Well, here we are, all of us.
This is our most recent family picture.
Our family was established in June of 2003, and yes, I know that most of the kids are all older than that. We have a blended family, consisting of his, mine and ours.
I met Shad shortly after my divorce was final, and almost a year after his was final. When I met him, I was just past the first trimester of a pregnancy. I met him on an online LDS dating website. We chatted for a couple of months online and on the phone before I flew out to Idaho to meet him. When I flew out, he picked me up at the airport. He kissed me in the airport, and I knew that moment that I was supposed to marry him.
After my weekend in Idaho, I worked on preparations for having a baby by myself. I was scared to death. I had lost my previous baby girl at full term, so this was a very difficult time in my life. During the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy, my sister and brother in law (who I was living with at the time) got into an argument. He began choking my sister, and I went and yelled at him to stop. He turned on me, and shoved me so hard, I lost my balance and fell. At that point, I realized I needed to find somewhere else to go as soon as possible.
After I had my baby, I packed up everything I possibly could in a Uhaul trailer and drove out to Idaho with my brother. The plan was to date Shad and see what happened. Well, that was HIS plan. My plan was to make him see that he couldn't possibly live without me. Anyway, the months that ensued were crazy. I arrived in Idaho on the 1st of August 2002. By the beginning of October, we began dating exclusively.
The first week of February, 2003, he proposed. We made plans to get married that June. It was a crazy time for us, I lost my job, my oldest son was a wreck at school, etc, and things just seemed insane.
We got married June 21st, 2003 in his parents' back yard in Boise. The weather was beautiful, and not too hot, and the ceremony was small and quiet. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
So, that is how our family got its start. Things still get crazy, we have two kids with autism spectrum disorders, one with bipolar, and another being evaluated with an autism spectrum disorder. But we have each other, and we are still in love after 5 1/2 years. So it's a great start!
