Marriage and family has a way of sucking the romance out of the best relationships. It’s nice to think back and remember the moments when it was all new, and when you were struck dumb by the total awesomeness of the person you now get to argue with over where the proper place to clip toenails is for the rest of your life.

And these dudes are ready to make you believe in love all over again as they tell the story of the moment they knew their wife was going to be the one for them forever.

16. Been there. Did not buy the t-shirt.

She was spending the night at my place and woke up about 3 am in severe discomfort. Over an hour she started to hurt worse so I took her to the ER.

At the ER, she was screaming in pain but they wouldn’t give her any pain meds without first doing a pregnancy test. Of course she went to the bathroom while I was registering her, so she didn’t have anything to give.

It was while she was in the room in the ER, miserable in pain and waiting for the pain meds to kick in that I realized I really cared for her and wanted to make our relationship more permanent.

It turned out that she was having a kidney stone and not an alien chest-burster. She struggled with that problem for years until we find the cause.

Bonus: I met her mother for the first time that morning. On one hand I hate the circumstances, but on the other I’m glad I was able to show I could take care of her daughter.

EDIT: In a strange Reddit twist my most upvoted comment is about how much I love my wife. Today happens to be her birthday so please help me wish her a Happy Birthday!

15. You have to be able to laugh together.

Lost my car in a parking garage after I bungled the night by forgetting my wallet on a fairly expensive Italian dinner date.

I was embarrased and mortified.

I just wanted to cut my losses and get home. I was really trying to impress her and literally anything that could go wrong did.

To cap the night off I forgot where I parked my car because I was flustered from everything that had gone wrong.

After 20 minutes or so of me running around this parking garage, going level to level, running hand in hand. I could feel her glare and and annoyment on the back of my neck. It was growing. I could feel her quietly thinking “well, this was the worst date I’ve ever been on.”

The humiliation finally overcame me and I stopped and turned around. Maybe to appologize profusely, I don’t know, still don’t know. I was preparing myself for that look on her face.

She was smiling.

She started to laugh. Not at me. But with me, ..without me. Almost inviting me to laugh with her about this poor bastard’s luck.

A large wave of relief washed over the dreadful evening.

We stood there on level 2 of the Newport on the Levee parking garage just laughing.

I knew at that precise moment that I wanted to marry her.

6 years later, we are married with two kids.

When we gave our vows, we both unknowingly had written of that exact night in Newport and that exact moment.

I think perhaps for me, I had fallen in love before, but with her.. I never wanted to fall in love again.

14. Lucky in puppy love!

When I was 16, an insanely hot girl messaged me on Myspace (yeah, I know) because we had mutual friends and she thought I was cute. We hit it off, started dating, and a few months later I left her in Texas to go on a trip with my family to see my grandparents in Indiana.

It was the first time we’d been apart for more than a day or two since we’d been together, and the separation was brutal for a pair of teenage love birds. We spent almost every night of that trip talking on the phone until 3 or 4am, laughing, telling each other secrets and sharing our hopes and fears for the future.

She was brilliant – talking to her simultaneously felt like I was going on a big adventure and I’d found my way home all at the same time. That was the first time I’d ever felt like every minute spent away from her was a complete waste of time, and that feeling never really went away.

We’ve been together 12 years now, and just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.

Sometimes you get it right on the first try, folks.

13. When she just goes with the flow.

I asked my husband, who is too lazy to get his computer and post, so I’ll relay his answer.

It was actually during the trip that he proposed to me on, which I was clueless. We lived in Ohio and had flown out to Colorado to visit with my parents, then we were going to all load up in a car and drive to his parents in Utah. We take the scenic route because my mom wanted to check out Black Canyon of the Gunnison and do a little hiking there. We hiked to the bottom and saw the river, it was beautiful, it was the hike back out that was killer. Us OH people are just dying from the altitude difference, mom and step-dad go on ahead while we try to breathe. During one of our stops he sits on one of those rail-road ties they used to line parts of the trail, I lean against a tree further up the trail. He suddenly stands up and yells “snippybitch, run!” I fucking ran. I didn’t ask why, I didn’t even look to see what he was doing, I just booked it.

There was a beehive under that tie, and he pissed them the fuck off. He only got stung twice, we actually caught up to mom and SD who then also ran for a bit. I thought my lungs were going to die.

It was the fact that I didn’t question, I just ran, that’s what made it for him.

I do find it funny that this is his answer even though he already had the ring. I don’t know, he’s a strange one!

12. When it just makes sense.

I don’t remember a moment. We were childhood friends, and knew each other really well. We started dating after high school, but after a year I moved away for two years. We wrote each other letters every week, keeping them short and friendly. Something I won’t mind sharing with my kids in the future.

When I moved back to the area I wanted to do a big road trip to see my family but didn’t want to do it alone. She ended up being the only person available and with less than 24 hour notice was ready to hit the road. It was a blast of a trip, and everyone kept asking when we were going to get married. We hadn’t actually started actively dating again, and things were pretty platonic at that point, so we just shrugged. After the road trip we spent a massive amount of time together and it just made sense to propose to someone that was and is so special to me.

