9 years and counting...

For our anniversary, we kept up tradition:

We didn't stay at a nice hotel/B&B.
We didn't travel to an exotic or exciting destination.
We didn't eat at a nice restaurant.
We didn't buy each other fancy, expensive presents.

Nope. Our anniversary is sandwiched between Christmas and New Years, so we're always broke, the weather is less than ideal, and we usually have a baby that can't be left with anyone. We chose to marry in December because I was teaching at the time, and we had to pick a school break, which was either December or June. Hyrum didn't want to wait until June since he'd already waited a year and a half for me, so December it was.

So...for our anniversary this year...

I did my usual: I didn't buy anything for Hyrum! I pretty much did nothing to celebrate. I mean, seriously, how do you buy a present for a guy that you are never separated from? And how do you buy anything for a guy when you have a nonexistent budget and he only has expensive electronic and/or gunpowder-guzzling taste, both of which require particular specifications to be met, and I'm not a nerdy, gun slinging girl, so I'm always afraid of striking out on his gifts.

Okay, so I did ONE thing, and for me, it was pretty huge. I shaved my legs and put makeup on! Oh, I know what you're thinking. That I'm such a slacker mom that I don't shave or do my makeup. Well, you're right. I'm pretty busy, so those two things are the things I skip when I'm short on time, which is pretty much everyday. (Well, I shave once a week for church since my legs will be showing.)

Hyrum did his usual: pretended he too wouldn't be buying a gift, then found some reason to leave and came back with a gift for me. The stinker! Yes, it makes me feel guilty EVERY time, but he IS sweet to do that, even if I never get to.

This year he brought me several things:

1. Roses. Now, as a rule, I'm not a girl who likes cut flowers that cost money. If you're gonna give me a plant, give me one with dirt and roots so I can plant it and get my money's worth from it. But, since Hyrum knows that, he only purchases cut flowers for me on rare occasions, so I can actually appreciate them at those times. Besides, it's hard to plant something under 12+ inches of snow out here.


2. A figurine of a couple holding each other (ironically named "promise"...you'll read about a promise later). I've been collecting these figurines since our trucking days. They're the ONLY thing I collect, and I probably have too many, but this one is my favorite so far.


3. Since he couldn't take me out to dinner (who can afford a babysitter for 4 kids?), he brought Chinese food home for us. Mmmmm. One of my favorites.

4. He knows I'm a sucker for old movies, so he rented "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" for us to watch that night. He got a couple other movies too so we could just have a movie night.

It was a great anniversary to commemorate 9 great years.

Okay, here's where I tell more about "our story", so I'm sure it will be long-winded and possibly sappy, so here's where you can bail on this post if you have better things to do than learn about how Hyrum and I began.

I should have seen it on day one...that my life with Hyrum would be one odd twist after the next. Being a part of Hyrum's life has certainly been an adventure. I am NEVER bored.

Odd twist #1: Picking up a trucker.
It started by my bishop asking me to pick up a trucker at the Petro truck stop in Phoenix, Oregon to take him to church with me. If a bishop asking a 22 year-old, single girl to pick up a strange trucker isn't odd, I don't know what is.

Odd twist #2: The "other" man.
I had a very serious boyfriend who was on a mission at the time, and in fact, I had "promised" (with a promise ring and all) to wait for him to return so we could wed. He'd only been gone 9 months when I met Hyrum. EVERYONE, including myself, knew that if anyone would be able to wait for their missionary, it would be me. Well, that was before Hyrum came along. Little did I know the power that a scripture-slinging trucker could have over me. I told Hyrum all about my "promised" love that first day, but all it did was convince Hyrum that I was meant for him, not this "other" guy. After just 10 loooooooong months of waiting for my missionary, I became skeptical as to whether I was waiting to marry the wrong man.

Odd twist #3: Waiting, and waiting, and waiting
A month after meeting Hyrum, I knew I was supposed to marry him, but there were several obstacles in the way, two of which were:
1. I wanted to wait for my missionary to return so I wouldn't have any questions like, "What if I had waited? Would my life be better?" in my head for the rest of my life, and
2. My whole life I had promised myself that I would know a guy for at least a year before I married him.
So Hyrum waited for me, as I waited for my missionary.

Odd twist #4: On again, off again
I hadn't been in very many "exclusive" relationships before Hyrum, but of the ones I had had, once they were over, they were always over for good. They never reignited. Ever! But for the next 17 months after meeting Hyrum, that's all ours was. We had an...interesting relationship, full of break ups and reconciliations.

