Ryan and I celebrated our wedding anniversary the end of last month. The official day is the 24th, but we celebrated the weekend before. We have now been married for fourteen years!! WOW! He is such a wonderful husband, I sometimes find myself completely in awe that he is mine! What a fantastic man I have. I am one lucky girl!!!
I woke up on Friday to find he had cleaned the house, finished the laundry (he does this a lot, but it seemed even better this time) and he left little love notes all over the house. He secretly got into my scrapbook stuff, found some cute red and pink paper and went to town making a bunch of cute notes for me! What a sweetheart!
Our date was perfect!! I loved every minute of it! We started by going to lunch on Friday. I picked him up early from work and we went to The Garden. That place is so yummy. We got a wonderful temple view table. It was so nice to just be together. We then went to the Salt Lake Temple and performed sealings. While we were waiting, we met Neil Anderson, the apostle!! It was neat to see him there. He told us he had just come from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication...cool, huh? The sealings were wonderful. It's so nice to listen to the promises that couples make to each other and to God, and I love getting new insight on these blessings. What a sweet spirit and a wonderful experience!
We then grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner because we had had such a big, late lunch and we didn't want to be late for our next activity. We went to see the Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale Center Theater. We love going to that theater and the Scarlet Pimpernel is our favorite one we've seen there. We couldn't pass up the chance to go again. Of course, we weren't disappointed! It was amazing. I think they are pretty close to Broadway worthy praise! We had a great time.
Then, Ryan surprised me by not taking me home. He told me Denise was staying over with the kids and we were going to Park City for the night. Wahoo! We spent the night at the brand new Dakota Mountain Lodge which is a Waldorf Astoria hotel....HELLO!! I was worried when I saw how fancy it was, but Ryan got a great deal. Our room was so nice, probably the fanciest one I've ever been in. We had a lazy morning, eating breakfast in the hotel. My brioche french toast with berry compote was divine!! We then went shopping at the outlet mall and slowly made our way back home. It was wonderful to just be together!! We love doing things together and it seems to get better and better as the time goes by.
So, in honor of fourteen wonderful years together, I thought at this point it was appropriate to share how we got together. So here's a little background on how our little family got started....we actually had a bit of a rocky start, if you can believe it.
We met at that most romantic of romantic places...Lagoon! I worked in the Merchandise Department (over the stores and shops) and he was a Games Supervisor. The Games and Merchandise departments had the same boss and both departments did everything together. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. It really was a great place to work, but who knew it was where I would meet my future hubby?
So when I started as a supervisor, there was a lot of talk about a guy who was coming home from his mission soon and would come back to the Games Dept. as a super. He had worked there before his mission, but I didn't work there at the time. I still remember vividly the morning I met him. It was right before our Monday Morning Meeting with both departments. I was seventeen and he was fresh off his mission (like three days fresh)!! But he seemed really nice and was cute. We got to know each other a little and became friends. We were both dating other people, so we just hung out occasionally like all of the supervisors did.
Summertime at Lagoon was great! All of the supervisors became one big family. We spent so much time together and I loved it, just having fun without any major worries or concerns. After that summer, I went back to high school for my senior year and he went up to Utah State. He called me occasionally from Logan, came down a time or two, but mostly we didn't see each other until preseason at Lagoon started up again.
That second summer we worked together I knew that Ryan liked me. But, for some reason, I just wasn't that interested. Looking back, I think age played a big part. He was four years older than me...I was still in high school and he was a returned missionary and college student. He was always very sweet and kind, never pushy or too forward, but I made it clear to him that I just wanted to be friends. He was very patient with me. I think he somehow knew that I would eventually come around.
After graduation that summer, I was trying to decide what to do about school. I had been given a full ride scholarship to Weber State, but it just didn't seem right. I knew I wanted to move out and go to school, so I chose Utah State in Logan. Even though they didn't give me any kind of scholarship, I went there because it felt right.
A bunch of supervisors, including Ryan were going on a trip the first week back at school and had asked me to go along. I wanted to go so bad, but my mom wasn't too hip about the idea and didn't want me missing my first few days of college. So I went up to school and all of my friends went on their trip. On the day that I knew Ryan was coming back to Utah State, I found myself looking all over campus for him. I remember walking into the Student Services building that day, and THERE HE WAS! I couldn't believe it when my heart went up to my throat and down to my knees in a split second!! I remember thinking it was weird that my tummy would start doing somersaults just because I saw him. He was surrounded by girls, and he looked up at me, smiled, and left those pretty girls and asked me if he could walk me to my next class! How cute is that?
We saw a lot of each other up at school. I really liked his friends and starting hanging out with all of them, but was still not ready to get in a relationship. Then Homecoming came along and I somehow knew he was going to ask me, though I wasn't sure I wanted to go with him. Homecoming is a big deal at Utah State, it's one of the few times of the year you can take a girl to the "A" and kiss her to become a "True Aggie". I didn't want to kiss him and I was worried that if he asked me to the dance, that was what he was going to try to do!
