J and I both attend Brigham Young University-Idaho. On the first day of school in September 2009 some friends came over to my apartment. One of my guy friends from home (Thank You Jered Robinson) brought a few guys over and we all introduced ourselves. There was J but get this... he had a girlfriend. Yep. We were all talking at my apartment and out of nowhere he stands up and bails. His friends explain that he has a girlfriend. I didn't think anything of it and the semester went on. It turned out that J and I were in the same ward at church. (A ward is like a set congregation that you go to every Sunday) Sooo pretty much I saw him every Sunday. He taught the Sunday school class and he was dang good. I loved listening to his lessons and hearing him speak.
A few weeks later my roommate, Kelsey and I went over the J's apartment. We knew all the guys in his apartment and wanted to go over and invite them to our apartment for banana pancakes. We invited them and it was set. They were coming over on Thursday. At this time I had my eye on another guy. So when Thursday came around I was super excited because this boy I had my eye on invited me over. I wasn't even thinking about banana pancakes and on Thursday night I was over at another boy's apartment while J was at mine. He claims that the only reason he came to my apartment was to see me and I ditched him. HA! Yeah right, he wanted pancakes and girls. Anyway, I came home and J was still at my apartment. We all sat around talked and the girls painted nails. That night I looked at J different. He didn't have a girlfriend anymore and he was cute! So this was the night I developed a crush.
So I had a crush on J. I saw him at church that Sunday, and gave him the look. You know, the one where you look and linger a little. ha! I knew what I was doing! So a week went by and that next weekend the school was putting on a concert. My roommates invited J and his roommates to go with us. So Saturday came around and I got a text saying, "Hey are we meeting at your apartment? This is Justin." Wait what?? I didn't give you my phone number?!! Apparently he just asked one of his roommates for my number and bam he just texted me. He didn't even do the whole can I have your number thing. Lame. But anyway at the concert we sat on the floor in the front. J sat directly in front of me and during the concert he kept turning around and talking to me. mmhmmm! So anyway after the concert we decided to go to an abandoned playground in the middle of nowhere to watch a scary movie. Who does that? It was a bad idea because the wind picked up and boo we were freezing. I remember thinking how badly I wanted J to sit next to me. We packed up our stuff and headed back to my apartment. We watched the movie in my apartment and slowly during the movie my roommates started to leave. It was getting late and by the end of the movie it was just J and I! We talked and talked and talked. He told me about the 2 year mission he served for our church in Florida/Alabama. I told him about my family and my recent study abroad to Europe. We covered a lot that first night and before we knew it, it was 6 A.M. ahh! So I pushed J out the door and he left me with a kiss on the forehead...um I died. I went to my room thinking oh my gosh I need to tell someone how I am feeling but of course everyone was asleep. The next morning I saw J at church and I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I had just seen him 3 hours ago! ha! So that night he came over and we cuddled. (big deal) The next day was a Monday and J and I went on a date. That day J had been playing basketball and he rolled his ankle really bad. So when I went to his apartment for our date.
**Side note- J and I lived in apartment complexes that shared a parking lot. So we were neighbors and we walked over to each other's apartments all the time.
Anyway I showed up to his apartment and he couldn't walk ha! So I helped him limp out the door. We went to dinner, got some ice cream on the way home and watched a movie at my apartment. Right before he was about to leave he leaned over and kissed me! Not a sloppy make out and not a little peck but a good meaningful kiss! Sorry TMI but it was perfect. From that day on J and I spent every spare minute we had with each other. I met his family, and he met mine. I knew very quickly that J was the one.
An exerpt from my journal reads, "I know Justin is the one. I've never felt this way about anyone. People would probably think I am crazy because I am writing this after knowing him for like a month but everything feels right and I am so excited/nervous/anxious to tell him how I feel."
Everything with us felt natural so when he told me that he loved me, of course I responded with the same. We had only been dating a few weeks and I knew that J and I would get married.
At Christmas he came to my house and asked my Dad for permission to ask me to marry him. I had a feeling that he was doing this so after Christmas I kept looking for the signs. You know, I kept looking to see if he was acting funny or trying to plot something hah! A few weeks went by and I was like okay J lets get this show on the road. I was slightly irritated but I knew it would come. On January 16, 2010, I came back to my apartment and there was a note on my bed. It was a letter to me from J and at the end he told me to go to his apartment. I went to his apartment and found another note with a gift. He continued to send me around to some of our favorite places in town. The scavenger hunt ended at our spot. It was a place we used to go and talk and be alone. Our apartments were always crazy with roommates. I pulled up to our spot and I saw J's car. I got inside and turned it on. Our song was playing and before I knew it J opened my door and got down on one knee. Of course I said yes and of course many tears were shed! It was perfect because it was meaningful and it was private. I was so excited and happy! We had some decisions to make about the wedding date because J had signed a contract and he had a job lined up from April til September. I could either wait here and we would be apart for 4 months or we could get married in April and I could go with J. 4 month is a small amount of time in the long run but I didn't want to wait. I knew I was marrying J and I wanted to be together. So that means I had to plan a wedding in 3 months?! Ha! More like my mom planned a wedding in 3 months! I was away at school while she was picking out caterers and fabrics. I was kinda bummed that I wasn't right in the middle of all the planning but in the end that didn't matter. The wedding wasn't that important, I was just happy to be marrying my best friend. We were sealed in the Newport Beach Temple on April 10, 2010.
