Our top three priorities are God, Family, and Liberty. We welcome you as you join us on this journey we call life.
A witness from God can be relied upon. As you read our thoughts, beliefs, and experiences, we invite you to obtain a witness for yourself. If something we say or imply does not ring true, then you should feel no obligation to accept it. Life is an individual and unique journey with God. Although we can help and encourage each other, we need to be careful not to come between God and another person.
There have been three times in our marriage when John came close to dying: December 17, 1997; July 3, 2014; and March 5, 2025.
The first was in 1997. John was building a home, and a crane was lifting a bundle of roof trusses wrapped in a chain. Mid-lift, the chain gave way. The trusses fell, striking John and slamming his head into the frozen ground.
He was in a coma for weeks, with swelling in his brain the size of a tennis ball. I didn’t know how the brain injury would affect him. I believed he would wake up, but I didn’t know who he would be on the other side of it. Even so, I felt peace through that time, even without knowing the outcome. But it was also lonely—being in that space beside him while he slept, missing the sound of his voice, his presence, his spirit.
So when he finally opened his eyes—when he smiled, when he laughed—it was like feeling the light come back into the room. I could feel him again.
His recovery from such a serious injury was nothing short of miraculous. Still, he lost 50% of his auditory processing. Conversations became difficult—he couldn’t always hold onto words or follow what was being said. We had to learn how to communicate again. And more than that, how to be patient, how to listen with our hearts when words fell short.
We went on to have eight more children after the accident—for a total of eleven. John is a remarkable father. Truly, the perfect companion for me.
In the Cracks of Broken Memory is a song about that season. Not about tragedy, but about the slow, steady work of loving each other through uncertainty. About finding grace when the path isn’t clear. About dancing—sometimes clumsily, sometimes beautifully—on ground we never expected to stand on.
Are you in love with your
husband? Still crazy about your hubby? My answer is absolutely! Yes! Yes! Yes!
I often get the question, “Are you going to have any more children?” I really
don’t know, but it is highly probable since I’m still in love with my husband.
John, if I had to do it
again, I’d choose you. Every year you
get better and better. It reminds me of a quote, “An archaeologist is the best
husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.”
-- Agatha Christie It goes both ways.
I’m more interested in you now than I was 21 years ago.
We’ve grown in love, and
these last five years have been the happiest years of our marriage. When we made the commitment to put each
other first, our bickering stopped, and our eyes began to open. “I would say
that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style,
joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration
he provides for his spouse.” -- Benjamin McLane Spock
It’s fun being on an eternal
date with you. We don’t have to spend a
lot of money or travel the world to have fun together. A happy life is made up of a lot of simple
pleasures: sitting on the back porch swing holding your hand; watching the
children play; feeling the refreshing cool night air roll in after a hot day;
going for a 4-wheeler ride down the country road; hiking the mountain; holding
hands as we walk through the garden; sitting in front of the fire on a cold
winter night; reading the scriptures and sharing our latest discovery; coming
up behind me to hug me as I work at the kitchen sink; all of these things and
much, much more. “Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops
up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots.” --
Hoosier Farmer
You’ve always had a cheerful
way about you. I love to hear your
laugh, and you’ve helped me to laugh through the tears and fears over the
years. You laugh at everything whether
it’s funny or not. When we first met, I
didn’t think it was normal for a person to laugh so much. Laughter is good
medicine, and you’ve been good for my heart. “Smile at each other, smile at
your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other
-- it doesn't matter who it is -- and that will help you to grow up in greater
love for each other.” -- Mother Teresa
I give you my heart and know
you can be trusted with those things I hold most sacred and dear. You have my loyalty, love, and
devotion. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t
do for you because I know you always want what’s best for me. “No, I don't understand my husband's theory
of relativity, but I know my husband and I know he can be trusted.” -- Elsa
Einstein
God has blessed me with you,
and you are my best friend. In a world where there is so much loneliness, it’s
encouraging to be with someone who really cares. “The relationship between husband and wife should be one of
closest friends.” -- B. R. Ambedkar
I’m grateful to be on this
eternal journey with you. “For the unbelieving husband
is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean, but now are
they holy.” D&C
74:1
It’s my desire that our
marriage be made holy. It’s been almost 21 years since we went to the temple
together, and we still look forward to the day when the Holy Spirit of Promise
seals us for time and all eternity. If we want this relationship to endure
forever we need to do more than make covenants in the temple. “And again,
verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for
time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me or by my word, which
is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I
have anointed and appointed unto this power, then it is not valid neither of
force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith
the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world it cannot be received there, because
the angels and the gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass;
they cannot, therefore, inherit my glory; for my house is a house of
order, saith the Lord God.” D&C 132:18
My whole
life’s desire is to have this scripture fulfilled in our life. “And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a
wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and
it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed,
unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it
shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if
it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit
thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and
depths—then shall it be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, that he shall
commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my
covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done
unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and
through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the
world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to
their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads,
which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and
ever.Then shall they be gods, because they have
no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they
continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto
them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are
subject unto them.” D&C 132:19-20
I love you sweetheart and
hope you have a wonderful birthday. “When a wife has a good husband it is
easily seen in her face.” -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
To celebrate Valentines Day, we decided to reminisce about our courtship.
