making lemonade out of our lemons.

I have talked about when Savannah was 2 weeks old Paul dragged me down to look at vending machines he wanted to buy. Of course, he wanted my approval, but he would have bought those machines regardless of whether I said yes or not.

I was not nearly as enthusiastic about vending for the first two years as Paul was. Especially that first day we went to collect money out of them. One of the candy machines only had $1.75 in it...we laughed so we didn't cry. I didn't look at vending as something we were ever going to make our money back in. I was working full time, getting no sleep from our sweet baby, sharing a car, and never seeing Paul.

Our relationship was falling apart, and when I look back I am glad I didn't notice how sad it was. When Paul would bring up vending, I would shut down. It was his world, and something he wanted to succeed at. Every moment we had together was spent doing something business related. We lived off of the little income I was making, and credit cards.

I spent all of my vacation hours from work following behind a U.Haul truck delivering machines to Idaho. We stayed the night at complete strangers houses, because we couldn't afford to get a hotel room...all with baby Van in tow. Van lived in her car seat, and ate far too many suckers to try to make her last a little longer.

We started the Idaho route, because my family lives there.  We thought that it would be excuse to see them more often.  We learned a few things in the process of doing this route...we weren't going to be seeing my family, and Paul should not be driving by himself. We decided it would be best to sell this portion of our route after many years of doing it.

At first we were worried about that loss in our income, but it was worth it to me...because on those Idaho days I worried Paul wouldn't make it home to us. We did sell it, and we figured out the money like we always do.

Over a year later, the Idaho route landed back in our hands again. Sigh. I wanted to kick and scream...I didn't want to start all over again...this time with 2 1/2 kids. With no choice, Paul and I made a game plan. It involves going to Idaho every other weekend as a family until the Doctor tells me I can't. Not exactly how I planned to spend my 3rd trimester.

This time building our route in Idaho has been much different. We haven't had to stay at strangers houses, instead we have a 2 bedroom hotel suite we stay the night in. The hotel also has a swimming pool, and we have been able to take the kids swimming as a reward at the end of a long day in the car. I know that our hard work has always paid off, and will again. We have had fun at new places like the Yellowstone Bear World, and our kids still haven't stopped talking about getting to feed the bears. My bad attitude has quickly diminished as we have spent quality time as a family, and teaching our kids that if we work hard...we get to play hard too!

I will forever be grateful for a husband that provides a wonderful life for us. When things are tough like they have been for awhile now, we always get stronger as a couple...and I always remember why I married my best friend.