Well, he did ask me to Homecoming, but not really. He had made me cupcakes and put a piece of paper in one of them asking me to the dance, but left that one at home!! Oops! He was embarrassed, but I had to get back at him, didn't I? So my roommate and I went to his apartment with three pies. I told him if he wanted me to answer "No", then he got one pie in the face. If he wanted me to answer "Yes" he would get three pies in the face! He, of course, wanted me to say yes, but after the first pie, I didn't have the heart to throw the other two in his face! His roommate did, however! He really got him with that second pie and we ended up eating the third!!
I thought he had taken that embarrassment rather well, but apparently he felt he had to get back at me....He showed up for Homecoming wearing a bright blue polyester suit straight off the rack of the DI (complete with orange shirt and a peach colored tie)!!! He looked so ridiculous!! I knew deep down that he wasn't really going to wear it all night, but he did have me a little worried. Was he really that mad about the pies that he would do that to me? We went back to his apartment to pick up his roomies and he ended up changing into a brand new suit bought just for this occasion. He looked good....really good.
That night, we had a great time! It was one of the funnest dates I've ever been on. We just simply had a great time together. He was a perfect gentleman and was so sweet. We didn't go to the "A" to become True Aggies (we had had enough talks about "just being friends" for him to figure out he had better not try it!). The whole night was just wonderful and it was the beginning of turning a new corner on our relationship....I was warming up to the idea of being around him more.
So we really started spending a lot of time together after that. We would hang out studying together and I loved spending time with his roomies and friends. He had a car and I didn't, so he would drive me to the places I needed to go and even let me borrow his car. But I was a really slow mover. I had just finished a relationship that ended badly and didn't want to get close to anyone just then, especially someone whom I considered a great friend. What if it didn't turn out? I didn't want to lose his friendship, so getting serious was scary because I was afraid I would eventually lose him as a friend. Plus, the age thing was still a big thing for me. I was a very young Freshman, just wanting to have fun. Fortunately, he continued to remain patient and there for me.
One day, I was with my darling friend Tammy and we were talking. The topic turned to Ryan and she finally turned to me and said, "Jen, you are ALWAYS talking about Ryan, why don't you just admit that you like him??!!?" I was stunned and just looked at her. It was at that exact moment when I was finally honest with myself and KNEW she was right!! I finally said, "wow, you are right! I DO like him!!" There was no going back after that!!
So, the next night, I went to his apartment and we were hanging out and playing games with his friends, but I was really nervous. He could sense something was up, and asked if I wanted to take a walk. I readily agreed. I'm not a great communicator and expressing my feelings is often hard for me, but I knew I needed to tell him how I felt about him. So off we went.
This next part sounds like a scene right out of a chick flick, but bare with me. It was mid-November and it had just started to snow softly. The snow was just beautiful. It wasn't cold at all, and it was covering the ground and making everything look wonderful. We must have walked for well over an hour, all over campus, just talking and being together. The conversation turned to our friendship and I told him I loved being with him. We talked about how great our friendship was. But I hesitated, and for a moment didn't think I could go through with telling him how I felt. I was worried that if I did start dating him, I would lose his friendship if things went wrong. So we just kept walking and talking.
I wasn't sure at the time what gave me the courage, but suddenly something snapped...At that moment, I felt like I could tell him anything. I turned to him and told him that I liked him. I kept walking, but he had stopped. The look on his face was priceless...one I will never forget. It was pure joy. I knew how he felt about me with that one look. He slowly started walking again and came up to me and took my hand. I felt wonderful!! It was an amazing night and I will remember it forever. Incredibly cheesy, I know, but true and perfect all the same.
Ryan loves to tease me about this next part. After all of the "let's just be friends" talks, he didn't want to rush me into anything. But once I knew, I knew. So it was me who brought up the idea that we should start praying about marriage. He was great with that. We agreed to individually pray about it and talk about it in two weeks...I had my answer in less than a week and so did he! So that is the beginning of our happily ever after.
One more interesting side note....I later figured out the reason I suddenly got up the courage to tell Ryan that I liked him. At our temple sealing, our sealer told us that our kids received special permission to attend the temple that day because they had helped to get us together! It must have been my sweet little angels on campus that night cheering me on! I guess they knew they had a stubborn mother who needed extra help! How I love them for helping me and how I love Ryan for never giving up on me! Oh yeah, and I love that Ryan has put up with me for fourteen years. I hope there are many, many more to come.
I woke up on Friday to find he had cleaned the house, finished the laundry (he does this a lot, but it seemed even better this time) and he left little love notes all over the house. He secretly got into my scrapbook stuff, found some cute red and pink paper and went to town making a bunch of cute notes for me! What a sweetheart!