Some say love is blind, and we guess that’s true because that’s how we began.But it definitely was not love at first sight.John graduated in electrical engineering and only went back to school to find his wife.It worked!Jennifer’s brother-in-law, Stan, was in John’s MBA class and set us up on a blind date.
Our first date was on January 12, 1991; we went to see the play April Anne (This is the name of our 4th daughter). John didn’t say much that night; he just laughed and chuckled.Jennifer thought it was very odd to have someone laugh so much.She had never experienced such a thing.On the other hand, John thought Jennifer did not have the backbone to speak her mind.Boy, was he wrong on that one.He can’t imagine where he got that idea.
Now, John had this little, red, beater truck; and this was for a very specific purpose. He wanted a girl that liked him more than his fancy truck.He was getting a little worried though because he wasn’t getting any girls. Jennifer didn’t really care too much about what kind of truck John drove.She wasn’t even overly concerned that he wore the same outfit every date.He later explained that it was his best outfit, and he wanted to look nice for her.
To give you an idea about how great this little red truck was, we’ll tell you about our first three dates. It was about midnight and we were on our way home from Stan and Belinda’s house. Jennifer thought the street looked a little dark and wondered if the headlights were on.John assured her several times that they were.He even flipped the switch showing her that he had turned them on. Finally when we got to a place where the streetlights were not so bright, he agreed to get out of the truck and check the lights.To his astonishment they were not working. So we drove from North Orem to the middle of Provo with no headlights.
For our second date, John borrowed his roommate’s car because he was in the process of re-wiring his reliable little truck.
On our third date, we went to a basketball game at BYU.We think it was the first and last game we ever went to. John thought most girls would like a date like this, even though he didn’t really care to go.
Provo was packed with people coming to the game, and we were on our way up the hill. We were stopped at the light on the Southwest corner of the Marriott Center.Just then, the truck died.John knew just what to do to fix the problem. He had an extra battery in the back of the truck. A traffic cop stopped by to see what the problem was.John handed the battery to him and told him to hold it. He did! John jumped the truck with his portable battery, told the policeman to put the battery in the back of the truck, and away we went to our first game.
When the game was over, we sat and talked until the parking lot was clear because we didn’t want the truck to stall again. The truck kept running as long as we didn’t stop.This opportunity to talk was of great benefit to John.He had worried that if he found a girl to marry, he wouldn’t know what to talk to her about for the rest of their lives.Jennifer was the first and only girl John felt comfortable talking to.
So our courtship began much like an engineer would do it.One weekend John would go home to work on his 4-wheel drive V W bug that he was building.The next Thursday he would call Jennifer and set up a weekend date.That continued like clockwork for the next three months.John was concerned because he didn’t know how to get things moving along. Jennifer thought John was a nice guy but had no intention of pursuing a relationship with him. John didn’t know what else to do, so he started praying for God’s help.
About this same time, Jennifer took a long walk in the foothills of Provo.Thoughts of John started coming to her mind.She imagined what kind of dad he would be.She wasn’t attracted to John as a boyfriend but thought he would make an awesome father.John wasn’t like most of the boys she had dated.There were no fancy, flashing rapids, just deep water that ran still.Her heart started to open. Jennifer fell in love with John’s character before she felt that romantic twitterpation.
Once the process began, things moved right along.God was helping us because neither one of us knew what we were doing.It was towards the end of March and we were sitting in the movie theater watching one of the Rocky movies.Jennifer made her hand available.John reached over and held a girl’s hand for the first time in his life.
A couple weeks later John was helping Jennifer watch Katie and Ryan while Loa worked.John was sitting close to Jennifer on the couch, and Ryan kept saying, “Just do it.”Jennifer ignored the comment. Later that afternoon while taking Katie for a stroller ride, John brought up Ryan’s comments.He said, “So, what do you think about what Ryan said?”Jennifer replied, “The next boy I kiss is going to be my husband, I don’t think I’m ready to make that kind of commitment right now.”
