OUR STORY

Everything and everyone has a story. It just so happens that you have stumbled upon ours.

Looking back on our family’s beginning it is so easy to see God's hand our life.

Our story starts in January of 2017, I moved in with my Dad, we had a rocky relationship at the time, but I had been recently excused from attending BYUI and had no where else to turn.

Now that is a whole story by itself and maybe one day I will dive deeper into it but for today we telling how our family came to be.

Anyway, I was 19 and living with my Dad in a small town in Colorado. After a couple of months, I had made some friends, gotten a job, and patched things up with my Dad.

One summer day I had left to pick up one of my friends at her house. When I arrived she got into my passenger seat and her cousin Bryton hopped into my backseat. I didn't realize he was coming with us, but determined to go with the flow I started to move things in my back seat so that he could fit.

He said he was just kidding and got out of my car. Later that day I had a dm from Bryton on my Instagram it went something like this.

"Hey it is me the weird guy who jumped into your car. I wish I could say this in person but I do not know when I will see you again. I want you to know that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I can not stop thinking about you. I hope this doesn't come off as creepy but I really want to get to know you better."

We ended up talking for a while, I tried to be upfront with him that I had just gotten out of a long relationship and was not looking to hop into another one. He did not seem to get the hint and continued to try to flirt and honestly he was a gentleman, but it didn't change the fact I was not ready for a relationship. So, I ghosted him.
Well fast forward a couple months, we had chatted here and there but nothing crazy. One day he messaged me asking how some family drama I had, had turned out. I thought it was so sweet that he had remembered that random detail I had told him months ago.

I invited him to come over and watch the movie It with me. He accepted, we ended up snuggling on the couch while we watched the movie, and fell asleep watching The Office. The rest was history, we hung out everyday after that and he practically moved in.

At this time Bryton was active duty in the US Army, his unit was up for a deployment. We talked about how while he was gone I would get my own apartment and when he returned from his deployment we would move in together. In May 2018 he was deployed to Afghanistan. I was working as a receptionist at a family law firm at the time, and shout out to my boss. She was SO patient with me when he was deployed. I often had random tears sliding down my face and facetimed him in the back. Due to the time difference when he was going to bed it was around my lunch break so that is when we had the opportunity to chat.

In July of 2018 Bryton's family had some unexpected circumstances that allowed him to return to the States. Thank goodness! I was already in the process of signing a lease, so we added him onto it and then we moved in together. There was some bumps in the road as we adjusted to living with each other. In those apartment months we fought the most, but it was truly such a fun time.

In Aug of 2018 we got a dog together. Our sweet Aussie, Bear. Everyone told us after you get a dog you get pregnant and we rolled our eyes and said "okay whatever". I was on birth control and we were sure that we weren't getting pregnant until later on. Well, jump to Nov 2018 I noticed my period was late. The night before Thanksgiving I took a test. I am sure you know what happened next. The test came back +. I left the bathroom sobbing showing the test to Bryton. I was SO scared, I was 20, unmarried, and this was not my plan. But it was God's plan, and His is always better.

I booked a Dr. appt to confirm that I was pregnant. Of course it also came back + the Dr. visits quickly racked up and was becoming a financial burden. Bryton and I talked and decided maybe we should get married so I could get on his insurance. Unknown to me Bryton had already bought a ring a couple weeks before we even knew we were expecting. I prayed and knew that Bryton was the one for me.

So one day while we were in Denver with one of Bryton's friends he proposed in front of the capital building. It was all lit up for Christmas and it was a magical moment.

Now the attorney I worked for did mostly GAL work, which if you dont know is a Guardian Ad Litem, she represented children's best interest in DHS cases. In our small town most of our cases came due to meth. The Army was talking about sending Bryton to some training for a couple months. We decided to move, several of the families that were our neighbors were some of the parents in the cases I worked. We decided it might be better if I was going to be alone and pregnant that we move to a different spot in town.

In April 2019 we ended up moving into Bryton's grandpa's house and rented it from him. It was a tiny home and I barely fit in the kitchen with my big ole belly but it was cozy.

