5 important “firsts” my family has experienced

I thought I would discuss some of my favorite family first as I just had baby #3 and my thoughts filled with what is really most important and it’s been fun to reflect on what were our most important firsts as a family!

1. First Sight –  This one might seem like a strange “first” to include but how we met is pretty unique and really shaped all of our first together. My husband and I both signed up for a Caribbean cruise one week before it was scheduled to depart as fill-in’s for some attendants that were last minute not able to attend. My aunt was booked the cruise for a large group of attendants and had us all booked at a hotel the night before. There were several young adults along with the group and most I already knew – friends and family members and such but I had never met Danny before. He didn’t really know anyone from the group either so when I saw him I said hi and introduced myself. He later told me it was “Love at first sight” and knew that he would marry me some day. It was quite funny because he had never really thought he’d get married and I personally had no interest in him for a long time!

I don’t have any pictures of us on the cruise or our first date,
but this picture captures our early, early dating days.

2. First Date – Following the cruise and hanging out a little bit on board we went home to separate states and kept in contact by phone and email, though I still wasn’t interested beyond a friendship. One day though he asked if he could drive the 12 hour drive (from Washington State to Idaho where I was going to college) to take me out on a date. I was up front with him telling him I was not really interested beyond friendship but I would give him the chance if he still wanted to come. The first date wasn’t anything spectacular or out of the ordinary but it did start a great friendship that eventually lead to more (and was already more from his view!).

3. First Home – Following that semester at college I moved home to Arizona and Dan came to visit me for Christmas before he was going to head abroad to Ukraine to teach English for a semester. While visiting we went looking at some model homes as the housing market at the time was doing awesome and it seemed like a great investment. After looking through tons of homes as a last ditch effort before him flying out we stopped at one last development and walked into a model and both instantly felt like this was the home we loved (still not dating at this point though, hehe). Dan felt really strongly that he should buy the home and ended up canceling his trip to Ukraine and moving to Phoenix to get established in the state to be approved for the home loan. It was a huge step towards our dating as we spent just about every day together once he moved down and our relationship grew.

4. Finally Married –Getting married and starting our family was obviously one of the best and most profound firsts for us as a couple. It was at that time that I moved into the home we had picked out together and we began planning for children. Marriage is a lifetime commitment for me and of course means lots of sacrifice and compromise but it has been such a wonderful thing, though of course hard at times.

5. First Baby Boy –Dan and I both wanted children and felt no reason. I actually got pregnant on the first cycle I could and had baby boy #1 just 10 months from our wedding date! The change to mother and father was a HUGE life changing experience but one I have loved, even when it has been difficult. I can’t say raising my boys has always been easy or always fun but there are certainly so many, many awesome moments and memories and I really love my children! The birth of each of my boys so far has been a huge event in our lives and we are grateful for each of them and their unique personalities!

This was so fun to walk down “memory lane” and get to share some of my great life moments as a family with you all! I would love to hear about some of your family favorite moments! Can you relate to any of mine? I’d love links to your posts if you participated or were inspired to share your own so I can read up on such a fun topic!