Married at 20.

I often get asked by my friends from home, "Why did you get married so young?"

I always just kind of smile, say something to make everyone laugh, and then the conversation shifts to something else.

The other day I thought about this frequent question, and I wondered why I rarely seem to respond with a real answer.

To my friends at BYU and the rest of the Mormon world, the concept of marrying young is nothing new.

Mormon boy meets Mormon girl. Boy and girl court, date, and fall in love. Usually within less than a year, the boy and girl are wed.

I feel like the concept of "courting, dating, and falling in love" is viewed as "old fashioned" and "outdated" to the rest of the world. 

People seem to wonder, "What about the important step of "moving in together" before marriage?  What about the year-to-two-year long engagement?"
I often hear the metaphor related to moving in together: "When you buy clothes, you try them on before you wear them, don't you?  Why wouldn't you do the same with a boyfriend or girlfriend?" aka...move in first, see how it goes, and then maybe get engaged.

Good questions.

Back to the beginning: why do I rarely seem to respond to "Why did you get married so young?" with a real answer?

As I pondered this, I thought:

Maybe it's because the answer is too long.

Maybe it's because people will think I'm weird.

Maybe it's because it's just too complicated to explain.
Maybe it's because people just won't understand.

Maybe it's because I'm Mormon.

But then I realized, the answer isn't long and it isn't complicated.

And it's not just because I'm Mormon.

The answer is easy, simple, and true.

Why did I get married so young?

Because I fell in love with a good man.  A man who loved me back with his whole heart.  And we both wanted to live this life together.

There was no need to "try on the clothes before buying them."

In fact, there was no try.

We weren't going to try to make our relationship or our marriage work.

We were going to make it work.

There is no try in love.

There is just love. 

I know mine and Taylor's quick courting and fast engagement was a shock to the rest of the world.
People often asked me, "Why are you getting married!?" "Are you sure you know what you're doing!?"
But frankly, time didn't matter.
Not to us.
We knew we loved each other.
We knew we were committed to each other.
And to us, commitment meant something much more than just "trying this out".

Commitment meant giving our whole hearts and our whole energy into a love that we cherished.

No, we did not move in together before we were married.
No, we did not even sleep together before we were married.
No, we did not have a two year engagement.

Yes, we got married young.
Yes, we knew what we were doing.
Yes, it's going to last forever.

Dear world: pure and true love still exists. It's still possible to have a beautiful and honest marriage.
Maybe if the world realized there was no try in love, maybe, just maybe, there would be less broken homes, less broken families, and less broken hearts.

Why did I get married young?
The answer is simple.
The answer is easy.
And the answer is true.

Because I fell in love with a good man.  A man who loved me back with his whole heart.  And we both wanted to live this life together.

Cuddling in a storm

Saturday night at around 4am,  I woke up to the sound of rain outside of our bedroom window.

I absolutely love rain, so it was a treat to drift back to sleep to the sound of it.

Then, both Taylor and I were startled awake when thunder shook the whole house!

Our window shook so violently, I thought it would break!

Taylor scooted closer to me and held me in his arms as we lay awake listening to the sound of rain and thunder through our open window.

Every few seconds, the lightening would light up our whole room.

I've never experienced anything quite like that.  

The thunder and lightening were so close!

Everyone was talking about the storm the next morning.

Some talked about how frightened they were, others said they were annoyed that they were woken up.

 But me?

I loved every second.

I loved having the small opportunity to lay in my husband's arms and once again realize how grateful I am that I get to be with him for eternity!

And how lucky I am to sleep next to him every night.

I was absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude.

And I still am.

Life, you are wonderful.
xoxo

Back to School

On Monday, I start orientation for teaching.

The students start the following Monday, the 27th.

Am I nervous?

You bet.

Am I overwhelmed?

You bet.

Am I stressed?

You bet.

Am I excited?

You better believe it!

Last night, I had a small emotional breakdown.  I am so overwhelmed with everything that I want to have done before school starts.

Thank goodness for my sweet husband during times like this.

Who held me while I cried and didn't stop holding me until he had successfully put a smile on my face.

When I wanted to keep preparing and planning through the late hours of the night, Taylor played the "Dad role" and set a 30 minute timer.  He told me that I had to be in bed by the time that timer went off.  

Thank goodness he listens when my body is pleading for sleep, because I often ignore the pleadings completely when I have a "To-Do List."

Have I mentioned how grateful I am for Taylor? So grateful.

I am starting to realize that I will forever be indebted to this wonderful man.

Back to School isn't all bad though...because Back to School also means Back to School SHOPPING!

Growing up, we always got a few new outfits, maybe a backpack, and a new pair of shoes before the first day of school.  And now that I have a "first day of school" all over again, I decided that I once again qualify for back to school shopping!

