Five Years Down

It is always long overdue when I express my gratitude for Erin. I don’t know if she fully understood what she was getting herself into when she married me, but I wouldn’t want to imagine my life without her. It’s fun to think back on all that has happened in the time we’ve known each other. We met Erin's first semester at BYU-Idaho in August 2004, and as I got to know her, I knew she had every quality which was important to me in choosing someone to spend the rest of eternity with. I loved that she always looked to include everyone and took advantage of opportunities to serve and lift others; she was happy, adventurous, intelligent, independent, motivated, and beautiful.

I knew she would be supportive of me in whatever I did, and I was right. The last few years have involved many nights and weekends where I wasn’t around much, but she has always been understanding. She has been the bread-winner for our family since we’ve been married, but has willingly let most of the money she makes go toward paying my school tuition. She has always been the one to watch our finances and pay our bills. Although cooking is not her favorite activity of the day, I always come home to a table full of food.

Most importantly, she is a wonderful mother. Skylie loves her mother best for a reason. I have never heard Erin talking in anything but a loving voice to Skylie. She spends hours reading to Skylie (just a side note: it’s amazing that Skylie still demands to read the same books over and over again, she will grab a book, then grab your hand and shove the book in your hand and say, “dubba-dub”—which we think means, “read a book”—and then climb and sit on your lap, and she could do this for hours on end and be happy, we sometimes wish she would start liking her other toys as well as her books). She has taken the time to teach Skylie little things, like who Jesus is in pictures and to fold her arms during prayer, which will be a good foundation as we teach her more of the gospel.

I can’t thank Erin enough for marrying me, and I look forward to what the rest of our life together will entail. I am blessed to have her as my wife.

HAPPY FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY, BABE!