I have JUST started working on our wedding album! Can you believe it. I know, I am so late in doing this...but the scrapbooking hobby didn't kick in until the last two years (I thank my dearest friend Karie for this gift of enjoyment and therapy). Todd and I will celebrate our 9th year of wedded bliss this May.
When Todd and I were married, I didn't think that a professional photographer was absolutely necessary. I have changed my mind. A good photographer is one thing I will spend a lot of money on (seeing as I don't have the gift like Brooke does and can't take the pictures myself). My friend Heather and her husband Sam were recently sealed in the St. George Temple and seeing her professional pictures just makes me yearn for what my piddly cheap ones could have been if I was more concerned about the one way I could visually remember my wedding day.
WOW! That is my lead-in to what this real blog is supposed to be about...Todd and I. I thought I would give all of you interested readers a chance to find out how Todd and I came to be and exactly why I post so dadgum much about Connor and Abi.
It was August of 2007. I had just graduated from High School and had begun my education at Salt Lake Community College. I had big plans of getting my AA and moving to San Francisco to live with a relative and hopefully apprentice under her to become a great Interior Designer. My brother Grant had just returned from his mission and the day of his homecoming we had a small gathering in my parents back yard. Todd and his best friend James ventured over to re-introduce themselves to Grant and invite him to the Young Single Adult activity. My cousin Tressa had the hots for James and began flirting with him.
I had heard alot about Todd. Many of my Young Women friends liked him. He was out of my league. But Tressa really wanted to see if she could hit things off with James, and she did. They began to spend a lot of time together. And with me being her only friend, I became the third wheel. So out of pitty, I think Todd always came along with James. The girls in the ward all had planned a group date night to go to the zoo. Nicole took my brother, Tressa took James, some other girls took other guys (I don't mean that to sound rude) and I took Todd. It was a lot of fun. That was that.
The pivitol moment when a light clicked in my head and thought "you and he have a lot in common, you could really hit it off" was when the young single adults in the ward went to the Vernal Temple Open House. Todd drove in his hot Ford Explorer. Oh yeah, he was a real grown-up...he had a car payment. I sat in the VERY back for the whole ride there. Why, because my best friend, Nicole called shot-gun. I love you Nik. It was okay though. I ate fries and pretended to be cargo and learned that he really needed to fix his rear signal lamps...they made a horribly loud ticking noise. No, this was not the moment...it's coming.
The temple was simple and beautiful. The ride home...Todd suggested that since I rode in the back on the way to the temple, I get to sit up front on the way home. It was magical. We talked the entire way about his mission, his aspirations, and played this game he invented..."The Question Game." Okay, he didn't invent it, but we played it 'cause it was his idea. He would ask a question, then I would answer, then I would ask a question, and he would answer. You get the idea.
I asked what he wanted to be when he grew up...he said "An Architect." I thought he was just trying to impress me. Then he asked me what I wanted to be and I said "Interior Designer". He thought I was trying to impress, but we learned that we were both in school actually taking courses for the said careers. I told him about my plans to move to SFO and then go on a mission, return and then think about a family. He told me about his plans to go to the University of Utah and pay off his car. He also revealed to me that he had never kissed a girl (yeah right). He had made a promise to himself that he was never going to kiss a girl until he knew it was the girl he was supposed to marry (how romantic). It was the shortest drive ever. I wish it could have lasted longer.
At the time, he was still dating someone that his brother and sister-in-law had set him up with and I wasn't doing too much (working a lot though). It was Thanksgiving time and I had been asked by the Toy Store I used to work for to go with the manager of one of the stores to a toy fair in Ogden and Brigham City for a few days. Todd freaked out and came over to the house and asked that we go for "a walk." He couldn't believe that my parents would let me go alone with some guy for a week. He convinced me that it didn't seem appropriate for me, at my young age and my boss at his old age to be staying at the same hotel (not in the same room). He had a point. So instead, I drove to and from the fair each night. Todd was satisfied...however, he will always think my boss is a jerk (he's never met him). Isn't that sooooo sweet...he was trying to protect me!
Okay, so that was November. In December the important decision came for Todd...whether to only date me or still play the field. I still didn't think I had a chance. The other girl he was dating seemed so much cuter and smarter. But he called her up and told her that he was not going to be seeing her any more. They had already made plans to go and see "The Forgotten Carols" and Todd suggested that she take someone else, she said "no," and asked that he still go with her, so he did. That was the last date he ever went on with another woman. He called me up and we went for a drive and talked about dating each other exclusively...we did! Yeah! It was so great.
That Christmas, I was invited to Sevier with his family to hang out at his grandparents farm. He assured me that it was just a friend thing, and nothing to be worried about. He took all of his friends to the farm. It was a lot of fun. We went four-wheeling, sledding, ate a lot of good food and played pool. One day, while we were playing pool with his youngest sister and brother...he kissed me! In front of them! I got very nervous...just a friend thing! I knew what that meant...it meant it was time for me to get down on my knees and make sure that I was doing the right thing. Relief...I was.
A proposal for marriage didn't come until March 6th. We had dinner at "The Roof" and after dessert that waiter delivered a white box. I opened it and laying on top were two tickets to the Jim Brickman concert. I was excited for that, another evening with Todd. Then Todd took the box from me, dug out a smaller box and got down on his knee to propose.
Little did I know that he had only decided that morning that he was going to propose to me! He and his mom schemed and planned all day getting everything ready. Todd had even gone to my dad's office to ask for my hand in marriage...(good thing, cause that was the first thing I asked him when he proposed). Of course, I said yes and on May 30th, 1998 Todd and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.
