Our Love Story

In honor of Valentine’s Day and stealing the idea from Cassie (years ago), I thought I’d share our story.

My second year at BYU, which was 2004, I moved into an apartment complex called Bountiful Court with three of my former roommates from Freshman Year. I vaguely remember (my mom remembers much more clearly) the day I moved in and telling my mom that I missed my freshman pre-mission boys. The guys there looked so old! But life went on, school started, and we met various people in the complex (which was also our ward.) I didn’t really meet/see any guys I was attracted to, which was a little disappointing (we all like eye candy!) but also okay because I wasn’t really interested in getting a boyfriend. Yeah, I had a missionary who I was very gun-ho about waiting for.

Anyway, my roomies and I were at church and all of a sudden this hunk of a guy walked by. I remember thinking “Finally! A cute guy!” We had already met his roommate so he introduced us to Jeremy (ah, Jeremy…..) Later that day we were in our apartment and I came out from the back and had apparently just missed Jeremy (dang it!) who had come by with some other guys handing out Ice Pops. I guess that’s a guy’s version of brownies? We didn’t really see him much more until he was on the same intramural team with Amanda. And then he started asking us for advice on what he could do to impress/be cute for this girl named Keira (and I REALLY like that name, too.) Great….. Anyway, like I said, I wasn’t looking for anything…. Apparently it didn’t work out with Keira because he started coming around more. And I guess it was because he decided I could be plan B ;-) I wasn’t really sure how I felt about him, but he was cute and nice, so I gave him no reason to stop coming around.

By the time he asked me out on a date for November 16, we had already held hands (unfortunately, somehow I don’t remember how that happened. If you do babe go ahead and share.) But he did a great job for our first date. He took me to delicious Macaroni Grill (where I ate my whole dish), then we went mini golfing and then had dessert at the classic Malt Shoppe (where I also ate my whole shake. I wonder why I was a bit chubby in college?) It was very nice and I knew he didn’t have a lot of money, which made it even better.

We kept hanging out and I could tell he really liked me. I felt a little bad because I still wasn’t really sure how I felt and I was still ginto the missionary, but I did enjoy the time spent with him. The night before we left for Thanksgiving Break I just knew that he was going to kiss me and I told myself I wouldn’t let him. But, I did, and it wasn’t too bad ;-) It was another two weeks or so before I let him kiss me again because again, I wanted to be fair. But then he took me to a Kurt Bestor Christmas concert and I gave in.

For the rest of the year we hung out, went on dates, and got closer and closer. We drove with his friend Dave to California in February and drove back by ourselves. Thirteen hours in the car can tell you a lot about a relationship, but it was never awkward or uncomfortable or unbearable. Good sign. We also drove to Colorado with Davey, Laura and Rebe for the Mountain West Basketball Tourney which was a blast. When the school year ended I moved home and stayed there as I had no major and needed to earn some money. Jeremy usually came up to Sandy on the weekends and every now and then I made my way down to Provo. I was still at a point though where I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted and some of my siblings even told me that I should break it off because he was way more into it than I was. Like, marriage (which they didn’t know) into it. I remember one night during the summer when he was at my house and we were sitting on the Love Sac talking and I thought he was breaking up with me. I was very closed off and never told him anything that I felt and I guess he couldn’t take it anymore. I guess I partly realized then that there was more there than I knew because I could not stop crying and did NOT want to never see him again. But he was right; I was closed off. I wasn’t quite ready to let go of my missionary and I really didn’t know if I could see myself marrying him. In fact, after we were married I was looking back through my journal and I had written “I really don’t think I could ever marry Jeremy.” We laugh about it now, and I was very glad I was wrong! Anyway, thankfully my tears convinced him not to break up with me and I got better at opening up and talking to him. Obviously this helped both of us.

In February of 2006 I went to California with him for his sister’s wedding. I think it might have been that weekend that I realized how much I really did love him and that as long as I was with him I was happy and felt safe. It still took me a little while longer to actually tell him that, but I do think it was then that I knew.

After a year and a half of dating, we got engaged on April 15, 2006 and married on August 9. I had the PERFECT dress, I absolutely loved my colors of “Windex” blue, Fuchsia and Lime Green, the decorations for our outdoor reception were beautiful, and I had the perfect groom. It was a beautiful day and I have been incredibly happy ever since.

I am so exceptionally happy that he knew how I felt before I did and loved me enough to wait a year and a half for me to realize it. Jeremy is so thoughtful and patient, especially with me. I love it when I hear him laugh and when he tells me he loves me. 7:30 can never come early enough for me because I finally get to see him again! He tries so hard to build my confidence when I am down on myself. He is amazing and I love him so much!

(Sorry about all the wedding pics, once I got them out I just lost control! I love them!)