Matt and I met at Snow College during spring quarter of our first year. The following year, in the fall, we pretty much had the same schedule. He seemed to be in ALL of my classes! We became friends and he became more than 'just the guy that sat on the front row in chemistry with all the cute guys'. He had a serious girlfriend and I had a missionary or two (hee hee hee). We studied together quite a bit, usually with a big study group, but we decided we sort of liked eachother's company so we started studying with just us.
He and his girlfriend split and my boyfriend from high school came home from his mission at the same time and boy did it turn interesting! We got in engaged in July of 1995. We were married in December of 1995 in the Manti Temple. What a perfect day it was!
We both attended Utah State University where I studied biology and secondary education. Matt studied whatever was needed to get into veterinary school. We loved USU and loved being newlyweds. In the summers we would move south to work for the USDA Forest Service fighting fire, marking timber, and doing range work - fences, trails, etc. We did this for 4 summers. Matt got accepted to vet school at Oregon State University. He left for school while I stayed at USU to finish my degree. We lived apart for 6 months, but it worked out just fine. (plane tickets were cheaper back then!)Vet school consisted of 2 years at Oregon State and 2 years at Washington State. We loved both places and made some memorable friends. I worked mostly at plant nurseries and substitute teaching while he was in vet school. I learned so much about gardening, landscaping, and growing beautiful plants.
Matt's first veterinarian job was in Cortez, Colorado in 2001. I picked which job offer to take! It was a gorgeous, rural place with great people. Matt and I were so excited to be living life and moving on with our lives together. Kelsey was born in Cortez and that added to our joy of life together. We had waited for awhile and we were so happy with our new parenthood. She is a wonderful girl and a great big sister. We only stayed in Cortez for 1 year but made lasting friendships.In 2002 we moved to the Heber Valley where we live now. We rented a cute little house for a few months until we bought our own home. Matt worked for a vet clinic here in town and was learning so much. He is such an amazing veterinarian and has a true love for the animals. He LOVES the large animals - horses and cows, but he also has a great compassion for the small animals also. Matt now works in Roy and has an 80 mile one way commute to work. We love him for that. Winters are tricky, but we have been so blessed.
Kendal came to us in 2005 and we were so pleased with our two little girls. I took up quilting for real (before I just faked it) in 2005 and have loved it ever since. Kelsey turned into an amazing big sister. Kendal got sick in the spring of 2007 and all of a sudden started having seizures. Like 17 seizures a day, everyday. The doctors had no idea, and still don't know what triggered the seizures. We had a REALLY rough summer with Kendal on some nasty medications trying to stop the seizures and get her brain waves under control. She stopped talking completely and the only sound we heard for about 7 weeks was crying or her shaking her high chair because the poor girl thought she was starving. She wasn't - she was on meds that made her gain about 20% more of her body weight and made her ravenous.After 9 weeks of ACTH therapy, the seizures stopped. In that 9 weeks we did morning and nightly shots after we went to the ER to check her blood pressure. She had horrible kidney stones and a handful of other bad side effects that I have blocked out! Anyway, we are still working, but she is making amazing progress. About 70% of the children that get what she has (infantile spasms - a severe form of epilepsy) never mentally mature beyond the age when the spasms began. With that in mind, we are VERY thankful and VERY blessed to have the sweet Kendal we have today. She keeps us hopping and smiling and laughing and sometimes crying! I registered her for Kindergarten the other day - that is amazing to me.
Emmitt joined us in the spring of 2009. We were so excited to have a little boy come to the family. He is so mellow and so sweet and his sisters just love the soup right out of him. He is a boy - a true boy. He does things my girls never did like try to unscrew the nuts of off the bar stools, makes noises when he drives the toy tractors, and started walking at 10 months. We love him and the happiness he brings to our home.We are looking forward to a fun fun summer this year. I have some great yard projects planned, the girls will love their break from school, Matt has some fun horse endurance rides to vet, and we have a few camping trips as a family planned. We love being together and hopefully that will continue as we all get older and with more outside influences tearing away at our family. We know we are a forever family and we are grateful for eachother and the joy that each member of our family brings to the dinner table.
