How We Met

At my nieces wedding I saw a quote that said something along the lines of, "I think love stories are wonderful, but mine is the best of them all!" 

I too LOVE to hear the "how we met" love stories.  My parents have a good one, along with my Aunt.  When I meet couples one of my favorite things to ask is how they met.

So since today is my wedding anniversary (nine years, where did the time go?!) I thought I would devote a post to our "how we met" story.  So this is MY version of how we met. :)

In 2002, I was attending BYU in Provo, and decided to stay for the spring semester as well and only go home for the Summer semester (2 months).  I didn't want to attend the Singles Branch thinking they were "meat markets" and only wanted to attend a quiet "home ward" for a change.  However, my parents had moved while I was away at college and my dad had been called to serve as a counselor in the Singles Branch.  So coming home for the summer, not only were my parents going to a Singles Branch, but I didn't know anyone in the home ward of my parents' new house.

So reluctantly, I attended the Singles Branch with my parents.  I remember the first Sunday I was home was a Stake Conference for the Auburn Stake (the stake the Single Branch was a part of) so I attended with my parents.  My dad spotted Kent, waved him over, and introduced him to me saying that he attended the Singles Branch too.  I remember thinking, "And here it begins!" thinking of the meat market.  After Kent left my dad informed me that he was my cousin because we had the same pioneer ancestor.

I continued to attend the Singles Branch and to my surprise found some really nice people and soon felt at home in the new Branch.  Then came the Singles Branch talent show.  My dad happily volunteered me to MC the talent show using my hand puppets Ralph and Lauren (that's a whole other story, those who have met Ralph and Lauren will know) with out my knowledge.  And it turned out that my dad had to miss the talent show due to work. 


So I MCed the talent show using corny LDS jokes with Ralph and Lauren.  It really was fun and although I am usually a quiet, reserved person, the knowledge that I would be gone in a month helped me "come out of my shell" and really have fun with it.  After the talent show I was surprised by how many of the guys came up to talk to me, one of which was Kent, who I discovered I wanted to get to know better.


The next weekend was the Single Branch camp out at Westport Beach.  I hadn't planned on going, but in the group that had gathered around after the talent show it was talked about so much that I decided to see if I could get time off of work (fingerprinting all the applicants for the SeaTac Airport security) to attend, and Kent decided to do the same.


At the camp out I stayed close to Kent to get to know him better and it seemed that many of the other girls decided to do the same.  It was a fun camp out and I did get to know more about Kent.


The next Singles FHE Kent asked to pick me up from my home and take me.  It was fun and I enjoyed being with him.  But another girl from the Singles did too, and hung around, and even went out to dinner with us after.  That night when Kent dropped me off I decided to find out what was happening.


 I knew that I liked him and figured since I was leaving for Provo in 2 weeks I would tell him I liked him, and if rejected, I would only have to deal with seeing him for 2 more Sundays.  I was not about to "fight" over a guy and if he was interested in this other girl then I would happily bow out.  Well, turned out he was interested in me too (yet he says it would have taken him months to get the courage to say so).


The next 2 weeks we spent every evening together.  And since Kent worked 10 hour days that meant getting together from about 10pm to midnight each night, except for Sunday, which we did spend as much of the day together as we could.  During this time I only met his parents once.


My mom told my dad "don't blink, something is happening, and happening fast." referring to us.  After which my dad decided to sit down and have a chat with me about this boy I was hanging out with so much.


Then realization hit Kent that I was leaving in just a few days, going back to Provo.


I ended my job the day before my birthday so I could spend the day packing for college, and the next day I was driving back to Provo.


The day of my 21st birthday I awoke to Kent on my front porch dressed up, with roses, and kneeling down proposing to me.  I said "YES!"


That day was a rush as he helped me pack, then we went to visit his mother, who was in the hospital and inform his parents of our engagement, then out to dinner with my parents for my birthday and informed them of our engagement, and then to his older brother's home to play cards, where I met one of Kent's brothers and one of his sisters and their spouses for the first time.


The next day I was off for Provo as Kent stayed in Washington.  There were a few visits from Kent to Utah (one of which he proposed to me again at Temple Square with a ring in his hands).  And I went home once for Thanksgiving.  Other than that it was a IM chat or phone call at 10pm every night.


Then I went home for Christmas and 3 days later we were married in the Portland, Oregon temple. 


It went by fast, but so has the last 9 years of marriage!

Stockings are Hung With Care

So I was 'borrowing" Handsome's stocking as I made Adorable's Christmas stocking.  Handsome decided that I was done and that he needed his hung back up.  Then I saw this........

At one point he was STANDING on all that, reaching to hang it up.  I have to say, he did a great job problem solving on how to get his stocking hung up on his own.  And of course I was a responsible parent and told him to stay there for a second, so I could get a picture. :)

Congratulations!!

I have to say CONGRATULATIONS to not one, but two of my nieces...

CONGRATULATIONS to my niece Jessica on her marriage in the Seattle Temple!  How wonderful to be starting a new family.

CONGRATULATIONS to my niece Kylee on the birth of her second child, Wyatt.  Can't wait for pictures of the little one. :)

Am I really old enough to have nieces married and with children?  I can't believe it!

Visiting Santa Claus

At a local craft show the kids got to visit with Santa Claus

 And Adorable's first visit with Santa

I DID IT!

Goal accomplished.

  I wanted to finish reading the Gospel doctrine lessons and scriptures for the entire year.  Being in primary the last few years I have been distracted and always started off strong, but somewhere in October would lose pace.  I admit, I am a slow reader, I like to take my time and soak it all in.  But this time.... I did it!  I finished with time to spare!

Decorations

Our Christmas decorations are up and... well guarded.  With Adorable mobile and into anything he can reach, it was necessary to pull out the gate once again. :)

I laugh at this picture to see the ornaments as they are... yes, the kids did the decorating.  I handed them the ornaments and they choose where to put them.  Got to love kids decorating the tree (makes me remember growing up with our "snoopy parties" on our Christmas tree).

It has been so nice to have Christmas decorations out, and Christmas music playing all day.  What a special time of year!  And once again, I have been busy making Christmas presents.

Found it!

The other day as I was getting out our Christmas boxes I saw a box labeled "Family Room"  It made me wonder what a "family room" box was doing in the shed.  So I pulled it out and opened it up.  What was in it?.....


THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!


It was my box of missing children's books.  It has been 3 moves and more than 5 years since I have seen these books.  At least once a month Kent had to put up with me complaining that I knew "I had this certain book... where is it!?"  So I found my missing books, there had to be at least 50 of them in there.  It feels like Christmas came early for me.  I am so glad to have my books back again. :)

Grandma Cooking Class: Chocolate Cake Balls

In November, Grandma Carol taught Handsome and Gorgeous how to make chocolate covered cake balls.  Yum!  So apparently you bake a cake, crumbling it up, mix in frosting, make the mixture into balls, freeze, and then melt chocolate and roll the frozen cake ball in chocolate and let it harden up.  It was a hit.  (Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the finished product, sorry)  Thanks again Grandma Carol.