4 Years And Going Strong!

Mine and Nick's 4 year anniversary is on Thursday. It's hard to believe it's gone by so quickly. These last 4 years have brought some interesting experiences and a lot of firsts:

~Moved to Utah
~Lived in Nauvoo for 6 weeks right after we got married
~Got our first apartment (1 bedroom) in North Salt Lake
~Upgraded to a two bedroom apartment in the same complex 6 months later
~Attended SLCC
~Lived alone for 6 weeks in a still unfamiliar Utah while Nick was in Nauvoo working
~Moved to Logan
~Lived with Nick's Grandma for a month until we found jobs and an apartment
~Paid off our car
~Nick's car died so we bought a new one
~Attending Utah State University
~Nick wrote a book
~Went camping together for the first time
~Witnessed a crime
~2 months later got subpoenad
~Testified in court
~6 months later got subpoenad again for the same crime
~Bought a house
~Bought a puppy

Basically 4 years in a nutshell. Hopefully one day the list will also include ~graduated from USU and ~had a baby, but for now we have to be patient. Nick and I have a neat tradition for our Anniversary. We don't exchange gifts partly because our birthdays are so close to our anniversary, but mostly because I don't like keeping up with traditions that need to be bigger and better every year. I wanted to have a tradition that was meaningful and special, not that gift giving can't be those things, but most of the time it's just stressful trying to find "the perfect gift". Instead Nick and I decided to do Temple Sealings on (or the weekend closest to) our anniversary. It's not the only time we do it throughout the year, but it's special to do it on our anniversary because it gives it a sacred meaning. It's nice to reflect back on the covenants we made and be reminded of those promises. It makes me feel closer to Nick and strengthens our relationship between each other and our Heavenly Father. I'm excited because this year we get to go on our actual anniversary since neither of us work that morning. I love going to the Temple with Nick and I absolutley love being married to him. He is my everything and makes me want to be a better wife because he deserves to have someone that loves him unconditionally and see him the way the Lord sees him. Without a doubt my worst day with him is still so much better than my best day without him.

Nick's Book

Anyone who has any knowledge in getting a book published, I would really appreciate any tips and advice I can get. Nick finished writing a book over a year ago, close to a year and a half, and we both really want to see it published even if that's as far as it goes. He spent a very long time on it. In fact, I believe he started writing it right after we got married and three years later finished it.

I read it and really enjoyed it. Maybe I'm partial because I love the writer, but for a fantasy book (which is not a genre I particularly like) it is really good. There were a lot of twists and unexpected events and characters that are mentioned in the beginning and show up again in the end. The way everything unfolds and ties together is brilliant!

It is amazing to me to see a book come together. It is definitely something I don't have talent for and I'm SO proud of my husband for being able to see this through from start to finish. The publishing company he wanted to go through is no longer taking submissions due to the way the economy has effected them so Nick has looked into some others. The one he wants to go through now told us we have to pay to have it printed which can be anywhere between 5 and 10 thousand dollars depending on the size of the book and the number of copies. Yikes! It doesn't seem right to have to pay them does it?

It would really help if anyone could enlighten us on where to go from here. As of now it is either just under or just over 300 pages front and back on regular copy paper. Nick is working hard to edit it and has been cutting a lot out, but also adding a lot in as far as character developement goes. It's coming along nicely, but if it doesn't get into "final copy" form soon I think he'll spend the rest of his life perfecting it! Please help!