13 Years and Counting

Today officially marks our 13th anniversary. Blake and I first met each other in December 1994 when my friend, Paula, was set up with him on a blind date. A bunch of us were going to a Weber State hockey game that night and we told her to bring him. She didn't want to because apparently I flirt with all of her dates. So I promised her that I wouldn't and they showed up. What do you know...he sat right by me. I tried my hardest to not talk to him. It was really hard, because he was so cute. In August 2005 I went to a friend's wedding. My friend Cathy was there and told me that I should go out with her boyfriend's brother, Blake. I told her that I actually met him almost a year ago and thought he was really cute. That night Cathy gave Blake my phone number and he called me on August 22nd. He told me that he remembered me from his blind date and wished he would have called me earlier. I was going to Bear Lake that weekend with a bunch of friends. He invited himself, along with Ryan and Cathy. I was excited, but very nervous. I drove up there and on the second day we went into town and when we came back my friends were gone. They left us note where they changed camp locations but we never found them. In the process, I got my car stuck in the sand, backed up into a tree and decided to call it quits. That night we walked along the beach talking and he told me that he didn't hear wedding bells and he wasn't going to marry me. I kept thinking...he is crazy! None of those thoughts entered my mind, but I later found out they were his. Pretty much from that day forward we were together. I didn't know why he kept coming around when he told me he wasn't going to marry me, but he did. Six weeks later on October 6th he proposed. He took me to the Bountiful Temple and asked if we could read the scriptures together. When I opened up the Book of Mormon, there was my wedding ring in the middle of the page. Everything went by so fast and we were married on January 18th in the Bountiful Temple. It was freezing cold and had snowed quite a bit that morning. The roads were very icy and it was scary at times. We braved ourselves for a few pictures outside, but the snow and ice made everything beautiful. I am not like the average girl and I did NOT want to have a reception. Being the first girl, my mom begged me so we comprised and I did an open house. I didn't want a wedding dress only a nice dress, but my mom's friend, Debbie, brought me over her wedding dress the day before we got married. My mom pretty much planned everything because I really didn't care. It was so simple yet it turned out beautiful. Years later I feel bad about my mom planning it all because I know it was a lot of work, but I sure appreciated it! So I had to make sure she knew it too!We had our open house the next day on the 19th and it snowed really bad. Apparently they even closed the canyon during some of it, but we still had so many family and friends turn out for it. For our honeymoon we stayed over night at the Providence Inn in Providence. It was beautiful and all that we could do since we got married during midterms. Two and a half years later we made up for it by going to Florida and the Bahamas. After we got married we moved to Clearfield and rented a basement apartment. We had a crazy, but very entertaining upstairs neighbor. She was a single-mother who attracted drunks and caused a lot of scenes. It is was fun to watch out of our windows and hear them fighting through the heat vents. There was a heating duct that was on the ceiling and was about 6 feet off of the ground. Blake being 6'4" had to be very careful because if he wasn't paying attention he would hit his forehead on that heating duct. We sure have a lot of fun memories in that apartment and we were sad to leave it. After 13 years I still love Blake and he is my best friend. I still can't believe that in 13 years we have gained 4 beautiful kids, a mortgage, a minivan, and lots of love for each other. I love you babe!!!