The Beginning of 'Happily Ever After'

Can it really be three months since my last post? I often put in my journal when it's been a long time since I've written that it's hard to put my life on hold in order to write about it. However, the last time I posted an entry I was still engaged, and now I'm a married woman! It's still so exciting for me to write down "Katie Hoyos" on something.

I felt so prepared for marriage. and I'm very grateful for everything I did to plan and be ready for such a big step, but as my parents have often told me, there's no amount of preparation that can compensate for experience. Next week we will have been married for two months. Two months! It's funny, because I feel like I've been married my whole life. It's such a big life change in every possible way, that I almost can't remember what it was like to not be married.

I have found in just these very few months that marriage, just as all things in life, is what you make of it. Only this time it takes three people. Brenton and I are so wonderfully happy because we work our tails off every single day for each other and for the Lord. We're happy because we want to be. I'm amazed each day that if I'm selfish it effects him, too. Suddenly I start to think about everything in marriage that's difficult, and all the new responsibilities we now both have and I think, "what was I getting myself into?" But then I have to take a step back and know that this was the most important decision in my life, but that I made it. I chose to marry him, and when I did I knew the sacrifice it would take. Then with a bit of an attitude adjustment, I remember that we're in this together and I forget myself. Suddenly everything is better. I'm happy, and I can't imagine life without my sweetheart with me.

It's a fun place to be at the beginning of the phrase, "Happily Ever After," and I'm even now recognizing that it remains 'ever after' just so long as both of us recognize that our choices have a great impact on each other. I can't quite express how wonderful it is to pray together, to have family scripture study and Family Home Evening together. Being able to recognize that we are a family and we make decisions together is such a great blessing. And by putting the commandments first, knowing that our first priority is to the Lord gives us the assurance that we will make it. Not just now, but "ever after."