Two Year Anniversary

To commemorate our two year anniversary, I want to take a minute to remember my favorite moments from the past two years (since I didn't do it last year, I'll include both years, but hopefully I can keep up for the next years...)

These are in no particular order, other than the order that they come to mind.

Corbin's birth, of course.
It seems like most of this second year has revolved around Corbin and being parents. That's probably because we had Corbin just after our first anniversary, which means we really have spent our whole second year of marriage learning how to be mom and dad.

The first year of marriage was learning to be husband and wife. However, nothing throws a wrench in those roles like adding a baby to the mix. Then again, I was pregnant most of our first year of marriage, so I'm not sure I can really say that year was "normal" either.

I remember a conversation Dustin and I had early on in my pregnancy. I was recalling how in my single years I always heard about the "wait one year rule." I don't know if it is just in Mormon culture, but there seems to be this unwritten "rule" or recommendation that couples wait a year to get pregnant. Someone told me once that it was a good idea because the first year of marriage is a lot of adjusting and one person even told me once that the first year was the hardest. Dustin and I said that our first year had seemed quite easy, and we really didn't feel like we had had to make that many adjustments. We wondered if it was our awesome personalities ;-) or the fact that we dated a good amount of time (also following the one year "rule"), but we were glad we had lucked out to have such a smooth ride that first year.

Oh wait, looking back I realize now that we were having that conversation probably in March, which puts us at 6 months of marriage. I'm thinking now that we were probably still in the honeymoon phase. Besides that, we were two working DINKS (dual income no kids). We both had jobs we liked that we chose, we got to spend a lot of time together doing pretty much whatever we wanted, and we ate out...a lot. It's like my friends Summer and Joel call it--married without kids is "when we were single." This isn't to say that our marriage has been jeopardized since having a baby, but merely an observation that even if we had waited the "suggested" one year, we still might not have faced these adjustments--because it was the baby and the total changing of our roles and responsibilities which has tested our relationship the most.

So September 2011 to March 2012, pretty blissful.

Enter pregnancy...I don't necessarily remember a lot of arguments or "adjusting" while I was pregnant. I think it's because I felt so yucky in the first part that pretty much anything was considered acceptable behavior. Dustin was pretty good about catering to my every whim. And since we were both still working, we just ate out a lot still...lots and lots of Cafe Rio.

The reason I mention the eating out is because it's the most recent big change we've made. As we've entered our grown-up married life, we've lost one income but added more expenses. Weird how that works... Looking over our budget, it became clear to me that I'm going to have to adopt some domestic goddess skills that I've avoided for almost thirty years. We've cut out most eating out (I think we've only gone out once or twice in the last two months), and I now cook at home fairly regularly, using the groceries I bought with couponing and sale watching.

I really did have it made that first year of marriage. Dustin did almost all of the cooking, and especially when I was pregnant, he probably did all of it. He's a better cook, but I'm learning and improving now that he has given me the space to do so. It isn't that he expects me to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, but I'm just discovering that I desire to be at home with Corbin. I do appreciate that Dustin supports my dancing, and I am still able to teach one class a day, and even will be doing some of my own dancing starting this week. But I had a real desire over the summer to be at home more and have time to be the kind of mom I feel Corbin deserves. So I quit studio teaching in the evenings and have really enjoyed being at home with my family every night this semester.

Ok, this was supposed to be about highlights from the last two years and it's turning into lessons. Back to the point...

Our house has definitely consumed a lot of our second year of marriage. We started renovating in February and are still in the middle of it. The house gets more liveable each day, but I can't wait to have a kitchen sink--seriously, we have everything but the kitchen sink...

We got our dryer installed today, so I think I've line dried our clothes for the last time (barring an issue with our dryer at some future point--knock on wood). The first time I hung the clothes out on the line, Dustin was out working in the yard, and I actually wore an apron (to have the clothespins in the pockets). Corbin was napping in the house. I felt like June Cleaver, and I loved it. Of course, it only took a couple weeks for the rose-colored glasses to get foggy in the heat of summer and the novelty wore off.

Then the power went out and we had to stay with Dustin's brother for about a month. I was grateful to them, but that setback was a real challenge for our marriage. We learned a lot about communication, and it was the springboard for me to learn how to sleep train and budget--so I guess in hindsight it can now be numbered among our blessings.

Those are the big things--house and baby. But there were lots of other small things that have made these two years special...

Trip to California with my parents last summer.
Hawaii for Spring Break this year.
Family reunions on both sides including my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and Corbin's first Lagoon trip.
My parents moving six hours closer to us so we can have birthdays and holidays and even long weekends together again.
Making some great friends in our first ward and starting in a new ward this year.

And some personal accomplishments for both of us...

Dustin has sold several pieces of furniture that he refinished and is starting to build custom pieces.
He built us a beautiful custom bed as well as all the amazing work he's done on our house.
I went on my first tour with St. George Dance Company to perform in Salt Lake.
I enjoyed a part-time position at Dixie State College for one semester where I had an office and taught several classes a week.

I'm sure there are things I've forgotten, but I hope this gets the point across that I'm really happy I married Dustin, and I understand more each day the advice my dad gave me when we got engaged. He said that most of life feels like "cabin fever" or "island fever" so you want to make sure the person you marry is someone that you have fun with even when you are otherwise "stuck" in one place. Dustin and I have never lived in more than 800 square feet, and yet, I love sharing it with him. Happy 2nd Anniversary!