grassvalley. The funny part about this is my whole life my parents used to joke that I better make sure my dates take me out to steak and not Mcdonalds. I was a steak girl not a fast food girl... anyway... It was so good and yes, I was totally impressed. Later we went back to his house and watched Polar Express. I had never been on a date like this before with a guy I really liked before and I remember being totally amazed at how comfortable it was to be around him. We snuggled on the couch and played footsies... scandalous!
We kept going out all the time and after the first week or so I kept thinking, I know he's being a gentleman but will he hurry up and kiss me already!!! Well, the night I was thinking that he finally kissed me and I was trying to be all cool about it but as soon as he left I jumped up and down like little girl. It was awesome!! He is a really good kisser... haha TMI I know....
One of the reasons that I knew he was going to be the one was that we were always so casual and comfortable about talking about our future together. Even from the first couple dates we would say things like, " Well, if this works out..." or " If we were ever to get married..." It was so cool. I also remember him talking about things he wanted in his future with his family and job and goals and I started feeling almost like I will be so sad if I don't get to be a part of that. I could imagine our whole lives together and we rocked! I knew right then that I wanted to always be with him, I want a life with him, I wanted him to be my children's dad, I started imagining us buying our first house and taking our kids to school ( all that cheesy stuff). It was a done deal for me.
Then he goes and asks me one night, " what would say if I asked you to marry me?" I was instantly confused because a part of me wanted to say YES YES YES, but then I thought, " Is he actually asking? If he is being hypothetical and I said yes, would that totally freak him out? Did he want me to say yes? Was he just curious in case he decided later that he wanted to marry me? If that was the case there is only one option of an answer. I said no. Not right now. He asked why not, but didn't really push it.
Later, Parker was driving me home and we had a serious conversation about getting married and we agreed that we want to make it official. I was so excited then he says, "Well, I still need to go to the temple and pray about this ..." I love him so much for that but at the moment it kinda popped my happiness balloon. That Saturday he went to the temple and all day I was waiting for his phone call to confirm our engagement. I called him the second he got out and I asked him what the answer was. I was a little scared he had gone in and changed his mind. He just laughed at me and said that he wasn't going there because he wasn't sure if he wanted to marry me or not. He was going to talk to the Lord about it like a son talks to his dad about big stuff like this. That was it. I knew I had said yes to the perfect guy.
He later got a ring and took me to Muir Woods to propose. I had no idea that he had gotten the ring. I could tell he was a little figity during the day but he eventually found a spot off a little trail and took the ring out of the camera case and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. The ring was amazing! I never could have imagined that I would have a ring like that. And he picked it out. Good job honey! We have tried to go back to that tree and take a picture every time we go. So, this first one is the actual day he proposed and the rest are after that.
2006:
2008:
2009:
We got engaged pretty quickly so we had a long engagement ( for Mormon standards) 6 months.
Engagement pictures:
We got married on October 20th 2006 in the Sacramento CA temple. It was the best day ever!! I'll write about that some other time.
We moved our stuff into our first place the day before we got married. It was a 2 bedroom condo in the most ghetto part of Auburn. It was only 750 a month. It was called The Greens. It had a terrible reputation but actually it turned out to be pretty nice. We loved it because it was ours! After the wedding I could wait to decorate and put up pictures and make dinner in the kitchen. We had a lot of fun there.
Eventually, we moved to Orangevale for a little while then moved up the street to Fair Oaks. While there, Parker and I decided it was time for him to really get serious about school. He quit his job and went to school full time while I worked at a hair replacement studio as a stylist and hair extension specialist. We really came to love our new ward down there. Parker became the Sunday school president and I got called to the Young Womens presidency. We met the greatest people and we were so busy with work, school and our callings that time just flew by.
Fair Oaks Apartment:
Sorry it's the day we moved in but there is the living room.
And the bedroom.But this was our view in the back:
We had been married for just over four years and I woke up one morning in January 2010 and all I could think was, we need to have a baby and it needs to be now! I thought about it all day. And I mean every second of the day. Parker and I had agreed when we first got married that we would wait until he graduated to have kids. So, I didn't know how to tell him. So, I didn't. But the feeling didn't go away for a whole week. I have never heard the spirit talk to me so loud and clear.
I made it my project to figure out how we would make things work if we did this before he graduated. I had done all the research and had all the facts I needed to spring the news on him that it was time. Bad idea. Poor man was completely blind sided. Eventually, together we decided on a date to start trying for a baby. And can I tell you how everything, I mean everything that we had ever worried about (money, housing, my job, school, insurance...) completely came together and not one of those things has been an issue since.
That brings me to us now, I am 8 months pregnant, we live in a house in Auburn, Parker is still going to school full time and just got the perfect part time job, I don't have to work and can just get ready to have this baby.
We are totally ready to bring on this new addition. I hope that Parker and I will never forget the story of us.