Later that evening, Jennifer said, “I think I’m ready to kiss you.”We sat in the truck for about 45 minutes trying to figure out how we were going to approach this awkward moment.John said, “I’ve never kissed a girl. You’re going to have to teach me how to do it.”Now it was Jennifer who was baffled.You don’t discuss kissing; you just do it.John said, “So, do you lean forward and tilt your head a little bit?”Jennifer just laughed not knowing what to do with this one-of-a-kind-of-a-man.After a long discussion we finally kissed.John said, “That was fun, can we do it again?” “My pleasure.”
Our children love to see us kiss. Jonathan said, “I know you’re not going to get a divorce because you kiss so much.”It gives children a great sense of security to know that their parents love each other.
We’re not much for fanfare, and that’s reflected in our engagement.This is how John proposed: We were sitting on Howard and Eleni’s living room couch. Blake, Michelle, and Andrew kept coming in wondering why John was talking to Jennifer for so long. They wanted him to spend time with them.Howard had to get after his three little children and tell them to stay out while John and Jennifer talked. After talking for some time John said, “So, I guess we ought to do it.”Jennifer gave him a puzzled look, “Are you asking me to marry you?”John nodded his head.
The next day we went looking for rings.For a boy that doesn’t spend much money on his truck, John treated Jennifer like a 10 cow wife. As we walked into Wilson Diamonds, he turned to Jennifer and said, “You can have any ring you want.”She chose a beautiful ring that she absolutely loves.Jennifer didn’t even know if John had enough money for the ring and was surprised to see him pay for it in cash.
It was time to ask Jennifer’s dad for her hand in marriage.Mom and Dad Wilding were living in Guam at the time.We weren’t thinking about a 17-hour time zone difference when we called them.It was about three or four in the morning in Guam when John talked to his sleepy, future father-in-law.We caught Dad off guard, and he said yes.Dad met John for the first time on our wedding day.
One day while Jennifer was walking home from school, she looked down at her new ring.Her heart panicked.“I don’t even know the boy I’m planning to marry.”She had only dated him for four months before the engagement, and it was another four months before the big day would arrive.Then a sweet peaceful feeling came over her, and the Lord said, “If you don’t marry the boy, you’ll be making the dumbest mistake of your life.”That simple assurance has carried her through the ups and downs of married life.
John felt comfortable about Jennifer very early in their relationship.Pursuing her felt like the right thing to do. It was, and he’s been holding her close to his heart ever since.He’s never looked back or given his decision a second thought.
We started our marriage with two rules that have proved very valuable.
Rule #1 – Don’t say anything negative about each other to anyone else, no matter how mad we are.Our reasoning is: We’ll forgive, forget, and move on with life.Others will remember the bad stuff. No one else can solve our problems, so why get them involved. When we need a listening ear, we go to God.
Rule #2 – When making decisions we both need to agree before moving forward.If it’s not a yes-yes, the answer is no.Either one of us always has the veto power. This rule has saved our skin countless times. We sink or sail together
The children have learned not to attempt to play mom and dad against each other.If one parent gives them an answer, and they go to the other parent to get a different answer, it doesn’t turn out in their favor.Most of them have figured out which parent will give the most favorable response to their request. If they’ve guessed it right, they’ll go to that parent first.
This rule is also used on the blog. We don’t individually claim any article.This is done on purpose. We both read and approve of each other’s writings before posting anything.Corrections and additions are made together.We find it humorous that Jennifer gets a lot of credit for John’s words, especially the controversial stuff. Since John doesn’t talk a lot, most don’t think he has anything to say. He’s just a happy guy willing to listen. Our personalities are very different, but we’re united when it comes to what we believe and value.
This rule is not used to stifle one another. We have felt each other’s support when it comes to pursuing our dreams and ambitions. The freedom to fly and be an independent thinker is valued.
About 4 ½ years ago we had the desire to come to God and strengthen our marriage.We adopted a simple course of action.We decided to put each other’s needs and desires above our own.We immediately noticed that bickering and contention ceased.We enjoy the challenge of finding ways to make each other’s life more enjoyable and pleasant.We don’t ever want to go back to the way we used to be.
For some time we’ve had the goal of praying together more often.We thought praying together three times a day would really help. Even though we haven’t had a perfect record, we are experiencing greater unity in our marriage. The Lord has been teaching us how to improve our prayers.We look forward to these times when we get to talk and pray together.
Most of the time we just want to be home. Once in a while when we go out, we like to watch other couples.Some just seem to co-exist. Others get along pretty well. It’s commendable to see an older couple who has been around the block and lived a lifetime together.It’s really inspiring to see them hold hands and still be in love. We smile and say, “Let’s stay in love so we can be like that when we grow up.”
Amanda Cronquist shared a link to this video on Facebook.At the age of 90 and married 62 years, these two did something at the clinic that day that put a smile on everyone's face. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
