The Story of Us [The real beginning]

On Saturday I woke up far too early for a Saturday. I had to work, and when I went out to my car it was covered in ring pops.
Just a quick side note: Mark and I have always had this recurring joke that he was going to try to weird my roommates out by proposing to me with a ring pop asking me to be his ski buddy.
It was obvious that the ring pops were from him. So I pulled them off my car and went to work. About halfway through work Ashley came over and brought me a bucket full of ring pops with a note that said, "Will you....." and then when you unfolded the note the bottom part read, "Please return the container when empty. Thanks."
I chuckled a little because I knew Mark was messing with me as best he could. Needless to say work seemed to last forever.
After work Mark came and picked me up because we were going on a hike. Upon opening the car door I discovered my seat was entirely covered in ring pops. At this point I was getting just a smidge annoyed at the ring pops and his teasing so I threw them in the back of the car.
Mark drove us to Alta and when we got out of the car we hiked up to Sugarloaf lift. When we arrived he asked if I wanted to sit on the lift chair, which I of course did and we took some pictures. Then Mark said, "One more thing..." and pulled out a handful of ring pops from his backpack.
I was thinking to myself enough with the ring pops! And then he pulled out a wooden box, opened it up and said, "Will you marry me?"
It took my brain a second to register exactly what was going on. You see I had specifically told Mark not to order the ring I wanted it, as it was a ring I had custom designed, well not one to listen or wait for me to even tell him for sure I wanted to marry him...Mark had ordered the ring. My ring. I was in shock that he even had the ring and what followed was a string of nonsense, "What? How did you do this? How did you get that? Wh-How...when?"
Mark laughed at me and asked, "Are you going to give me an answer?"
I stopped for a second and realized I hadn't actually said yes, "Well....yes! But how did you do that???"
Mark had ordered the ring on August 10th so that it was ready by a small miracle when he proposed. Mark successfully fooled me. But I honestly didn't mind.

We're getting married on December 29th. And this is just the beginning of our story.

The Story of Us [Part Six]

Our relationship has always been easy, we never have to think about it. It's always just worked for us. I thought being in a relationship might be weird for the both of us, but what I quickly discovered, was that it was just a great extension of our already strong friendship.
On our first actual date we went to a corn maze, and we got in big trouble for cutting through the corn. But everyone else was doing it....For the record that maze was built stupid.
For Halloween we went to Rock Haus and rock climbed. I don't particularly like rock climbing...I like it more now then I used to....but that was a great date. You always amaze me by how much you can do. Your upper body strength is incredible.
For my birthday you made me a quilt, which I loved. And for Valentine's Day we basically recreated our first date.
I think one of the things I like the best about us is how similar we are, in ways we never expect. I'm sure as life continues on we will find more ways we are similar that make us laugh because we thought we were the only ones weird enough to do those things.
I like that you take charge when we're shopping, and you carry all the heavy things and you want to do that. I like that you take care of me and that you know things I need often before I do, and you just take care of it all.
I'm still not sure how time with you can feel like a lifetime and yet only a few days.

The Story of Us [Part Five]

It was kind of funny how things began to fall into place...with another boy. Not you. There was a bit of a weird energy going on between us.
I liked confiding in you. It was safe, and you're so great at giving advice and sometimes knowing just when to listen. So I confided in you about this boy. It was nice because I didn't have to worry about you judging or interpreting things wrong. We were just friends. Or so I thought.
It was labor day weekend. You were giving me a ride back to PG and I was going to go to Sniagrab. You looked at me in the car and you told me that you liked me. I was so mad at you. I had just been telling you about how things were so confusing in my love life and you had the gall to tell me you liked me. I remember throwing it right back at you saying, "I think you're cool and all, I just don't want to date you." You back pedaled so fast. You told me you didn't really want to date me either and all of these things. And I asked you what you were looking for in telling me you liked me. You said you didn't know. I could tell I had hurt your feelings, but most of me didn't care because I was just so mad at you.
I dreaded riding back with you that Monday, I didn't want it to be awkward. I needed you as a friend. I said some more really ridiculous things and I'm not really sure if I remember what they were. But they weren't true. Because by that point I knew I was just scared of telling you how I really felt. Which was that I liked you too, but I didn't want to.
I know what we said. But we didn't really act like we had said it. We hung out quite a bit, doing homework, watching movies and going to football games. Do you remember that football game where we stood close together because that guy kept putting his butt into you? I do....I remember feeling the electricity and how close we were. It was strange, and new and exciting. And then we spent the rest of the night on opposite ends of my couch watching a movie.
Do you remember the first time we hugged? It seems like such a little thing, but we were very much no contact. That was a big step. Albeit an awkward one. 
We were quite silly. But then there was one night, while things were already slowly changing for us, where I really needed you. I had just dealt with a lot emotionally. I was freaking out. I called you, and told you I needed you. I met you at your apartment and cried my eyes out.
You were such a gentleman, but I was so scared I had freaked you out. But you were patient and way more concerned about making sure I was happy. And then it kind of clicked for us. And that was when our relationship began.
The next day I got a text from you, "Are we dating now? Because I don't just cuddle with friends like that." I remember I was getting ready for school when you said that and I laughed. Best DTR talk ever.