Our date was perfect!! I loved every minute of it! We started by going to lunch on Friday. I picked him up early from work and we went to The Garden. That place is so yummy. We got a wonderful temple view table. It was so nice to just be together. We then went to the Salt Lake Temple and performed sealings. While we were waiting, we met Neil Anderson, the apostle!! It was neat to see him there. He told us he had just come from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication...cool, huh? The sealings were wonderful. It's so nice to listen to the promises that couples make to each other and to God, and I love getting new insight on these blessings. What a sweet spirit and a wonderful experience!
We then grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner because we had had such a big, late lunch and we didn't want to be late for our next activity. We went to see the Scarlet Pimpernel at the Hale Center Theater. We love going to that theater and the Scarlet Pimpernel is our favorite one we've seen there. We couldn't pass up the chance to go again. Of course, we weren't disappointed! It was amazing. I think they are pretty close to Broadway worthy praise! We had a great time.
Then, Ryan surprised me by not taking me home. He told me Denise was staying over with the kids and we were going to Park City for the night. Wahoo! We spent the night at the brand new Dakota Mountain Lodge which is a Waldorf Astoria hotel....HELLO!! I was worried when I saw how fancy it was, but Ryan got a great deal. Our room was so nice, probably the fanciest one I've ever been in. We had a lazy morning, eating breakfast in the hotel. My brioche french toast with berry compote was divine!! We then went shopping at the outlet mall and slowly made our way back home. It was wonderful to just be together!! We love doing things together and it seems to get better and better as the time goes by.
So, in honor of fourteen wonderful years together, I thought at this point it was appropriate to share how we got together. So here's a little background on how our little family got started....we actually had a bit of a rocky start, if you can believe it.
We met at that most romantic of romantic places...Lagoon! I worked in the Merchandise Department (over the stores and shops) and he was a Games Supervisor. The Games and Merchandise departments had the same boss and both departments did everything together. I met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun. It really was a great place to work, but who knew it was where I would meet my future hubby?
So when I started as a supervisor, there was a lot of talk about a guy who was coming home from his mission soon and would come back to the Games Dept. as a super. He had worked there before his mission, but I didn't work there at the time. I still remember vividly the morning I met him. It was right before our Monday Morning Meeting with both departments. I was seventeen and he was fresh off his mission (like three days fresh)!! But he seemed really nice and was cute. We got to know each other a little and became friends. We were both dating other people, so we just hung out occasionally like all of the supervisors did.
Summertime at Lagoon was great! All of the supervisors became one big family. We spent so much time together and I loved it, just having fun without any major worries or concerns. After that summer, I went back to high school for my senior year and he went up to Utah State. He called me occasionally from Logan, came down a time or two, but mostly we didn't see each other until preseason at Lagoon started up again.
That second summer we worked together I knew that Ryan liked me. But, for some reason, I just wasn't that interested. Looking back, I think age played a big part. He was four years older than me...I was still in high school and he was a returned missionary and college student. He was always very sweet and kind, never pushy or too forward, but I made it clear to him that I just wanted to be friends. He was very patient with me. I think he somehow knew that I would eventually come around.
After graduation that summer, I was trying to decide what to do about school. I had been given a full ride scholarship to Weber State, but it just didn't seem right. I knew I wanted to move out and go to school, so I chose Utah State in Logan. Even though they didn't give me any kind of scholarship, I went there because it felt right.
A bunch of supervisors, including Ryan were going on a trip the first week back at school and had asked me to go along. I wanted to go so bad, but my mom wasn't too hip about the idea and didn't want me missing my first few days of college. So I went up to school and all of my friends went on their trip. On the day that I knew Ryan was coming back to Utah State, I found myself looking all over campus for him. I remember walking into the Student Services building that day, and THERE HE WAS! I couldn't believe it when my heart went up to my throat and down to my knees in a split second!! I remember thinking it was weird that my tummy would start doing somersaults just because I saw him. He was surrounded by girls, and he looked up at me, smiled, and left those pretty girls and asked me if he could walk me to my next class! How cute is that?
We saw a lot of each other up at school. I really liked his friends and starting hanging out with all of them, but was still not ready to get in a relationship. Then Homecoming came along and I somehow knew he was going to ask me, though I wasn't sure I wanted to go with him. Homecoming is a big deal at Utah State, it's one of the few times of the year you can take a girl to the "A" and kiss her to become a "True Aggie". I didn't want to kiss him and I was worried that if he asked me to the dance, that was what he was going to try to do!
