The Beginning...it Started with 2!
I am succumbing to peer pressure and giving this whole blog thing a try...I wish I would have started something like this when we were first married. It would have been a great family journal since I am scrapbooking challenged. So here's a quick play by play of our last 15 years of marriage--my siblings will definitely want to skip this part since most of them have A.D.D.
Actually, I think I'll start from the very beginning, when Kev and I met in September of our 9th grade year (1987). His girlfriend introduced us and we realized we were in the same homeroom class and had shared the class in the 7th and 8th grade as well. From then on we spent every morning "hanging out" (as my kids call it) during our homeroom class. The story goes that although Kevin had that same girlfriend through most of our 9th grade year, he wanted me bad and would break into a sweat every time I'd sit next to him. In September of our Sophomore year Kevin took me to the Taylorsville High School Homecoming dance...long story short...we've been together ever since. For the record, this was also the night of our first kiss...I was pretty forward and kissed him, although he says he would have kissed me first if I would have just simmered!
At some point during our Senior year of High School I decided I wanted to marry Kevin so while he served his mission in Oklahoma I spent those 2 years "waiting" for him at Rick's College. Kevin says he knew he wanted to marry me from the very first "sweat". A few days (yes, you read it right, just a few days) after Kevin returned from his mission he took me to one of our favorite spots by the family cabin in Midway and asked me to marry him.
We were married 6 months later on March 18th, 1993 in the Salt Lake Temple. We lived in Logan and attended Utah State University. We waisted no time starting a family as Jackson Thomas (named after my dad, his Papa Tom) arrived 11 months later on February 21, 1994.
Jackson is now 14 and will be starting 9th grade next month. He's about the same age Kev and I were when we met...how weird is that. Anyway, Jax is a great kid! He loves Basketball, Baseball, Football, Volleyball and Golf. He's not so much into girls...yet. As a side note, in retrospect, deciding to start our family right away was pretty much the smartest decision we've made our entire marriage--the purchase of our Tivo 3 years ago runs a close second! Seriously, having Jackson put everything into perspective from the beginning and kept our focus on family, which is really all that matters.
When Jackson was about 3 months old I graduated from Utah State and we moved to Salt Lake City into an apartment in the Deseret Mortuary. The rent was "free" in exchange for Kev picking up dead bodies at night and on weekends. We couldn't get enough of the mortuary life so two years later we moved to the Colonial Mortuary a few blocks down the street. Emmy Diana Beck (named after her Great Grandma Emmy and Great Grandma Dee Dee) joined our family just a few weeks after the move on June 18, 1996.
Emmy just turned 12 and will be starting 7th grade. She is obsessed with softball and she's an amazing violinist--she's even played for a couple of weddings over the summer! Emmy has a big heart and is always concerned about those around her. She has a great sense of humor and can hold her own with all her dad's teasing.
When Emmy was just a few weeks old I had to deliver death certificates all day for the mortuary in exchange for rent. I was in and out of Dr's offices, driving all over town with a newborn and a 2 year old. I pretty much had a nervous breakdown after a few weeks of that so we moved out and bought our first house in South Salt Lake...Kevin's Grandma and Grandpa Beck's home. We spent the next 9 years there.
Dakota Reed (named after Kevin's Grandpa, Reed Beck) was born November 20th, 1998. Dakota is now 9 and is starting 4th grade next month. He will tell you that he's the favorite of all the children! Dakota--or Bones as his dad calls him--loves football. He loves to have fun and is one of those kids who gets along with everybody. The picture below was taken at my brother's wedding last month. He was the ring bearer and looked so handsome in his tuxedo! He asked me after the wedding if I would buy him one for church.
The 3 years after Dakota's birth were significant for Kevin. He went from working in finance at American Investment Bank, to starting his own Repo company, to buying a towing company. It's funny how things work out. Kevin had always wanted to have his own business but towing was never on the list...it just kind of happened and it's worked out pretty great. When we were in the midst of purchasing the towing business I told Kevin I thought it was time for another baby...he told me it was the worst possible time. About a week later he agreed it was probably time and 9 months later on September 20, 2001 came his Kloe May (named after her Great Grandma Billie May Beck). Of all our kids, Kloe looks the most like Kevin and she has always been her daddy's girl.
Kloe is almost 7 and is starting 1st grade. She is such a free spirit. She loves to sing and dance...I think she hears music constantly in her head, she is always singing or humming. She just started violin lessons...the practicing was rough on her at first but I found that a Hannah Montana shirt along with trips to the dollar store are great motivators and suddenly she loves to practice!
Gracie Anne (she has the same middle name as I do) came along 3 years later, September 16, 2004. Gracie had a rough start. She had to be life flighted to Primary Children's Hospital about 24 hours after she was born. She had Pneumonia and spent about 10 days in the NICU.
Gracie is almost 4 and is definitely the most strong willed of all our kids. She and Kloe are best friends and have such a fun time together. Gracie loves to help out around the house. She's always asking me if I need help and she'll keep working until the job is done. She especially loves helping with laundry...how great is that! My sister Megan took this picture last month at my brother's wedding. I think it is such a cute picture...you can't see it but her hair is naturally curly and goes down to her waist.
In August of 2005 Kev and I talked about the possibility of moving on a Friday night, on Saturday we went looking for houses and found one within 2 hours. A week later we had our South Salt Lake house rented and a few weeks later we moved into our new house. We loved that little house in South Salt Lake, which is why we still have it...Kev says we're moving back as soon as the kids are all raised. The move to Taylorsville has been great as well. It's a great house, a great neighborhood and the location is perfect for our business. So there you go...the last 20 years in a nutshell.
