Our Beginning Was Something Like This...

Well, Christen did it! She convinced me that starting a blog would be a really good idea. Now I'm overwhelmed because I want to start from the beginning of when my new little family was created. And that would be filling everyone in on what I have been doing for the last 19 months of my life. As much as I wish it could, not happening. I was going to try, but decided that less explanation and more pictures would be kind of fun. So...here I go.


Ry and I met January 30, 2009. It was a blind date. Needless to say, I was absolutley terrifed. We went bowling, and had so much fun. I remember being thrilled that he was teasing me because that meant he was having a good time. We never did get a picture on our first date, but we got some on other dates shortly after.

He was hoping I wouldn't think he was a nerd for what he was picking me up to do. I hadn't been to Classic Skating in years...I loved it.

Draper Temple open house (attempt)

We tried to go to the Draper Temple. Of course it wouldn't be open on a Monday night. Oops. We still had a lot of fun!

I got to meet Ry's family for the first time on Easter. They were comfortable to be around from Day 1. Except when they asked me how old I was. I felt a little bit awkward telling them :)

Supercross! For some reason, this is one of his favorite pictures...

And this is one of my favorite pictures...

The night before he left for Philadelphia for the summer.

That night was a hard one for me. A couple days before Ryan had given me slippers that he got from Uruguay. I know it sounds funny, but when he gave me those slippers that he got on his mission, I knew I was someone special to him. We knew at the beginning of that summer that him going to Philly would either make us or break us. Phew! I'm glad we made it.


We talked on the phone every single night. We would chat during the day, text when we weren't talking, study the scriptures at night, and pray together every day. Sometimes we would coordinate what movie to rent and both get treats and get in comfy clothes and watch a movie together. He even sent me a blue tooth so I didn't have to hold the phone. Some nights we would talk until we fell asleep.


We had a lot of fun getting to know the spiritual and emotional side of each other. He would send me packages, and I would send him packages. That summer was one of the worste, and one of the best summers ever.


Luckily...I didn't have to go four whole months without seeing him. He came home in June for Brandon's farewell.

Sunday evening after B's farewell we went for a little hike. My shoes got ruined, my pants got soaked, I almost passed out, and I was freezing when we got home...but that hike was extremely special. I love you Ryan.

Boating in June

It was so so much fun to see Ry in June. Saying goodbye each night was incredibly hard. That would explain why his parents found us asleep at 4:30am one morning. Oops! Or why I didn't go home until 5am the night before he left. Then he was gone again for a few months! We continued to send each other pictures and talk every day. We grew really close. And then he came home and the adventure continued!

Ry's battle wounds from running 13 miles in basketball shoes

We were always doing fun things! I've learned from Ry that life isn't just about working hard, but that it's also about having fun and making memories with people you love!

...and then a few weeks after he got home he told me he wanted to marry me. In three years *pause* divided by 12. Did you do the math? I was floored. Poor me. The kid thought I was an idiot when I couldn't "figure out how many months that was". Truth was, I was speechless.

So...I started to plan! We fasted and prayed...it was the easiest decision in the world. I had asked so many times before that the second I started to even form the question in my thoughts and prayers, it would be an immediate, "yes for the millionth time! you know!"

This would be the man of my dreams...the day he proposed.

...and this was the day he proposed. We had so much fun going down to St. George with the guys. His friends are awesome and I love them to death.

I wish I had a picture of him actually proposing...I have an awesome video, but I'm not sure how to upload it...maybe I'll figure it out someday :)

I was so suprised when we were hugging and he got down on one knee. I didn't know what to do! So I kept bending down to kiss him :) Haha poor kid. He treats me so well. I wish there were strong enough words to describe how I feel about him. Eternally in love!

I wish I could put them all up! Mel did an amaaaaaaaaaaazing job!

December 29, 2009

All because two people fell in love....

Honeymoon #1

After the reception we went to Little America for the night. Our room was beautiful!

We thought we escaped our car being trashed...nope!

The next morning (after we found somewhere to clean the car) we headed up to Jordanelle. Ry was the perfect sweetheart and took me shopping and took care of me when I was feeling sick. We had a ton of fun spending time away from home together. We even found a cool hill to go sledding!

Ry was so sweet to surprise me with our getaway after the wedding. Especially because we were already planning on going on a cruise! Here are a couple of our favorite moments from

Honeymoon #2

The ice skating show was so cool to go to on a ship!

In Belize we went cave tubing. We saw a LOT of bats!

The ruins were really, really neat to see. Ryan's parents were super sweet to treat us to this. We loved it!

  We LOVED the ship. I wish there were more at sea days so we could play on it more!

In Costa Maya we rented a jeep and drove around the island. We found a super cool blow hole and pulled over for a while to play!

It was pretty cool to ice skate at sea...and kind of hard!

...and that was the gist of 2009 for us...