the barnum's blog: happy together

this is a totally lame and corny post so please spare yourself if not interested :)

7 years ago i married this guy who was sort of amazing. we have had quite the adventure over the years and i thought it might be fun to take a look back at some of the main events in our life together.

april 9, 2006: curtis and i started dating. totally unexpected.

november 9, 2006: engaged!! he took me up the mountain at sunset to an overlook of our hometown and popped the question. you obviously know what the answer was.

march 9, 2007: officially mr. and mrs.! my very favorite part of the day was right before our ceremony in the manti temple. the sealing room wasn't ready so they took us to the celestial room to wait. it was so amazingly peaceful and absolutely beautiful. i cant really describe exactly what i was feeling but i had a this overwhelming feeling of happiness and knew i was making the right choice.

april 13, 2009: mason!! he inhaled fluid during delivery which resulted in pneumonia only 24 hours after his birth. luckily his oxygen levels were fine but he had to stay in the nursery for a week to receive antibiotics through an IV. today mason is happy and healthy and dang smart. he starts kindergarten in the fall! love our boy.

may 2009: i graduated with magna cum laude honors from southern utah university with a bachelors degree in early childhood development. so glad to have that over with!

may 2011: curtis graduated from southern utah university with his degree in business management. it had been a rough couple of years of him working the graveyard shift full time then going to school full time during the day but he stuck with it and it payed off with a job waiting for him immediately following graduation.

may 24, 2011: sophie!! we had ourselves a sweet girlie who looked just like her momma. almost 3 years later we are learning she is just as stubborn too :) sophie is definitely our hard child but we love her and her spunky personality.

july 2011: we moved to dallas, texas and it happened to be during a record breaking hot summer. thank goodness our apartment complex had a pool. it was a huge adjustment for us all but we survived...barely :)

october 2011: we moved into our brand new house located 30 minutes south of dallas in waxahachie, texas.

september 9, 2012: 14 weeks into my pregnancy and during an extremely scary situation, we found out this little one would not be joining our family here on earth. definitely the most terrifying, heartbreaking, and hardest thing i have ever gone through in my life. so grateful that our family is sealed together so we can see him/her again.

november 12, 2013: brooklyn!! we are now a family of 5 with another sweet girl in the mix. b is so pretty with the cutest little smile and looks more like her brother than her sister. she loves attention and will talk your ear off in the process. mason and sophie absolutely adore her and she loves them back (even though they pretty much smother her all day long).

i can't believe it has only been 7 years since we started our lives together. it seems like so much longer than that! we have had so much happen in that amount of time and it will be interesting to see what unfolds in the years to come. even though we have tough times, the good ones definitely outweigh the bad. curtis and i have been to so many places together...the caribbean, washington d.c., and the grand canyon to name a few. we have been snowboarding, hiking, and played with dolphins together. we brought 3 wonderful children into this world and what greater accomplishment and happiness is there than that? i love when he walks in the door from work and he tells me how pretty i am even though i haven't showered and have worn the same clothes for the past 2 (maybe 3?) days. i am always amazed at how hard he works for our family and i know he always will do whatever it takes for us so i can stay home to raise our kiddies. i love how he goes to work then comes home, plays with the kids and helps me with dinner, dishes and laundry. my highlight on the weekend is getting the kids to bed then sinking into the couch with curtis, eating bowls of ice cream while catching up on our weekely tv shows. he loves the band "modest mouse" while i do not. i love black licorice but he refuses to kiss me if i've eaten any. we respect all those difference in opinions that arise and compromise when needed. we have laughed. we have fought. i have cried on his shoulder (probably more than i should admit :). sometimes life is hard but through every trial we face i know that he is standing right beside me. he supports me and i support him (even if it means moving across the country....). he is my other half and i am seriously lost without him by my side.