Happy 4 Years

Last week Peter and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. I can't believe it's been 4 years. Better said, I can't believe everything we've done in 4 years!

4 years ago we packed up our car and started the drive from BYU to Buffalo. We didn't make it very far before things got pretty bad.. When we got to the top of the Continental Divide in Wyoming our car started making a horrible noise. We soon discovered that the engine was having major problems. Peter had checked the oil right before we left and had forgotten to put the cap back on. So , the steep climb up through the mountains with no oil caused our car engine to throw a rod (and basically die). We coasted our nonfunctional car to the side of the highway and flagged down two wonderful truckers who stopped to help us and let us use their cell phones so we could call a tow truck to haul us in to the closest town--Rawlins Wyoming.

Since it was so late we went straight to a motel and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately it was totally disgusting--black hairs on the sheets, giant spiders and beetles crawling, and a toilet that looked like they had just taken it from a prison cell. After many hopeless tears, we woke to a sunny Sunday morning and looked in the phone book for a chapel. We called and within half an hour, someone came to pick us up for church.

We were ecstatic to learn that we had been blessed to breakdown in an area where the bishop owned a car dealership. We were also blessed by two wonderful families. One of these strangers walked up to us and handed us the keys to his extra car so we would have something to drive. Another family invited us to stay at their house and the parents insisted we sleep on their bed. In the morning we learned our car was dead, so we went to the dealership and the Bishop sold us our amazingly dependable Toyota Camry at cost. Once the sale was final we transfered our belongings from the old car to the new one and continued our journey to our new life.

The hopeful couple leaving Salt Lake

Peter trying to reassure me that everything was alright.

A photo at the dealership with the old red Sentra and the new silver Camry in back.

A new dawn arises on our restarted cross country trip

The Hansen family who allowed us to stay with them.


So, here are the highlights of the last 4 years....

A blissful courtship

wedding

starting dental school and taking the dentist's oath

Our new apartment in Buffalo. We had an air mattress and no kitchen table or furniture.
We were luckily blessed with both from wonderful people.

We were then blessed with our first angel, Joseph.

Followed by our sweet Kimball

Then, after 4 years of lots of hard work by the whole family, Peter graduated!!!
And then we made the exciting move to Texas

I have definitely learned a lot the past 4 years! The biggest lesson for me has been to always rely on the Savior! Only He will give us the strength we need to get through life. He is always there! He will help send people when you break down on the side of the road, when you have nothing and need to start a new life, when you decide to have children despite being broke, and in every struggle we face. We have relied on faith constantly the past 4 years and we have always been blessed! We have always had enough! I am so grateful for a loving Savior!

So, on a less serious note, we have been really enjoying being able to finally afford to pay for a babysitter. Joseph loves Alex and she is great with the kids. To celebrate the 4 years we went to a nice Italian restaurant and then saw Journey to the Center of the earth in 3-D.
I love 3-D movies so it was a lot of fun!


Happy 4 years Peter, I Love You!!! Thanks for being such a wonderful person to go
through every part of life with! I'm so glad we have had each other for support and strength. I am excited to see what other adventures our next 4 years hold!