Because of my waffling in my commitment to Hyrum versus my missionary, Hyrum obviously experienced a lot of frustration, anger and pain, and I experienced a lot of frustration, confusion and pain knowing I was torturing two of the most important men in my life. Hyrum and I ended up turning our relationship off and on again numerous times, but Hyrum and I just couldn't seem to live life without seeing or talking to one another for more than a day or two, no matter how many times we tried, so no matter how angry Hyrum was over our situation, or how confused and frustrated I got, we just couldn't handle the silence between one another.

Even when we were "broken up", we still found it impossible to stay away from one another. Once, during a love hiatus, I begged him to go to Arches National Park with me since I didn't want to go alone, and of course, while wandering through the Park, we naturally slipped right back into a relationship again without even meaning to, simply by him holding my hand to help me up. We just didn't let go of each others hand after that and we knew we were "on again".

Odd twist #5: The reoccurring ring.
Hyrum's feeling was that since we both knew we were supposed to marry one another, why not just do it? He bought my engagement ring a month after meeting me, but after I found out about it, I didn't allow him to give it to me for 16 months, though he tried to give it me several times. (Okay, I confess that I did sneak into his sock drawer several times to try it on.)

Odd twist #6: Retaliation
Hyrum managed to find ways to help me truly understand his pain and frustration. For a while, he dated my roommate (partly behind my back and partly right in my face), which was so painful to me that I couldn't sleep, work or focus for days, so I blew up at him and told him I was done with him forever. I even managed to break my seat belt in his car because I was pulling on it so tight while venting my anger at him during a drive together. That emotional eruption lasted for about a whole hour before he managed to calm me down and resolve the conflict, and we were again reunited in yet another "on again" spell.

I could go on and on, but it basically ended with me waiting for my missionary to return, finding his changes and bitterness...um, disappointing, and realizing that I loved who he used to be, and not who he was now. He, in fact, was not my marital match after all. This realization enabled me to find closure in the ashes of our relationship. It was exactly what I needed to open my eyes to the perfection that Hyrum's personality  was for me. I could finally accept the confirmation I'd been given 15 months prior that I should marry Hyrum. There was a snag though.

Odd twist #7: The letter.
Hyrum and I had officially broken things off "forever" because a month earlier, I had moved back to Oregon and he had moved back to Wyoming since I refused to jump on the marriage wagon with him. His sister, who watched him deal with the pain I'd left him in my wake, had told me to either commit to him or let him go so he could stop being in such pain and move on. Since I couldn't commit yet, I had to let him go. It was harder than I imagined, but in that time my missionary returned and I was exploring whether I was truly in love with him still or just his memory. By the time I realized Hyrum was what I needed and wanted, I was afraid it was too late. I was too afraid to call him because his family was trying to get him to move on and I didn't want to talk to them, so I wrote him a letter explaining my feelings. I was too afraid to mail it though. I didn't want to pour my heart out to him only to have him throw it away callously, so I collected all the nerves I could and called him one late August evening in 2000. He was extremely cold on the phone, so I just told him I'd written him a letter, but that I wasn't going to mail it after all. He convinced me to read it to him over the phone. Of course in it I told him I loved him, and by the time I was done reading, he wasn't angry anymore. He just said that I better not be coming back to him unless I was going to marry him this time. This time, I was ready. Though it was unofficial, we knew that evening that we'd be getting married soon.

"It was more than coincidence" is engraved on his ring because the series of events that led to us meeting and marrying was far more than coincidental.

9 years later, we're happier than ever and grateful every day that we found each other. In our 9 years as a married couple, we've moved more than most people do in their lifetimes. Here's where we've lived in our marriage, in chronological order:
an apartment in Heber, UT (6 months)
a semi truck all over the U.S. (6 months)
a 5th wheel trailer in Ashland, OR (2 months)
back to a semi all over the U.S. (1 year and 4 months)
back to a 5th wheel trailer in Ashland (9 months)
a double-wide manufactured home in Sam's Valley (Gold Hill), OR (5 months)
my brother's downstairs in Coquille, OR (3 months)
an apartment in the Coquille Community building (4 months)
a small house in Coquille, OR (2 years and 7 months)
a huge house in Myrtle Point, OR (4 months)
a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Myrtle Point, OR (1 year and 9 months)
and a single-wide manufactured trailer in Rexburg, ID, where we currently reside.

Such memories!!! Hyrum's given me excitement, adventure, change, CHILDREN, and love. What more could a gal ask for?

I know!

A star or two to fit in with the Idaho/Utah decorating trend!

Oh, wait, he gave me that too. Only in the form of a coat rack instead of a cheesy outdoor wall hanging. (He couldn't resist after we'd laughed at the trend.) Thanks, Hy!