Three months later I proposed.

Edit: Oh, and she said yes. I proposed at her favorite ren faire, but kept it private and simple because I knew she would have hated all eyes on her. I told her I didn’t want a long engagement, and that a one year engagement felt right to me. 360 days after I proposed we were married, and we have been married for nine years now.

11. A little confidence goes a long way.

We had been on a few dates and it was my birthday. She asked what I wanted for my birthday. I sarcastically suggested a 12 pack of beer, a box of condoms and her in that tennis skirt I saw her in on Facebook.

Sure enough, she showed up to my apartment with a 12 pack, condoms and wearing that tennis skirt.

I had dated a lot of high maintenance girls who weren’t all the comfortable with themselves in a lot of ways. I knew from this she was way different.

I would come to find out she was a goddess in a lot of other ways too. But seeing her in the door way looking every bit the dream for my birthday made me know she was definitely a keeper.

10. That’s real devotion.

She traveled 2 hours by bus and train to see me on my half an hour lunch break. We’re due to be married in 3 weeks.

9. Insert some joke about it being the same thing.

She asked if I would move to Boise, Idaho with her, and I thought, I’d move to Hell to be with her.

8. That’s how my mother knew I was in love the first time.

Her boss messaged me to tell me she knew when my (at time girlfriend) was texting me, opposed to anyone else, because she would be smiling.

Then her mother told me the same thing a few days later

edit: Her (now ex boss) is a good friend of ours, and was at the wedding!

7. Cheeseburgers and cursing. So beautiful.

First road trip together. We stoped for food and I ordered multiple cheeseburgers. I was driving and without being asked she unwrapped and handed me my burger. As soon as one was done she had another one ready. I realized then that some people are genuinely considerate and kind. Also the first time she called someone a cuntbag.

6. That’s a make or break moment right there.

She went to ‘hop’ on the bed, miscalculated how springy it was, bounced off and got stuck between the bed and the bedside table. Upside-down, legs flailing in the air. She couldn’t free herself, and I was too incapacitated with laughter to help her for a good 5 minutes.

5. Words are overrated.

When I realised this was the first woman I could look in the eyes and not feel like we had a awkward silence. We just started at each other like it was the last thing we would ever see.

P.S. I’m not married but will be asking her this January. Already got the ring. Wish me luck

EDIT:

Everyone who asked for a update here it is. She said yes!!!!

4. Sometimes you just feel it!

Being with her was (and has been, going on 20 years in 2018,) effortless. There was no drama, no having to explain my jokes, my references. She was as nerdy as I was and am. It just occurred to me that we should marry.

So, I started saying in conversation “When we get married…”

Almost 20 years later we’ve been married almost 18 years. We’re still very passionately in love, and it just keeps getting better.

3. Sounds like the perfect reason to marry someone.

She was driving us back from a great camping trip with friends. My mind was wandering and I thought, “You know, I wish I could do rad shit like this with her forever.” Then I thought, “That sounds like a marriage… HEY!”

I looked over at her, she glanced at me and smiled back.

I then put together a plan; I ask her to live with me in 6 months when her lease is up, after a year if shit is still good I’ll ask her to marry me.

I did exactly that. We’ve been married 4 years and have an 8 month old.

2. This is like something out of a romcom!

We were playing Trivial Pursuit with friends, and were in a team together. The question we got was “Who was the 26th President of the United States?” I figured it was my chance to impress her by counting off all the Presidents in order to count to to 26, so I started. She jumped right in with me, and got up to Teddy Roosevelt faster than I did.

It was the perfect realization that her nerdiness and personality matched up perfectly with my own. When we got married, we had a picture of Teddy Roosevelt on our table at the reception.

1. This one made me a bit teary-eyed.

We had only been dating for three months, so still some awkwardness here and there. I was working an outrageous amount, and I got phone call that one of my very good friends had just died in a car accident.

I don’t really remember walking there, but instead of my apartment, I ended up at hers. She opened the door to her new boyfriend half-ugly-sobbing.

Instead of being (rightly) weirded out, she listened and cried with me for a couple hours.

The friend who died was the one who had encouraged me (for like six months) to ask my now-wife out. My friend never knew the impact she had.

My wife and I have been married for eight years now.

I love these stories! I’m going to make my husband tell me his as soon as I get home.

What’s the tale of how and when you knew your partner is the one for you?

Please tell us in the comments – I want more!

The post Husbands Share the Moments They Said to Themselves, “I’m so Marrying This Girl” appeared first on UberFacts.

As a person who just really, really wants 10 minutes in the morning to catchup on the news, drink hot coffee, and generally be left alone, I feel this topic on a visceral level. You would not believe how much television my children get – or how much I do not care what cabinets they are emptying – in exchange for these moments.

My husband is regularly annoyed, but y’all. How am I supposed to keep them in any sort of line the rest of the day without coffee? How am I even going to get through breakfast?

I’m not. And so, the terror continues.

These 10 parents know my pain, and are sharing their own sacrifices for moments of peace.

10. I’d go with the screen time, myself.

“My husband is [strict] about screen time. I go away to run errands and come home to crayons all over every wall.

