Tom and I have been married for 5 years and what a wonderful five years they've been! I've seen this done on several of my friends blogs, so I wanted to copy all of them and write down the story of our courtship and engagement. This is especially relevant to me seeing as I was NOT a good journal writer at the time and therefore really have no written record of this.
I knew a lady named Quenta. She was good friends with my mom and I babysat her children from time to time. She told me off-hand several times over the years about this nephew she had on a mission. I'm pretty sure Tom served a mission for about 4 years because that's how long I heard about him and he was always on a mission. I wasn't ever particularly interested because I was young, I had a boyfriend, this nephew was on a mission, whatever. Finally, I guess he heard about me for the first time and Quenta started really putting the pressure on me to meet this young man. I thought he sounded nice so I looked him up on the BYU directory. I sent him an email just to say hi and introduce myself. About a week later he called (I suppose he was getting the pressure too) and asked me out for the following weekend, September 7th. We had our first date at Sonic Burger and then went to his apartment to play Phase 10 and watched the first half of John Q with Denzel Washington. BYU has a boys out/girls out curfew of 12:00 so that's why we only saw the first half. To this day, I've never seen the ending of that movie.
Then I never heard from him again.
Until 6 weeks later. I had actually forgotten about our date and written him off as very nice, but not interested. I probably would have been sad, except I was very busy that year and had all sorts of first-of-the-year activities. After 6 weeks he called and asked me out to BYU's Homecoming. At first, I wasn't sure I remembered who he was and when I did remember I was kind of mad he called me out of the blue for a short notice date to a big deal event. I didn't want to seem like I was quite so available but I really, really wanted to go to Homecoming since I hadn't been invited the year before. Then he made me switch my work schedule twice. After having a fabulous time on the date I forgave him. We went to Homecoming at the Gateway on October 18th. He then called me the week after that, and the day after that, and after that. We slowly (or quickly if you think about it) became inseparable and then...
January 17th. He took me to an Italian restaurant in Downtown Salt Lake called "Al Forno's" It was a nice dinner with awkward small talk (because I knew what was coming and had to pretend I didn't). Then he drove me to Memory Grove Park where we walked around for about 2 minutes because it was SO freezing. We got to the bridge and he gave me roses, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him (with the ring I picked out). I said "yes!" quickly and we came home to call friends and family (we should have done more calling of the family but that's a whole different story).
We were engaged for 5 1/2 months and got married on June 21, 2003. It has gone by incredibly fast and I can't believe what we've done in 5 years. We have two absolutely darling children, expecting another. We've lived in 3 states, 6 "homes", changed jobs-but not companies, etc. etc. Tom's my best friend and I'm so happy I get to spend the next 5 years and beyond with him.
My super laundry room
My favorite room in the house: I included two pictures because this room is huge. It's our "loft" (popular in AZ). It's not the cleanest or the cutest but the air conditioning works seem to work better in here so it's the coolest!
My closet
Samantha and I joined the summer reading program at our local library. She's in the 0-3 age group where it's still okay that I read to her (good thing). She gets a prize for every three books she "reads." You should see just how pleased she is when she gets those prizes. So far we've earned the first one for which she received a growth chart (that I threw away while she wasn't looking) and the far more exciting second prize: A stuffed bunny. It's not about the cheap trinkets that I don't want in our house-it's about how much fun she has getting prizes for something that she does anyways and way beyond the requirements! The library is a wonderful place, and even though I desperately miss our old library's awesome children's section I love that we live just down the street! Here are Samantha's reviews (through me) for the books she's read to complete her goals:
Belinda Ballerina: If you have a little girly girl, go out and get this book next time you're at a library. It's a must read, and then a must read again and again...and again.
Manny's Cows: Very funny, kind of silly and I like it.
Bearymore: Cute but not competition for Belinda Ballerina
Rocko and Spanky go to a Birthday Party: I might like it, but that doesn't mean my mom does.
Rolie Polie Olie: An exercise in tedium that I just love because of the nice rhyming.
Beware of the Storybook Wolves: The cutest little book ever, a multiple reader. Very entertaining for kids and adults