Our sweet little baby was not cooperative when it came to finding the gender and it took 3 ultrasounds to finally find out we were having a GIRL. I was so scared, I have 4 sisters and know teenage girls can be scary. Well again silly me I didn't see how badly that little girl was meant to be ours. The Lord knew what we needed and it was her.

Now Bryton and I have talked in depth about how we would handle the photo s of the girls on this blog. We have decided to change their names to some nicknames and conceal their faces in the pictures of them that we post for their privacy. Our oldest daughter we have decided to nickname Lucy in this blog.

Well very quickly I ran out of space for Lucy to grow. I am a whopping 5'0 even and being very pregnant is not very comfortable. I tried everything to get that little stinker out but she was content as can be to right where she was. I was a week late and my OB and I decided to induce.

We went in 5 pm on a Sunday and 3pm that next Monday our sweet Lucy was born. I had a easy labor and I am so grateful everything went smoothly.

Bear adjusted well to having a baby in the home and quickly became Lucy's biggest fan.

My boss was willing to give me several months off for maternity leave, but after a month I was popping into the office to chat with the woman I worked with, Soon after my boss told me she would let me bring the baby in while I worked, so I went back to work about 6 weeks after Lucy was born.

Lucy was the easiest baby and just content to be. She made a perfect office baby. After a month or two of bringing her into work with me, an old coworker of mine began to watch her during the day.

It was so hard to leave her with someone else but now that coworker is family. We call her and her husband Auntie and Uncle and our girls adore them! I am so happy the Lord put this wonderful family in our lives.

After a couple months Bryton's grandpa was talking about moving back into his house. While perfect timing, Bryton's maternal grandparents had decided to move to South Carolina. They did not want to sell their house, or to leave it empty. They asked us to rent it from them.
It was a bigger house than the one we were in at the time and we knew we wanted to expand our family and needed more space to do so. Dec 2019 we moved into their house, this is the home we are still in. It is the home my husband came home to from the hospital.

To me that is so amazing. I moved 11 times before I was 19 and never had a "childhood home" so to me it is pure magic seeing my husband being able to raise our little girls in his childhood home.

Shortly after we moved into our new home COVID 19 hit. I was moved to working remotely. That was a hard but oh such a fun adjustment to make. I got to work AND stay home with Lucy who was now about 9 months old. This was the start of a huge change. I know not only for us but for everyone.

Bryton still had to go into work at the Army base that he was stationed at, during the day it was just Lucy and I. It was so much work, to juggle working and making sure she got the attention she deserved.

After a little while, we were back in the office, and Lucy was back at her Aunt's house. Around this time the school district changed the school hours and dropped Fridays from the schedule all together. My coworker had school age children and my boss had been talking about dropping Friday's from our work schedule for a while, so we did. Now I only worked a 4 day work week and got an extra day with Lucy. What a blessing.

The summer of 2020, the attorney I worked for decided to close the firm and work for the state of Colorado. I was so worried, I was about to lose my job and Bryton and I had just decided he was not going to reenlist so he would be losing his job as well.

Again, God has a plan! Another GAL in the county I live in offered to take me on as his paralegal and I could work from HOME! An amazing opportunity God left on our doorstep. I was able to start working for this other lawyer and he even gave me a raise.

After praying Bryton and I decided to try for another baby. Quickly we got pregnant with our second daughter Lyra.

Lyra's pregnancy flew by. I think it was easier due to the fact I had a now 1 yr old to chase around the house. I was much more active and truly I think that helped my pregnancy go so much smoother.

In a blink of an eye we were 40 weeks, I was 2 cm and not making any progress. Again my OB and I decided to induce. I went in at 12 pm on Thursday the 17th of June and then at 12:59 am on Friday the 18th of June, Lyra made her grand entrance. She was pure perfection and such a snuggle bug.

We were over the moon. God blessed us with two healthy beautiful little girls. It took Lucy about 3 days to adjust to being a big sister and then she started to love the role.

She dotes on Lyra and they have become good friends. I know Lucy can not wait for Lyra to be running around and playing with her more.

This is how all of the members of our family came to be. Now there is much more that has happened and is happening. I will add more blog posts breaking down in more detail some aspects of our life.

This is the short version of how I became a work at home mom to my beautiful babies, and a wife to my adoring husband.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! For reading the story of how our little family came to be.

There is much more to come!

-Miriam