First Year

Marshall and I had found a house that was for rent about 1 month before we got married. It was the perfect little house. It was built in the 1940’s and I fell in love with the quaintness of the home. The problem was that it was not ready for rent even though they had it listed as a rentable home. The bathroom was not working there was no running water and the kitchen did not have working fridge or stove. Well we moved our stuff in with their promise that it would be finished in 2 weeks plenty of time before the wedding. Well we ended up having to find a new place 4 days before the wedding because they never finished the bathroom. Oh well Lesson learned. So we rented this little home 400 square feet and lived there for 4 months. Then found an apartment that was below our friends. We ended up there for 2 years and loved it. Before we had been married a year we had moved 3 times. Growing up I moved a ton and so moving was not to big a deal. But Marshall lived in the same home his entire life. He moved only a couple of times on his mission. So moving was not a big thing in his book. So we settled into the apartment and loved it. We had a cozy 2 bedroom apartment.

We were a happy little couple. We made really good money and had no bills. We had a Tacoma truck, car, and a 4-wheeler. We sold my little Geo within 1 month of being married Marshall’s choice. I got to upgrade to a sedan. We went 4 wheeling almost every weekend and camped in a tent 1 time before we decided to buy a camp trailer the first week of June. We found a really cheap one and made it our own. It was orange inside but it had running water and was only $500. Then we spent the next 2 years fighting the never ending trailer guests the mouse family.

We went to Canada for a family funeral we left on a Wednesday afternoon and made it home by Monday and 2200 mile round trip. We learned that you need more than 100 CD to make a trip like that. Our next trip will have a few books on tape.

We went to St. George to the Tuacahn Theater to see “Beauty and the Beast”. Marshall really surprised me for my birthday that year. We loved going to do something different and relaxing and have made it a family tradition to try to see at least 1 show a year.

Marshall got a new job working the graveyard shift. With the company he is with today. He loved it and worked his way up by his hard work and determination.

My family had a missionary come home who got to meet Marshall for the first time. My other brother graduated high school. Marshall Sister had a baby.

For us life was just fun and exciting. We wanted to wait to start our family. We wanted to get to know each other and have a working relationship before we dove into being parents. Looking back at our decision it was one of the best choices that we ever made. We have a stable relationship. We love each other very much. I am so glad that the choices we made brought us closer to each other and gave us a stronger relationship.

Marshall gave this card to me sometime in our first year of being married and of all the cards he has given me this is my favorite.  It really goes to show that we get a good laugh out of life.

BGW&PTH Bowling Tournament

Our February family tradition

Marshall's family has an annual Bowling tournament if remembrance of both his grandfathers who are deceased. Both men loved to go bowling and so we have a party and bowl. Since they started they went to a bowling ally. We (the kids) decided that it was getting way too expensive for all of us to play 2 games. So for Christmas 2 years ago we all (Marshall’s siblings) got his parents a Wii (For the bowling). It has made bowling a ton of fun. I don’t get all gutter balls; the kids oftentimes do better than their parents. We have 4 family trophies. They are bowling pins with the yearly high scores of them, and a Bowling clock with pins. There are different pins for the different age groups. Marshall and I have not had the Privilege to have them in our home since the first year we were married.

This year we only had 4 practice games at home before the big day. Libby even tried a few times but she is easily distracted by a good movie. So the game day showed up, Marshall pulled out his bowling bag, his bowling shoes, and his bowling shirt(All grandpas hand me downs, and none of which he wore because we weren't at a bowling ally, but it is fun to see him get excited). Off we went to win. In the end we were right in the middle. I think we need a bit more practice.

I love to go bowling. I grew up in Canada and they have what is called 5 pin bowling. You have a much smaller ball one you can hold easily in your palm and the ally is shorter. I remember bowling as a child and I loved it then. Since Marshall and I have been married we have gone several times. It is a ton of fun to go and spend time together.

Marshall’s family has always loved to bowl. Both his grandfathers were in bowling leagues and Marshall's parents from time to time have also been in bowling leagues. And Marshall last year was invited to a bowling league with some of his co-workers. The best part is that Marshall and his parents have their own bowling gear. Ball, bag, and shoes. So we plan on bowling when our daughter can hold a ball and really enjoy it like we do.  



Libby's idea of bowling, A tea party drinking fake hot cocoa



Our Wedding

Marshall and I were married on May 10, 2005. It was a Tuesday. We didn’t want to make a long day of our wedding day so we opted to get married on a Tuesday and then have our reception on Saturday.

We were married in the morning at the Mount Timpanogas Temple. It was a cold and rainy day. I was grateful that when I arrived at the temple Marshall was there. I was worried he would change his mind and not come. Silly, I know. We had a wonderful ceremony. Neither of us remembers much about it. I am glad that when I go to the temple we can participate in sealing’s. The sealer always talks about how similar the words are to when you are married. Reminders are everywhere and I am glad. We finished in the temple and then took pictures. It cleared up just long enough to take pictures and then started to rain when we were done. We had our luncheon at a Marshall’s sister’s church in American Fork. We had all our friends and family there. We ate and then we left for our honeymoon.