Well, he did ask me to Homecoming, but not really. He had made me cupcakes and put a piece of paper in one of them asking me to the dance, but left that one at home!! Oops! He was embarrassed, but I had to get back at him, didn't I? So my roommate and I went to his apartment with three pies. I told him if he wanted me to answer "No", then he got one pie in the face. If he wanted me to answer "Yes" he would get three pies in the face! He, of course, wanted me to say yes, but after the first pie, I didn't have the heart to throw the other two in his face! His roommate did, however! He really got him with that second pie and we ended up eating the third!!
I thought he had taken that embarrassment rather well, but apparently he felt he had to get back at me....He showed up for Homecoming wearing a bright blue polyester suit straight off the rack of the DI (complete with orange shirt and a peach colored tie)!!! He looked so ridiculous!! I knew deep down that he wasn't really going to wear it all night, but he did have me a little worried. Was he really that mad about the pies that he would do that to me? We went back to his apartment to pick up his roomies and he ended up changing into a brand new suit bought just for this occasion. He looked good....really good.
That night, we had a great time! It was one of the funnest dates I've ever been on. We just simply had a great time together. He was a perfect gentleman and was so sweet. We didn't go to the "A" to become True Aggies (we had had enough talks about "just being friends" for him to figure out he had better not try it!). The whole night was just wonderful and it was the beginning of turning a new corner on our relationship....I was warming up to the idea of being around him more.
So we really started spending a lot of time together after that. We would hang out studying together and I loved spending time with his roomies and friends. He had a car and I didn't, so he would drive me to the places I needed to go and even let me borrow his car. But I was a really slow mover. I had just finished a relationship that ended badly and didn't want to get close to anyone just then, especially someone whom I considered a great friend. What if it didn't turn out? I didn't want to lose his friendship, so getting serious was scary because I was afraid I would eventually lose him as a friend. Plus, the age thing was still a big thing for me. I was a very young Freshman, just wanting to have fun. Fortunately, he continued to remain patient and there for me.
One day, I was with my darling friend Tammy and we were talking. The topic turned to Ryan and she finally turned to me and said, "Jen, you are ALWAYS talking about Ryan, why don't you just admit that you like him??!!?" I was stunned and just looked at her. It was at that exact moment when I was finally honest with myself and KNEW she was right!! I finally said, "wow, you are right! I DO like him!!" There was no going back after that!!
So, the next night, I went to his apartment and we were hanging out and playing games with his friends, but I was really nervous. He could sense something was up, and asked if I wanted to take a walk. I readily agreed. I'm not a great communicator and expressing my feelings is often hard for me, but I knew I needed to tell him how I felt about him. So off we went.
This next part sounds like a scene right out of a chick flick, but bare with me. It was mid-November and it had just started to snow softly. The snow was just beautiful. It wasn't cold at all, and it was covering the ground and making everything look wonderful. We must have walked for well over an hour, all over campus, just talking and being together. The conversation turned to our friendship and I told him I loved being with him. We talked about how great our friendship was. But I hesitated, and for a moment didn't think I could go through with telling him how I felt. I was worried that if I did start dating him, I would lose his friendship if things went wrong. So we just kept walking and talking.
I wasn't sure at the time what gave me the courage, but suddenly something snapped...At that moment, I felt like I could tell him anything. I turned to him and told him that I liked him. I kept walking, but he had stopped. The look on his face was priceless...one I will never forget. It was pure joy. I knew how he felt about me with that one look. He slowly started walking again and came up to me and took my hand. I felt wonderful!! It was an amazing night and I will remember it forever. Incredibly cheesy, I know, but true and perfect all the same.
Ryan loves to tease me about this next part. After all of the "let's just be friends" talks, he didn't want to rush me into anything. But once I knew, I knew. So it was me who brought up the idea that we should start praying about marriage. He was great with that. We agreed to individually pray about it and talk about it in two weeks...I had my answer in less than a week and so did he! So that is the beginning of our happily ever after.
One more interesting side note....I later figured out the reason I suddenly got up the courage to tell Ryan that I liked him. At our temple sealing, our sealer told us that our kids received special permission to attend the temple that day because they had helped to get us together! It must have been my sweet little angels on campus that night cheering me on! I guess they knew they had a stubborn mother who needed extra help! How I love them for helping me and how I love Ryan for never giving up on me! Oh yeah, and I love that Ryan has put up with me for fourteen years. I hope there are many, many more to come.
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I love it! I didn't really know that story. Hmmm, a bit concerned that my older brother was one of those twenty-something guys trolling for high school chicks! LOL! At least he wasn't driving by your high school bumping music with the windows down. Phew!
ReplyDeleteI think this is the best chick flick/blog I have read in a long time!! I love the story and totally remember you being a supervisor at Lagoon, I remember seeing you. I was a life guard. Many romances started at Lagoon, what a magical place!
ReplyDeleteI love this story! It just touches your heart! Cheesey, I know, but it is true. I think that it is really amazing that your kids got to attend your wedding!
ReplyDelete