4 Years Down, Eternity to Go! (With some marathons in between)

Last year I (Maura) wrote our Wedding Anniversary post, so Ben decided he would write one this year (what a sweet man!):

Maura and I had quite the eventful weekend. I will begin with our 4^th wedding anniversary.

We celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on May 3. On May 9, it will be the 9^th anniversary of our first date. So you can understand what I mean when I say it feels like we have been married longer than 4 years.

    

 I took Maura out to Harvest Restaurant at Thanksgiving Point for Dinner. It was a Thursday night so we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It was so weird just having us two alone that It took some time to know what to talk about besides children stuff.  It was nice to take Maura out and spoil her. She also picked out a few cute outfits on our outing. Maura is a very frugal person, so when we go shopping for clothing, I have to force her to put things in her cart. It’s Ironic that I am the big spender in the home.

I wanted to write this blog post because it gave me an opportunity to share how amazing of a person Maura really is and how grateful I am to be married to her.

I knew in High School I wanted to marry her. Strange for a high school kid to be thinking even a day ahead, but I was sure that she was the one for me. I am grateful that this early impression happened. From the beginning our relationship it was obvious to all around that Maura was dating DOWN. I was nice on the outside but sometimes not so gooey and creamy on the inside. I had and still have a lot of edges that Maura is trying to smooth out.

                I never had much confidence in my ability to do well in schooling. On our first day of senior year in high school, Maura and I just friends at the time compared schedules as we walked to class. We basically had opposite schedules. She had high school in the morning and college classes in the afternoon. As I walked her to her first class, I not having any classes till my college classes at 10:00 AM, I felt desperate because I wasn’t going to see her during the days. At this point we had been on one "official" date and I was really starting to like her. So I followed her to her first class, AP Government, and sat next to her. When the teacher asked who I was, I told him that I was joining the class. Maura seemed a little shocked, as did I, that those words came out of my mouth. I also did this same procedure for the second class of the day. I had to drop all of my morning college classes and switch them to the afternoon.

                I am not sure why, but being with Maura really drove me to excel at school. I received the same grade as her in those classes (remember Maura easily got into BYU Provo) which was amazing to me because I don’t think I had ever seen an “A” before. I spent the next 9 months courting her to the point of giving the most romantic love story a run for its money. Now I wasn’t perfect. I made a fool of myself probably more than anything else. But it didn’t matter to me. Maura made me want to be better, and I  couldn’t  let go of her. So here we are today, married and two kids later. Our adventure began only 9 years ago, and there is plenty more ahead. I couldn’t think of a better person to continue this journey with.

Soooooooooooooooo…..#2 Maura and I ran a Half Marathon Relay Today!

As I write this, Maura is passed out on the couch. Maura only began training a few weeks ago, and she managed to run 6.8 miles today in a decent time. We basically ran a half marathon relay style, with me starting the race, meeting her half way, and her finishing the race. We awoke this morning at 4:30 AM and I had to take a bus to the start line at 5:30 AM in Provo canyon. This was all while it was 38 degrees outside. We are pretty beat at this point. Maura is really good about pushing herself to be better.  We finished in a combined time of 2 hours and 2 minutes for 13.1 miles. Not bad for amateurs.

The girls are doing well. Alice turns one in a few weeks, and Merrilee has become a “good helper” in the kitchen. She stands on an old laundry detergent bucket and watches as we cook and wash dishes. We love these little girls.

That’s all. You will not likely hear from me for another year, because I do not want to scare people away from the blog, so expect to hear from Maura soon.