Marci and I went shopping earlier this week, and I found a few gems.

Notice the jewelry galore.  That was mostly what I was looking for, since my wardrobe is already significant. Ha

I was also looking for some more slacks/dress pants.  But I always have the hardest time finding any that fit me.  They usually need to be hemmed (which isn't a big deal), but they are also usually so baggy in the thighs.  Dress pants are meant to be flowy, but when you're 5'1" and have miniature thighs like I do, the flowy pants look more like a trash bag than anything else.  Awesome.

So I didn't have any luck finding pants this go around.

But then, a few days later, I went to D.I. to find a globe, and I noticed racks upon racks of dress pants.  So I decided to give it a shot.  And I left the store with 3 darling dress pants that fit me perfectly! Some other shorty out there had already had them hemmed to perfection!  They are in mint condition, and to top it off, I left the store with 3 dress pants and a skirt for $22!  Why am I not shopping there everyday?

Love me a good deal.

Oh, and we can't forget the new sperrys that should be coming in the mail today :)

My sweet mother-in-law saw this lunchbag in the store and got it for me!  It's even insulated on the inside!  Isn't it darling?

This is Taylor's favorite corner of the house....not.  All of my school supplies/decorations ready to go into my new classroom!

These colored felt pens are easily my favorite purchase.

Alright, enough procrastinating.  Time to start planning some more. 

Back to school I go!

Wednesday night love and a splendid Thursday morning

Last night, the sibs and I went to Cory and Kirsten's wedding reception.

(We grew up with Cory in Sacramento)

And my goodness, this reception was beautiful!

And the couple was glowing with love.

Have you ever met a couple and just thought, "Oh my, they are absolutely perfect for each other!"

Well, that was what was on my mind the whole night.

And I'm sure it was on everyone else's too.

They are each other's match. No doubt about it!

I love weddings. I love happiness. I love love.

And here's the happy couple:

My good friends from high school, Anja (sister of the groom) and Danni, came out for the wedding. It was SO fun seeing them. Love these girls!

Here's Dan holding baby Jack. Anja was making a face to show how she feels about babies...but my phone camera didn't capture it too well :/

 The whole night felt like a small Sacramento reunion. 

I loved every second!

And Wednesday night turned into an awesome Thursday morning.

After my morning run, I got to come home to this sweet babe:

M, T & J spent the night last night since they are all moved out of their apartment and off to California in just a few short days.  I loved holding the babes this morning and watching his funny little movements. I am going to miss little J so much!

Then, I treated myself to this:

A double chocolatey chip! My very favorite.

Dear Thursday:

You've started out great. 

And I know you will end great.

Why?

Because you and I will be at H&M tonight.

Enough said.

August 6th

On August 6th, 2011, Taylor Ray got down on one knee and asked me a question I was so excited to say "yes" to.

The cute boy had me completely fooled.  I thought for sure, I would know when he was going to propose.  But he did such a good job at fooling me the entire day!

I'll have to have a blog post dedicated to that story.

See here for more details on our love story :)

Taylor proposed to me at the beautiful Stewart Falls.  We decided after we got engaged, that we would make it a tradition to hike Stewart Falls every year on August 6th.  No matter where we are in life, no matter what state we may be living in, I plan to take a trip to Utah to hike Stewart Falls on August 6th, until my limbs are too weak to make the memory-filled hike.

Here are pictures of Taylor and I celebrating our one year engagement anniversary at the top of Stewart Falls.  There was no one around to take a picture of us, so we struggled taking a good phone picture of the two of us together. But, here are our best attempts:

You know you spend too much time with someone when you make the exact same face, completely on accident, in a picture!

Hi, pretty ring!

Taylor's showing off his muscles...I'm just pointing to the waterfalls. Haha

Thanks, husband.

Don't really know what's happening here, but this one made me laugh.

Look closely... see that water bottle in the brush? Taylor and I joked that this was the same water bottle that I dropped from excitement after he proposed.  Ha...it very well might be! (see video at the end of this post and watch for the water bottle drop!)

As we were huffing while hiking, Taylor jokingly turned to me and said, "Why didn't I propose to you on a wave-runner?"

I could not stop laughing after that.

He told me that after years and years of hiking this, our future boys would ask him (in their best whining voices), "Dad, why did you have to propose to Mom at the top of a mountain?"

And Dad will reply, "So I could teach you how not to propose. I did it for you, boys."

Haha...even though he joked about it, we both loved every second of reliving such a beautiful memory. :)

Here is the video of that special day one year ago :)

Dear husband, Thank you so much for proposing to me. Thank you for giving me the most beautiful ring. Thank you for being my very best friend and eternal companion through this life. Thank you for making me want to be a better person every day. I love you.
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." -Emily Bronte

Bedtime Stories Part 1

So here I lie in the middle of my bed.

