happy 8 years, and many more to follow.

bedtime is always sort of a chaotic time in our household, yes, even on our anniversary. let me rephrase that, ESPECIALLY on our anniversary. but i really should back up a bit....

sam had taken me (and our tag-a-long girls) to lunch today. the place we really wanted to go to wasn't open until 4:30pm. and if i didn't get something to eat right then and there, i felt like i was going to puke. so, our second choice was okay. not as fabulous as our first choice would've been, but it sufficed. we left early...once our girls were covered in rice and soy sauce, somehow we just knew it was time to leave.

we had decided to have a chill day. no stressing out on gifts and surprises, we just wanted to relax. we picked up season two of modern family. picked up isaiah from school, and headed home. the kids ate dinner and played in their bedroom while sam and i kicked our feet up and had a mini modern family marathon.

and then, back to where i began...bedtime. i hadn't had a nap all day, and i just couldn't keep my eyelids open a second longer. when i woke up, sam had showered all the kids, got them in their jammies, and brushed their teeth.

that one act of kindness was huge for me. i didn't have to ask, i didn't have to hint, i didn't have to be woken from my nap for this or that.

so, as i thought back upon the past 8 years of being married, amidst the chaotic bedtime ritual of squabbling, crying, and sick babies, i realized something very important.

THIS, is what being married is all about, for me at least. THIS is why i got married; to have a family, to referee sibling squabbles, to calm their cries, and clean up baby puke. i know someday i will miss this noisy chaos. and already i wonder where my kids' baby chub disappeared to.

if not for 8 years ago on a bright, sunshiney day at the salt lake city temple...i would not have an eternal family with my best friend, sam.

of course, it's not always easy. there are the mundane, tedious, and challenging days that you just want to be done with, but fortunately are balanced out with the wildly fun, crazy in love, full of laughter days that you never want to forget. and so, i keep trudging along this "fablious" marital adventure, hand in hand, with the person i love most, through thick and thin....because, really, i could not - and don't - want to imagine my life without him.