The Story of Us [Part Four]

I needed you so much more than I ever realized that spring. Tensions with roommates made life really difficult for me. It didn't help that the strain of another relationship coming to a close was really getting at me. I needed someone to be there for me, who I could complain to about everything, without being worried it would get back to someone or that you'd judge me.
You were that perfect person. Our friendship was the source of tension in my current relationship. It's because everyone sees things long before I do. But I was starting to think about you again....about possibilities. I was never interested in doing anything but I was thinking about all the possibilities that would open up to me when he left.
But then we had another stumbling block on the way. You were in desperate need of a job. I tried to get you one at Pinnacle which backfired. It brought out the worst in both of us. We were both wrong in some aspect.
After that, I swore I would never date you. I said there was no chance of an us. But then he left. Once back in Logan I found myself in need of a friend again, and there you were.
We met up in the Eccles Science Building, in my very favorite spot. We caught up, it was so good to see you. I was really concerned with whether or not you thought my new outfit was cute, or if you thought I looked good. But you did say it was good to see me. That's a lot more than you ever said before. I smiled to myself when you said that because I was thinking, Well, it's a start.

The Story Of Us [Part Three]

I was sitting in my geography class in Logan when I saw your email. It was completely unexpected but nice to get an apology. Maybe you had gotten lonely out there in Ghana. So we emailed back and forth a little. You told me how you got to bathe with a bucket.
I remember the day very clearly. I remember looking at my phone incredulously and then feeling like I needed to be very careful with this. I knew you were on your mission. I knew it. Yet a phone message blinked on my phone from you asking me if this was still my number.
I thought maybe your older brother had gotten a hold of you phone and was enjoying the reactions of people. You would do that and I had never met your brother so I thought he might too.
It took you quite a while to convince me but I finally understood. After about six weeks in Ghana you were home because of medical issues. You always said I was very straight forward about the whole thing. Maybe I was a little rude asking you exactly why you were home right away. But you told me what had happened.
Then we started texting again. It wasn't nearly as much as before, but hey I had a boyfriend.
Warren Miller came. Oh Warren how I love thee. I loved it so much I went totally by myself when everyone else flaked out on me. You were rude enough not to even invite me to sit with you because you were worried about how it would look and how you family would act. I was so frustrated I didn't even say hi. I saw you though. I saw enough to see that you were ok, and reasonably happy. I could live with that.
It seems like every time we start to lose touch with each other somehow fate throws us back into each others' lives. That Christmas you were working on a UPS route. Out of probably hundreds of routes you could have been on, you were on the one that my house was on. Someone must have thought we REALLY needed to stay friends because right there we started talking again and you were coming to USU.
I was so thrilled to have another friend up in Logan, we seemed to pick up right where we left off.

The Story of Us [Part Two]

I liked Fritz. You liked Hayley.
For some reason I decided to be rude and candid and arrogant to you. I'm still not sure why. I think it was because you still intimidated me and I wanted to do everything completely opposite of acting like that. So I said some things I didn't mean. I tried to find your buttons and push them. I was very good at it. Too good at it.
I remember the day you texted me. You stole my number off my employee page and tried to freak me out. You liked pushing my buttons too. I thought it might be you when that strange number texted me. But I didn't want to think you would go that far out of your way for me.
I'm sure I double checked the number with Hayley. She had your number and she texted you a bit. Then you and I began texting. And suddenly we became friends. I became infatuated with you all too quickly.
Even though I found out much later you did actually like me when we were 17, you never admitted it then. Even when you took me out on Valentine's Day. I went rock climbing for you and I was so scared of heights. Then you spilled your teriyaki sauce all over the table at Rumbi and I realized you might have been just as nervous as I was.
I remember the young women retreat I went on. I counted down the hours until I got to go on our date. We went tubing at Soldier Hollow, to dinner at Bajio, and then to Vantage Point. That was the night you told me I was cool but you didn't want to date me.
I told you not to bother walking me to my door. I used to be much more brash than I am now. I responded to the pain of your rejection by trying to be strong and mean to you. More than two years later you would tell me that you had driven away from my house wondering if you had made a mistake.
It may have just been poor timing. For both of us. You were graduating and moving away to Logan. I didn't have things as figured out as I thought I did.
Somehow we stayed friends and coworkers at APX and then at Icon. And then you moved to Logan and I never really thought we would stay friends, as jealous as you made me telling me all about the girls you had kept warm at the outside movie. I remember being so frustrated at you.
I kept busy in PG with a new boyfriend and being a senior. I did visit Logan for a leadership conference, however, and when I did I saw you for a brief moment. You gave me the Warren Miller magazine for that year and then disappeared.
You got your mission call to Ghana and left. And I remember thinking as you turned down my offer for lunch that I would probably never see you again. I thought that would be the end of the story. But it wasn't.

The Story of Us [Part One]

I was 16 and boy crazy. Now that I'm a little older I see all the wasted days sitting on MSN Messenger waiting for some boy I had a crush on to get online so I could IM them...it was the cool thing to do once upon a time. I promise.
Facebook was still new and no one had ever heard of it. I had less than 20 friends and assured my parents how different from Myspace it was. It was June and I felt grown up working at Firstline Security.
I was trying to pull three jobs that summer. I worked most mornings at the PG Library teaching my little class of three year olds and filling up helium balloons for hours on end. I would then go work at Firstline and then on the weekends I was a caterer.
I was also trying to play on a softball team. And that was exactly how I met you. I didn't know many people at Firstline, but I knew my best friend Hayley did. She has this knack for knowing everyone, so I felt pretty safe asking her if she knew anyone to pick up my shift so I could go to my tournament game. She was sitting next to you and she asked you if you would take it. I remember being really embarrassed she had asked you when I was right there because I could tell you were older than me...and I as boy crazy as I was it didn't make me not nervous.
I know you said no...and I remember walking away embarrassed and hoping I would never see you again. But I would see you again. I don't remember if I ever made it to that game. But I remember meeting you and that was what mattered. That was the beginning of the story even though I didn't know it at the time.