We have only just begun....

This is a picture of how we felt when we met; we were like a couple of little kids in love.

Today marks the five year anniversary of when we met. I was going to school at Brigham Young University and had been invited to go to my friend's cousin's homecoming. Although I was interested in meeting Josh I was also disappointed that in order to do so I had to cancel two other dates to make the introduction possible. It was a snowy Saturday night and the roads were terrible. My friend, Jackie, called her uncle (Josh's dad) and he volunteered to come and pick us up along with his daughter, Stephanie, who also lived in Provo. We got delayed waiting for Josh's sister who was at a concert, and instead of sitting around and twittling our thumbs, Josh's dad took us all out for ice cream. :) Shortly after we finished Stephanie called and was home from the concert, we picked her up and went to Josh's house.
I remember being so nervous to meet Josh, which I really shouldn't have been because he was just fresh off his mission and was pretty nervous around girls. That night a bunch of us played games like scum, mormon bridge and scrabble. It was fun playing games and visiting with everyone. But I could not wait to listen to Josh's talk and hear experiences from his mission. He was a wonderful speaker and did not seem to be nervous at all. I could tell he loved his mission, the people he taught and he had a strong testimony of the restoration of the gospel. After church, there was a luncheon at Josh's parents' house. I talked to one of Josh's friends for a while and when that friend told Josh he was going to ask me for my phone number Josh told him that he had already asked me for it (a lie). That friend never asked me for my phone number and all of his friends were also warned not to ask me out, which they didn't. (I did not know this then, I found it out after we had been married for a couple of years) A few days later Josh really asked his cousin, Jackie, for my phone number. He called, we dated, I said "YES," and the rest is history.
Our dating timeline is told in two different ways: Josh counts the second time I came over to play cards with him as our first date--this get together occurred just before heading home for Thanksgiving break--I had stopped to "hang out" with Josh before driving home to eat turkey. But Josh and I didn't really date seriously (and seeing each other daily) until December. Then Josh started becoming more formal and taking me out on more traditional outings. I loved the date when he took me to the forgotten carrols and dinner because things just spiraled upwards from there. Josh began seeing me everyday. Then, it wasn't eight days after the forgotten carrols and Josh proposed to me (less than a month after our card games together).
To this day and more days to come I will never regret my decision to go and meet him for his homecoming, or the choice to cancel my other dates planned for the same night. I love Josh with all of my heart and could not ask for a better husband, father to our children, or best friend; he means everything to me.


Here is what we are going to look like 50 years or more from now....still young and in love.