Love Story

It was my freshman year first semester at BYU and I lucked out to have this boy in my ward.  Unfortunately, he was the ONLY boy I didn't talk to!  I remember walking out the glass doors of my Deseret Towers dorms and seeing that red head playing pool in the lobby.  I thought to myself, man I wish I had gotten to know that guy.  But it was too late as he was quickly leaving on his church mission to Tennessee (my home!).

So two years passed and I had an incredible college experience.  And... luckily I had memorized everyone's name in the freshman ward directory so I recognized this red head when we ran into each other ... me on my way to the computer lab and him on his way to the gym.  Typical.  And on a cute side note, the exact place where his grandparents met - the Smith Field House.

We ran into each other a few times and I conveniently needed a ride to my brother's in Bountiful and found out Steve's family lives near there.  So, I found many reasons why I needed to visit that sweet brother :) which meant we were trapped in a car together for hours... no dates, no awkwardness, and yes... no dates.  For a long time.  I couldn't quite figure out if he was ever going to ask me out.  He did come over to fix my bike :), to pick up my roommate's dying fish, to give me rides, but I finally challenged him to a taco eating contest.  He ate 10.  I ate 2.

One weekend I was in the middle of a "girls' night" - ice cream, chick flick and all when Steve left a message that the fish "missed me" and was wondering if I had some time to see them! So we hopped on our bikes and met in the middle at some point finding ourselves at the local elementary school climbing these trees and eventually playing football and dancing on the school rooftop!

 One day while riding my bike down a steep hill south of campus, a girl came out of nowhere!  I swirved and barely missed taking her out and instead skidded my face all down the pavement.  My first thought was Am I alive?  Then my next thought was "Call Steve."  So I hobbled home and Steve rushed me to the doctors.  He was so overly concerned - it was cute.  He even took me out for ice cream and bought me a bunch of groceries.  That week I was homebound and Steve came to visit me everyday... with PB & Js (haha, that was a great prelude to the food he eats), Jamba Juice, and just making me laugh.  But oh it hurt to laugh.

 I landed a job at BYU's Center for Service so we found ourselves doing a LOT of service.  We didn't have money and I just loved watching that boy help others.  I thought Wow, he's sure going to be a good daddy someday...

Plus, he was super good looking...

And I knew that if he could tell me he loved me through Blokus, then he'd be an amazing husband too :)

So we dated a year, and then I decided I wanted to go on a semester abroad to Jerusalem (which Steve totally supported, even though that was the hardest day of my life to say goodbye).  We got married, and I did discover what an incredible husband and daddy I had chosen for our family.  I love Steve for so many reasons, but I think my favorite thing is watching him play with our kids and seeing how they adore each other.  

  

I grabbed the video camera last night as the kids were super excited that Daddy was coming home :).  And whew, I was happy too :).  I love you babe.  Thanks for being my bestest friend and for being the kids' best friend too.  Happy love day!