Sounds like the beginning of a poem, right? Wrong.  It is just the musings of a husband who has not spent a lot of time in the middle of the bed.  Why is this you may ask? That is because my beautiful wife has no concept of what it means to share a bed :).  

On the first night we shared our bed (now mind you this is not a little double we are talking about, this is a big giant king sized bed) we decided that I would take the right side, and she would take the left.  So we get in bed, we read scriptures, say our prayers, say goodnight and I rollover to fall asleep.  As I'm drifting away I feel this warm body hugging my back.  I think, "oh that's nice" turn to kiss her on the forehead, tell her I love her, and roll back over.  Only to find that she is still latched on to me. I roll back over to see this face.

Minus the food, of course, but the expression is spot on.

I believe it was at this point that I awoke to the realization that that little warm body was not going anywhere.  I have decided that really there is no reason we have a king sized bed, we occupy 2 1/2 feet of it on a good night. I had a friend email me this picture and I think it represents pretty well how our bed is divided. 

How she can sleep like that every night I cannot begin to understand.  Yet even more baffling is the fact  that this week, with my wife at Girls Camp, I am actually missing that warm body at my back.  

Winning.

I got to spend all of yesterday with my wonderful family.

We had so much fun!

But for some reason, my back was killing me all day.

Before going to bed last night, I asked Taylor if he would give me a back massage.

Of course he agreed.  But he said, "If you can find the Deep Blue Rub, then I will give you a massage that lasts twice as long."

Deep Blue Rub is a doTERRA product that we LOVE.  We just bought a new bottle a couple of weeks ago, but then it suddenly disappeared and was no where to be found.  Taylor has looked for it almost every night (since he loves using it), but has yet to find it.

Of course, I was now determined to find it.

Taylor left the bedroom as I was frantically looking everywhere for the dang bottle.

And then...within probably three minutes of Taylor making this deal, I ran out of the bedroom, DEEP BLUE RUB IN HAND.

Victory!  I had found it!

Taylor could NOT believe that I had found it so fast.

I was so excited and hyper for the next ten minutes or so, because I was about to get a dang good back massage! 

Here are some pictures documenting my victory:

Yep, I'm definitely winning.

And...the massage was well worth it!

Thanks, Taylor!

Proposal Round 2

Late last night, Taylor asked me if I wanted to go on a drive with him.

We used to go on drives through the canyon all of the time when we were dating, so I jumped at his offer as soon as he asked.

After driving for a little while, Taylor pulled over.

We sat on the side of the road and talked for a little while.

Then Taylor reached his hand into his shirt pocket, pulled out a wooden ring, and said,

"Kelli Davis, will you go camping with me?"

Taylor and I have always thought it would be awesome to get wooden rings to wear when we go camping. 

And this sweet boy went out and made it happen. 

(he even remembered my ring size! ;)) 

It was such a cute moment.  I had so many butterflies.
I even got a sweet kiss when I said, "Yes!" :)

My husband is secretly the biggest romantic.  And I love it.

Aren't these awesome?

And here we are, excitedly showing them off.

I love my wooden ring. And I love my sweet husband. :)

A beautiful love.

Last weekend, I had the wonderful privilege of going to my dear friend's wedding.

The sealing was so beautiful.

And so was the couple.

They were absolutely glowing with love.

It brought back memories of my own wonderful day.

And made me realize (once again) how grateful I am for my eternal marriage.

I get to be with my husband (and future children!) FOREVER! The thought makes me giddy.

So grateful for this knowledge.

Here are some pictures from Chelsey and Taylor's beautiful day:

I absolutely LOVE outdoor receptions (hence the fact that I had a backyard reception).  I think they are so naturally beautiful and romantic.  And this one was no exception:

Best wishes to the beautiful newlyweds!

Love you both!

xoxo

You're invited...

Last night, Taylor and I had a party.

A very special party. 

With just the two of us.

And...two irons, two ironing boards, and lots of wrinkly clothes.

Yep, that's right. 

We had an ironing party!

Oh, and Michael Weston was invited too:

We watched Burn Notice (our very favorite) while we ironed away.

That whole pile of wrinkly clothes vanished surprisingly quickly.

The "mom trick" of trying to convince kids that chores are actually "fun" worked on us.

Because we had a lot of fun.

Iron high-five.

Thanks for coming to our party, Michael Weston!

FINISHED!

We really felt like champions by night's end for throwing such an awesome (and productive) party.

And really, who can complain when Michael Weston comes to their party?

And I think we learned a great lesson: "Mom tricks" work.

Watch out future children...I sense a lot of "parties" in your future.