We planned to stay close to home (even then we were too cheap- or you could say frugal your choice, to go too far). We stayed in SLC at a really nice place my uncle got as a wedding gift for us. It was across from temple square. So we ate at the Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial building, and toured temple square ( let me say awkward, when every set of missionaries on temple square, stop and ask you what you are doing in SLC and you have to answer them). After that we headed south to Manti. We stayed at a nice Bed and Breakfast with a nice 80 year old couple who ran it. So awkward. Well we didn’t take Marshalls 4-wheeler and we should have. We ended up going to his families’ mountain property to go see the beautiful views. I had only seen it in the snow. Well it had been raining for a week and it was muddy. But we made it all the way to the property. Once we got there we got stuck in the mud. I just wanted to laugh. We were stuck on a mountain, 2 hours from home, our cell phones didn’t get service, our trucks wheels were 5 inches deep in mud and Marshall was getting mad. Our options were to 1. Walk down the mountain and call his dad to come pull us out or 2. Find branches, anything dry to make a path out if the mud (I had seen it on Swiss family Robinson and I hoped it would work). We did not want to be the couple that had to call their parents on their honeymoon. So we found sticks and branches and rocks and anything we could to put under the tires. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift so I pushed the truck while Marshall drove. Well good news we got out without having to call our parents. We were really muddy and felt bad going back into the bed and breakfast caked in mud to our knees. But we got over that. We headed home on Saturday morning for the reception.

I was glad we had the break; it made it more enjoyable of an evening. Our reception was held in my parent’s back yard. I wanted something simple and somewhat casual. We only had our parents in the line. We had a family friend make a cake for us (the only part edible was the top that we cut into). My mom did the flowers I had a bouquet of white and pink roses( she did used to do flowers a long time ago). We had strawberry short cake as our refreshments. The part of the memory Marshall remembers best is, how much whipped cream we ended up having as leftovers. You would think that it would be easy math to figure out how much whipped cream we would need ½ cup for each slice of cake. Well we were over 49 extra large tubs of whipped cream. No cake just the topping. To this day I still over estimate and it’s our family joke. I think it’s better to have too much than not enough.

We did enjoy our reception and being able to see all our family and friends was really nice. While looking through pictures we laughed because we don't remember too much but boy we both look thinner and younger and in Marshall's case more hair.  We know that the older we get the more our memory will change and different things come back to you. But the nice thing is that we have pictures to remember all the wonderful things.  Having the temple in our lives is our constant reminder that our family will be Together Forever. That is the biggest memory I have of our wedding day.

Marshalls version of how we met and got engaged

When I got home from my mission most of the girls that I met seemed really immature and when I was with my friends I would always complain to them about it. So one of the first things that stood out to me about Brittany was that she had a full time job and she was going to school. She also lived on her own and knew how to take care of herself. I remember when she started working the day hours that she would get there at about 7:30 in the morning, but nobody goes to buy a car at 7:30 in the morning so she would be in the showroom buy herself all morning. So every morning she would be up there reading her scriptures. The biggest thing about Britt, was that she was always unbelievably nice to everyone who came in. I don’t know how she did this, even with complete strangers. I think it is a talent that she has been blessed with.

I remember the day that I first asked her out I had gone to lunch to Weinerschnitzel with some friends and I was on my way back to work and just decided to finally call and ask her out. I had wanted to for months, but honestly one of the things that held me back for a long time was that she drove a Chevy Metro. I mean seriously, a Cavalier is one thing, but a Metro, wow. (We sold it after only two months of being married) Anyway, I finally got over it and asked her. I felt like a dork, and said some really stupid joke, but she still said yes.

So we started dating, and you know how they say that the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? Well, that was especially true for us. Britt would get off work around 3:30 and I worked until 6:00. By the time I would get to her apartment she would have dinner ready for the two of us, just about every night. Even if we weren’t doing anything that night, like on Wednesdays when I would go play basketball, dinner was ready. And not only did she cook dinner, but she was good at it! (I gained 20 pounds in our first 10 months of being married) So I knew I found a good one.

When I decided to propose I luckily knew who to ask about a ring. Her friend Jaycee who got her the job at Brent Brown told me exactly what she wanted. So my guess is that Britt, as surprised as she pretended to be, actually had an idea that I was going to ask, hence why Jaycee knew exactly what she wanted, she even drew it for me. So all I had to do was tell them what I wanted and decide on the price I wanted to pay, and two days later I had a ring in my hand. I wanted to do something special and even called up to see if we could have the Jazz Bear bring her flowers where we were going to be sitting. Good thing he was already booked because I don’t think she would have thought this was as cool as I did. So I planned a romantic dinner and told my roommates that they had to be gone that night. After dinner we danced to a song or two, totally unplanned, and at the end of the song I knelt down and took the ring off the chair that was right next to us, again, unplanned, and asked her. The funny thing is that she didn’t even see the ring until after she said yes and we hugged. Then she saw it and about dropped. We then went and told our parents, who already knew anyways.

An awkward part of the story that I never tell is how I went to dinner with her dad to ask him if I could marry his girl. I am such a pansy that I don’t even think I ever asked him, we just went to dinner and talked sports and stuff, but he put two and two together and decided to give me a little of his wisdom on what taking care of his daughter meant to him. Now here we are, 5 and a half years later, and finally back to having normal sleep and work schedules, and getting used to each other again. Hopefully the next five will be just as good, but with less weight gained, and more time spent together!