The Story of Our Marriage and How We Became a Family!

Hey, hey!

Wanna meet my BFF? Spoiler alert… it’s my hubby! LOL. I know, I know, super sappy… But it’s totally true! I thought today it would be fun to tell you the story of us — how we met, how long we’ve been doing this marriage thing, all about how our little family got started, and just all the things that make us… well, us.

You down? Cool! I knew you would be! 🙂

I really wanted to tell you guys how we came to be for a couple of reasons. One is that I strongly believe that every couple has its own unique story and that story is rarely ever storybook perfect. I also strongly believe that, as women, we are conditioned to believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to start your marriage or family and sometimes, if we’re not careful, the fairytale “right way” can be so ingrained in us that we can even feel or make others feel a little shame around their story not ticking off all of the perfect little boxes.

So! I’d love to share our story with YOU in hopes that it inspires you to embrace your own story in all it’s perfectly imperfect uniqueness!

So where do I start…?

How about names! My husband’s name is Matt, but me and like one other person in the entire world call him Matthew! We’ve known each other for 20 years! (I know. That’s forever.) We actually went to high school together way back in the day. Now, usually, when I tell people this, I immediately get… “Aw! Y’all were high school sweethearts! How cute!” And this is where it gets awkward because I then have to explain… “Yeah… no. We weren’t. I mean, we were friends… and kinda hung out, and maybe had a thing,,, But, no, not really.”

And just like that, the fairytale they expected to hear now becomes a… “Huh. Okay. So, how did y’all get together?”

Now, if you’re like me, you already feel like this person is asking way too many questions and, honestly, I used to just say the quickest thing I could to avoid any more awkwardness.

But… I’ve grown as a person so much over the years, and I have learned how to be comfortable enough in my own skin that I now embrace the questions and want to share my story. And you know what? As soon as I stopped feeling like my story was less than anyone else’s because it wasn’t taken straight out of a movie or a storybook… I started to realize that more than I knew, there were so many other women whose stories were far from fairytale perfect. JUST LIKE MINE.

So, now that I’ve built this story up like crazy, you’re probably expecting some insane life event that brought us together! Sorry to disappoint, but our love story is actually quite normal in that we both went our separate ways after high school, had serious relationships with other people in our college years, moved back to our hometown in our early twenties, and then finally decided to go out on a date. (Major brownie points to him for taking me to an A&M football game on our first date!)

What’s that? You were expecting some juicy, non-traditional, crazy details to this story?

Oh, alright…  here ya go…

So after that football game, we were inseparable. He was 24 and I was 22, it was October of 2007. We moved in together in December and found out that we were expecting our first baby love in January! We bought our first house that January too, got married at a courthouse that May, and our sweet pea Rylee Lane was born that September!

What a year! What can I say… when you know you know, right?!

Still not taboo enough for ya? OK… you asked for it… Here’s another little plot twist: we may or may not actually have THREE separate wedding anniversary dates. How’s that even possible? Listen. Anything is possible with us!

Here’s how that went down….

I, of course, wanted a big wedding with all of our family and friends after Rylee was born, so we had what Matthew lovingly calls our “Big Party!” that following May and it was incredibly gorgeous and everything I’d ever dreamed it to be. Now, if you are paying attention here, you’ll notice that this is, in fact, our second set of nuptials and that brings us to anniversary date numero dos.

Alright, so stay with me while I bring this puppy home. So, we’re about two hours from me walking down the aisle, when we realize that I got the marriage license details backward and we’d actually had it signed and notarized on the wrong day! OOPS! The pastor, of course, still lovingly proceeded with our ceremony since we were all there and ready to get hitched… again! BUT…he had to forward date our marriage license to accommodate the getting married rules set forth by whoever the heck makes those kinds of rules.

So if you’re still with me and can count, then, yes, this was in fact yet another date of marriage for the Carrs! We’re up to three now, people. Yes. Three marriage dates, three anniversary dates, and three times we’ve said YES to each other.

And there you have it, folks. It’s the story of how we came to be. Since then we’ve added another daughter, Ava Rose, have built our dream home, adopted the best boxer in the world, and continue to say YES to each other and our little family every day!

It’s not a traditional story, and it’s definitely different than either of us could have ever imagined, but it’s our story and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it! I LOVE our story and my hope is that you LOVE and adore yours too!

I’d love to hear yours! Tell me… What’s your perfectly imperfect story and how has it shaped the person you are today?