Editing Laura Bush (section)

==Marriage and family==
Bush met [[George W. Bush|her husband]] in July 1977 when mutual friends Joe and Jan O'Neill invited them to a backyard barbecue at their home. He proposed to her at the end of September and they were married on November 5 of that year, the day after her 31st birthday,<ref name="Spoken-Heart"/><ref name=readherlips>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/bush/profile.html |title=Read her lips: Literacy efforts on first lady's agenda |date=April 8, 2001 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |agency=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612125945/http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/bush/profile.html |archive-date=June 12, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> at the First United Methodist Church in Midland, the same church in which she had been [[baptism|baptized]].<ref name="Stritof, Sheri and Bob">{{cite web |author=Stritof, Sheri and Bob |url=http://marriage.about.com/od/celebritymarriages/p/georgewbush.htm |title=George and Laura Bush |access-date=May 25, 2008 |work=About.com |publisher=[[The New York Times Company]] |archive-date=October 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008010814/http://marriage.about.com/od/celebritymarriages/p/georgewbush.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><!---Laura bought a tan, two-toned dress off the rack for the wedding.<ref name=parade>{{cite news|title={{-'}}We Need To Pay More Attention To Boys' (First Lady Laura Bush) |url=http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2005/edition_01-16-2005/featured_0 |date=January 16, 2005 |first=Lyric Wallwork |last=Winik |work=[[Parade (magazine)|Parade]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017193505/http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2005/edition_01-16-2005/featured_0 |archive-date=October 17, 2006 |url-status=live |access-date=April 21, 2011}}</ref>---> The couple honeymooned in [[Cozumel]], Mexico.<ref name="Spoken-Heart">{{cite book|title=Spoken from the Heart|last=Bush|first=Laura|year=2010|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1-4391-5520-2|url=https://archive.org/details/spokenfromheart00bush}} [http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Former-First-Lady-Laura-Bush excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020163226/http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Former-First-Lady-Laura-Bush |date=October 20, 2011 }} available at Oprah.com.</ref> George W. Bush detailed his choice to marry Laura as the "best decision of [his] life".<ref>{{cite book|title=Decision Points|page=27|first=George W.|last=Bush |year=2011|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0307590633}}</ref> Laura, an only child, said she gained "brothers and sisters and wonderful in-laws" who all accepted her after she wed George W. Bush.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/may/1/20050501-105521-4706r/?page=all|title=Laura leaves 'em laughing, gasping|date=May 1, 2005|newspaper=The Washington Times|access-date=February 23, 2016|archive-date=October 21, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021172508/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/may/1/20050501-105521-4706r/?page=all|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Image:Bush daughters.png|thumb|right|Laura and George W. Bush with their daughters [[Jenna Bush Hager|Jenna]] and [[Barbara Bush (born 1981)|Barbara Bush]], [[Kennebunkport]], 1990]]

The year after their marriage, the couple began campaigning for George W. Bush's 1978 Congressional candidacy. According to George Bush, when he asked her to marry him, she had said, "Yes. But only if you promise me that I'll never have to make a campaign speech."<ref name=unhillary/> She soon relented and gave her first stump speech for him in 1978 on the courthouse steps in [[Muleshoe, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Laura Welch Bush: Shy no more|first=John|last=Hanchette|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=June 23, 2000|access-date=April 21, 2011|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/e2147.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516090753/http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/e2147.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> After narrowly winning the [[Partisan primary|primary]], he lost the general election.<ref name=readherlips/>

Bush attended the inauguration of her father-in-law [[George H. W. Bush]] as [[Ronald Reagan]]'s vice-president in January 1981, after Reagan won the [[1980 United States presidential election]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Decision Points|page=42|first=George W.|last=Bush |year=2011|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0307590633}}</ref> She credited her father-in-law's election to the vice presidency with giving her and her husband national exposure.<ref>{{cite book|title=Spoken From The Heart|first=Laura|last=Bush|page=[https://archive.org/details/spokenfromheart00bush/page/103 103.]|year=2010|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1439155202|url=https://archive.org/details/spokenfromheart00bush/page/103}}</ref>

The Bushes had tried to conceive for three years, but pregnancy did not happen easily. On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to [[Twin#Fraternal (sororal; dizygotic) twins|fraternal twin]] daughters, [[Barbara Bush (born 1981)|Barbara]] and [[Jenna Bush Hager|Jenna]].<ref name="Stritof, Sheri and Bob"/> The twins were born five weeks early by an emergency [[Caesarean section]] in [[Baylor University Medical Center]] in [[Dallas, Texas]], as Laura had developed life-threatening [[pre-eclampsia]] (toxemia).<ref name=readherlips/>

George W. Bush credited his wife with his decision to stop [[Alcoholic drink|drinking]] in 1986.<ref name=timeline/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2000/01/23/george_w_bush/ |access-date=August 23, 2009 |date=January 23, 2000 |archive-date=May 7, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507200414/http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2000/01/23/george_w_bush/ |title=Turning Point: George W. Bush, A Legacy Reclaimed |last=Leonard |first=Mary |work=The Boston Globe |url-status=dead}}</ref> She reflected that she thought her husband "was drinking too much" amid her knowing it was not his desired way of living. Approaching him, she related that her father had been alcoholic and it was not a pattern she wished to repeat in their family.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-and-laura-bush-theres-no-do-overs/|title=George and Laura Bush: "There's No Do-Overs"|date=November 14, 2010|work=CBS News|access-date=December 7, 2015|archive-date=May 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516100049/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-and-laura-bush-theres-no-do-overs/|url-status=live}}</ref>
She is also credited with having a stabilizing effect on his private life.<ref name=readherlips/> According to [[People (American magazine)|''People'']] magazine reporter Jane Simms Podesta, "She is the steel in his back. She is a civilizing influence on him. I think she built him, in many ways, into the person he is today."<ref name=readherlips/>

Bush traveled to [[Kuwait]] in April 1993, accompanying her in-laws as well as brothers-in-law [[Jeb Bush|Jeb]] and [[Marvin Bush]] after former president Bush was invited to return to the [[Middle East]] for the first time since his presidency.<ref>{{cite book|title=George H. W. Bush: The American Presidents Series: The 41st President, 1989–1993|page=[https://archive.org/details/georgehwbush0000naft_v9m8/page/156 156.]|first=Timothy|last=Naftali|year=2003|publisher=Times Books|isbn=0805069666|url=https://archive.org/details/georgehwbush0000naft_v9m8/page/156}}</ref>

Several times a year, Bush and her husband travel to their sprawling family estate, the [[Bush compound]], better known as Walker's Point. Located in [[Kennebunkport]], [[Maine]], the compound is where [[Bush family]] gatherings have been held for nearly 100 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-w-bush-and-laura-bush-adopt-a-puppy/|title=George W. Bush and Laura Bush adopt a puppy|work=CBS News|date=November 15, 2016|access-date=November 21, 2016|archive-date=November 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122153504/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-w-bush-and-laura-bush-adopt-a-puppy/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/george-w-bushs-election-day-surprise-he-and-laura-bush-adopted-a-puppy/|title=George W. Bush's Election Day surprise: He and Laura Bush adopted a puppy|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 21, 2016|archive-date=November 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122071754/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/george-w-bushs-election-day-surprise-he-and-laura-bush-adopted-a-puppy/|url-status=live}}</ref>