This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Which means Freshly Married can make a small commission on items you buy through these links. People have been asking how I am doing since I have been absent from posting much on the Freshly Married website and social media. And to answer everyone, I am doing GREAT! Some days are anxiety-ridden and November to mid-December we’re pretty tiring ( #sleepregression ). But we have been just enjoying life altogether regardless.

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Which means Freshly Married can make a small commission on items you buy through these links. Well we are pretty much all prepared for our boys to come! At least, with the material items and their room … mentally, I’m not sure yet! Haha. It feels weird that at 31 weeks we already bought everything on our registry that was left over from the generous gifts we received at our baby showers!

A Little Bit of Our Story It took 2.5 years of trying to conceive (TTC) to get to this amazing point of being pregnant with identical twin boys! We feel absolutely blessed that we get two babies as a result of our hard work with the Utah Fertility Center. We did 3 timed intercourse cycles that required more and more pills and shots each time, but lead us to our first try at Intrauterine Insemination (IUI).

Everything about this pregnancy has been super exciting, not just for us but for our family and friends. I mean, it took us so much to finally get here, but we also get to experience the rare situation of twins! It’s also my in-laws’ first grandbaby so it’s ALL very exciting for them. So of course, we did a gender reveal party to share the sex of our identical twins with our family!

Now that the secret is out that I’m pregnant with twins I can finally share my words of the year because it has everything to do with them. :) I say WORDS because I think it’s important to have a goal in mind for you as an individual, and then a goal in mind for your marriage. However you like to do your goals, whether by choosing a specific word to inspire you, a vision board, or simply writing down the goal in a sentence, make sure you are considering how you can strengthen your marriage.

Discussing the topic of dying is kind of depressing, I know. But death is also a reality. And unfortunately, for so many couples, it becomes a reality too early on in their marriage, and so unexpectedly. You can only prepare so much in these situations, but guess what? Making a will is something that you CAN prepare for. After learning about wills and estates in a family finances class, I started realizing how important it is to have a will in place for your family’s protection, especially if you have many assets you want to leave behind for your spouse and children.

The joy I found in my marriage this week is seeing the door to parenthood open wider. There were two reasons for this joy. This has been our first full week with our new dog, Oli. And though Trevor does most of the responsibilities, we’ve both had our eyes further opened to what being a parent is like. Being a “dog parent” I guess you could say, is a great segway into being a parent for a human, haha.

Something that I found joy in is actually something that initially bugs me. And others may not understand it but I’ve just gotta share this thought. Stop devaluing your relationship with your spouse This week I’ve heard many people say things like, “I don’t remember what life was like before our kids.” and other similar phrases. And it makes me sad when people say that, believe it or not. I get that it’s a loving way of trying to say that children have enriched your life in a way that you would never want to change, and that you can’t imagine life without them.

I asked Kinsey the following question: “How has having children changed your relationship for the better and how has it challenged your relationship?” What she answered with was absolutely amazing insight and advice when it comes to balancing parenthood and marriage. She also shared the very personal and difficult challenges of battling severe Postpartum Depression and how she plans to handle that with their third baby on the way. All of this makes Kinsey a warrior woman in my eyes!

A reader asked what I would suggest as ways to prioritize your spouse, and I decided to put all that information in a post because my reply is too big for a comment box! haha. So here’s my reply to my previous post: “Prioritizing My Spouse.” The idea of growing apart happens gradually over time. When you think about it, there will always be sudden situations that come up where you do need to be there for your kids over your spouse, but I think the problem starts when this is happening frequently.

To the couples who haven’t gone on a date in awhile: GO ON A DATE! I know I say this a lot, and I don’t want to come off as annoying, judge-y or insensitive when I write this post. Life can be tough and in those tough times, we tend to put this incredibly important relationship of ours on the back-burner. It also happens when life is busy. For whatever the reason, these situations start to take precedence over something that is so essential to a relationship.

If you are like me, you are at the point in your marriage where the idea of having children weighs more heavily on your mind. Whatever the reason for it, getting to this point has been an interesting journey, at least it has been for me! When we first got married the idea of starting a family was a simple goal for us: “Not for five years.” However as months and months have passed since then, I can tell you now that it’s actually not that simple, haha.

In case I haven’t said this a lot lately, I’m super excited to be graduating with my bachelor’s degree in WEEKS. Well, to celebrate, we’ve been talking/planning/deciding/not deciding on taking a graduation vacation :) And what I mean by that is we have had ideas of where we would love to vacation and then haven’t been sure about them, so we put it on hold until the next idea comes along.

I used to be one of those people that thought you should do anything and everything for your kids - that they should be the priority. It’s portrayed in movies of parents willing to do anything for their kids. Overtime this philosophy has changed for me, especially since finding Trevor. You can pause before continuing, and read this awesome article by a mom: “Why my husband will always come before my kids.

Pregnancy. It either happens when you want it, don’t want it, were not expecting it, or couldn’t wait soon enough for. It’s usually pretty great news to hear, right? Whether the news is for yourself or for someone else, it is really exciting to see one of God’s greatest miracles happening to someone you know, and someone you care about. One of my friends and past roommates recently found out she is pregnant :) I’m so happy for her to be a mom because I know without a doubt, that is her mission in life.

Remember when you first got married, and there’s that one (or more for some of us) person who makes the comment, “So when are you going to start having babies?” I’m sure we can all think of someone who said that to us, right? Some of them are just funny little grandmas just waiting to have more cheeks to pinch! But others can ask in an interrogative way about it, as if they may be upset if you give an answer that doesn’t include the thought of immediately having a child.

This new year has already been eventful for us. We’ve been blessed with a few opportunities and things to look forward to, and now our lives are going in a different direction, and we are very happy about it. Exciting news to share Trevor has chosen to start his career earlier than we planned, with a job offer from his dream job! He will be a Web Developer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I love the word, “family.” There are so many emotions and meanings that encircle this word: The feelings of love, comfort, home, dependability, kindness, humor, and humility, are just a few to name. I have learned a few things in my life about families, especially recently. Every family is different Every family has some sort of challenge, obstacle, or trial to overcome. Growing up, I quickly learned the first part. My family and I have experienced certain trials that I know many of my friends and their families were not experiencing, at the time.

We aren’t quite sure about how many kids we will want to have, when the time comes. The funny part is that Trevor wants two, and I think that I like three! What’s even more funny is that every now and then, we come across a scene that could give us a great reason to want as few kids as possible, haha. And when that happens, Trevor just holds up 2 fingers at me, and smiles.