He literally just watched him draw on the wall because it was easier than not.”

– Claire G.

9. Long road trips with toddlers are battle conditions.

“On our first road trip, I let my 2-year-old color all over herself in order to make it through the last few hours of the drive.”

– Kelly L.

8.This happened to me, but sunscreen.

“My older son got a tin of butt cream and smeared it all over himself and the carpet when I went downstairs to throw the laundry in.”

– Susan B.

7. When you are that sick, all bets are off.

“Just this past weekend I was diagnosed with the flu and let my 7-year-old do some ‘gem kit’, which [resulted in] sand and hammer marks all over my dining room table and floor.

BUT there was peace for two hours. Sand vacuumed up, table now has character marks.”

– Jill B.

6. The rest of the passengers thank you for your sacrifice.

“I spent many flights letting my son cover my face with painters tape.

I thought he’d like to stick it on the tray table or arm rests or something, but no, my face was the target and I willingly participated for hours of a happy quiet baby on a plane.”

– Christina P.

5. You gotta do what you gotta do. They’re just Doritos.

“I had a stomach bug when [my daughter] was maybe 18-months-old, so still very small.

I usually fed her super healthily but that day I gated off the playroom, gave her a party size bag of Doritos and let her have her way with it. I dozed on the floor, waking occasionally to vomit and see how many more orange hand prints had appeared around the room.

Absolutely worth it.”

– Kathleen K.

4. At least he’s not wasteful.

“My oldest emptied an entire box of tissues while I was taking in groceries from the garage… then shoved them all back into the box again”

– Mara H.

3. Just buy the cheap kind.

“Boxes of tissues.

Sometimes pulling all the tissues (or wipes) out of the container and ‘cleaning’ will keep my 2-year-old busy for so long — totally worth it.”

– Stephanie B.

2. Ooh, this one is brilliant.

“In the warmer months, I’ve put my (now) 2-year-old twins [safely] in the front seat of my parked car… with water bottles, a bag of Goldfish, the windows down, and me sitting outside the car with music playing on my phone.

They love pushing all of the buttons and hollering out the window at dogs and cyclists.

Nothing a vacuum and button reset can’t fix later.”

– Kristina S.

1. I have let my son drench himself with the hose so many times.

“I let my son soak himself at church yesterday because he found a step stool and a water fountain.

He played for 20 minutes and I’m sure he drank some of it, and the rest assisted in keeping him clean.

Which is good because he was too tired for a bath last night!”

– Beth H.

I am not ashamed. In fact, I will do this again tomorrow and also the next day!

What are you willing to let your kids do as long as they’ll leave you alone for 15 or 20 minutes?

We want your confessions in the comments!

The post Parents Share the Things They’ve Let Their Kids Destroy So They Could Have Some Peace appeared first on UberFacts.

One of the things I looked forward to when learning I would be a parent was instituting a family game night once a week, so I could train my littles to be as nerdy as their parents.

Soon, I realized that toddlers are not really made for rules and sitting still and also they don’t understand concepts like winning and losing, and I became disheartened with the entire concept. Take heart, though! There are some games out there that are just made for families with toddlers.

So if game night is something you’d love to do in your house, may we suggest these 10 games for your next try.

10. Candy Land

There are a few classic’s on this list, and you know you’re dying to introduce your kids to this game you loved growing up.

Since there’s no reading required and a colorful board to boot, there’s a good chance your toddler will climb right on board (heh).

9. Feed the Woozle

Your toddler’s motor and counting skills will benefit from feeding the monster with silly snacks, and with 3 levels, your kid won’t get bored for a while!

8. Bubbles Up! Crabs Down

This ocean-inspired game teachers your kid to work like a team as their imagination runs wild.

7. Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

There’s no reading required here, the rules are simple, and everyone loves helping an adorable squirrel – even toddlers.

6. First Orchard

Decades old but still going strong!

This game only lasts about 10 minutes (as long as your toddler’s attention span) and they’ll learn colors and counting as they harvest their fruits and vegetables.

5. Hi-Ho! Cherry-O!

A numbers game with a twist, and the spinner is always a hit with the littles.

4. Busytown

This game is very engaging, promotes attention to detail, teamwork, object identification, and matching skills.

Even better? Each round is a new experience, so you’re less likely to hear the dreaded “B” word (boredom!).

3. Hoot Owl Hoot

The simple strategy of following directions and taking turns to match colors and send the owls back to their nest is a sure winner.

2. Pete the Cat’s The Missing Cupcakes

My toddler loves Pete the Cat, and if yours does too, there’s a good chance they’ll also love singing songs, acting out activities, identifying animals, foods, and words.

Oh… and finding the missing cupcakes, too.

1. Let’s Feed the Very Hungry Caterpillar

A game of counting, collecting, and building will transform that hungry caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly – just like in their favorite book!

I’m definitely picking some of these up, because it’s worth a try. I want to start ’em young, after all.

Have you played any of these with your kids? Do you have games that have worked great for your under-4s? Please share them with us in the comments!

The post Toddler-Friendly Board Games Perfect That Are for Your Next Family Game Night appeared first on UberFacts.