The Day We Met

So for some reason I've just been thinking over and over about posting the story of how Adam and I met. I just started this post yesterday, and then this morning before I finished I read my awesome sister- and brother-in-law's story of how they met and now I am happy to be part of a trend. So here goes...

It was the fall of 2002 and I had just graduated from BYU. I was kind of exhausted with relationships, working on getting over someone I couldn't let go of and someone I couldn't hold on to. I was planning on going to graduate school, but after much prayer I decided to take a year off and work. I met an awesome friend, Kristen Curran, and we almost immediately became inseparable.

On October 26th, we decided to attend a young single adult activity our church was having at a church member's farm. We all sat in a circle around a campfire and introduced ourselves. I have lived in this area since about 13 so most of the people I already knew. But one stood out--this tall, attractive guy who was talking to an old friend. I assumed they were probably there together, so when he got up and introduced himself as being a member of our church and having lived here since he was 10, I was completely surprised. But I figured he was probably too cool for our little group and sort of dismissed him. My friend, Kristen, however, was super friendly and at the end of the activity we ended up inviting him to come with our group to a haunted house (that ended up being really lame) and later to Denny's.

A few days later we all got together again, and then Adam became a permanent fixture in our group...and he and I really hit it off. I was SO not looking for a relationship, and I think it ended up being the perfect set-up for me falling deeply in love because I was completely disarmed. We became good friends and I realized I was falling in love and he was coming, too. I think the point when I really came to the realization was a time when we were sitting across the room from each other at yet another single adult activity playing games. Adam caught my eye and winked at me, and that one wink felt like the best hug I ever had.

Our first kiss was in a friend's grandparent's house...bizarre I know. Everyone else was in the basement and we both came upstairs at the same time. Adam swears he kissed me first, but that's not exactly how I remember it. He got himself really close to me (which was good because I'm not sure I would have had the guts to do that) and then since he was already there I just leaned a tiny bit closer and made it happen. I consider this as one of the best compromises of our life together. :)

Our first official date actually came after that. I know that sounds scandalous, but we just sort of got together while hanging out with friends. After we both sort of accepted we were an item, we went on our first official date to Ruby Tuesdays.

By the end of the first quarter of 2003, I think we both had a pretty good idea where we were headed. And then on a Monday in May, a day before the birth of our third nephew, Adam proposed to me while we were eating DQ Blizzards (still our favorite) at a beautiful state park near my parents' house. He had wrapped up the ring and buried it in the blizzard. When I found it he went down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and when we got back to the car he handed me some roses (that I had somehow overlooked?!? in the backseat). We initially thought we would be married in December, but once we looked at all the scheduling, we decided August would be better.

On August 9 we were married in the Louisville, KY temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have had an amazing 6 1/2 years. I can easily say that marriage is the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. We have had some incredible lows that I never would have predicted or expected, but also the most fantastic highs that were better that anything I could have imagined. I think I've decided that our lives are sort of like a cup that is sometimes really full or really empty. When we get married, and again with each child, our cup grows a little bigger...so that when it is empty it is truly empty and you feel it so much more than you would a smaller cup...but when it is full you have a greater joy than you ever could have known alone.

I am so grateful for my husband. He makes sacrifice after sacrifice for us, and makes me smile every day. He is a perfect father to our little boy, and is a great example to me. It is so amazing to me how well he complements me. I knew I liked him on that day back in October so many years ago, but I don't think I knew myself well enough then to even understand fully just how much he is exactly what I need. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knew me well enough to place someone in my path like him and I am thrilled to be able to spend forever learning just how much fuller our cup can get.