Thursday, February 14, 2008

Our love story

Once upon a time, there were two cute kids.

A boy from West Valley City, Utah

and a girl from Winslow, Arizona.

In 1996, their worlds collided when they met in Provo, Utah. Their lives have never been the same. Here's how it happened.

The five "W's" of the first time we met

When it was: Fall of 1996. Andrew was starting his first semester at BYU after serving a mission in Chile for two years. I was starting my sophomore year there.

Where we were: We lived in the same apartment building(the good ol' Glenwood!) and went to church together, but we didn't actually meet until we played on the same co-ed intramural volleyball team. Let me tell ya, that's the way to meet your soul mate. It was such a turn-on to watch him slam the ball down on the other team. He loved seeing me take control of the court and volunteer to be the setter.

Who was there: All of our volleyball teammates, most of which we lost contact with years ago. I think the only friends we've kept who went through the dating/courting/engagement process with us are Christian and Mandi.

Why we were there: Because we both love sports. Duh. If we won our volleyball games, Andrew would ask me out for Victory Slurpees at 7-11. I've never been so motivated to win! By the end of the season we had gotten close enough that he would ask me out for consolation slurpees of we lost. (My teammates were relieved because I could stop yelling at them when they messed up.) :)

What we were doing: Checking each other out. Flirting. Having a lot of fun. Laughing together. Falling in love.

What happened next

Andrew and I just clicked. It was so much fun to get to know him. We had some very important things in common:

1. We were both HUGE Lakers fans. Sports can bring such a strong bond into a relationship.
2. We both wanted to be dentists. This was a short lived similarity. I soon changed to hygiene and he to business, but it was a fun while it lasted.
3. We had almost the same name--Andrew and Andi. It just sounded so good together, like it was meant to be.

We started dating in November. He asked me out twice, but both times I was busy and had to say no. He thought I was just trying to brush him off. (Are you kidding me? A hottie like him?) One of his roommates told me he wasn't going to ask me out again for fear of another rejection, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I asked him out. I don't know what I was thinking, but I volunteered to make dinner at my apartment. If you think I'm a bad cook now, you should've seen me THEN! He could follow the trail of smoke from burnt breadsticks down the hall. He was a sweetheart, though, and told me he liked them that way. Then we watched Happy Gilmore together. And held hands. Oh, yea. Things were off to a great start.

First kiss

Since we were both science majors, we ended up in the same Anatomy class. Sure, there were about 400 other students in there with us, but we managed to sit together in the lecture hall a couple of times. Andrew is very smart in many, many ways, but science is not his strong point. But, as an excuse to spend more time with him, we'd study Anatomy together. (wink, wink) I knew he wasn't going to be much help when I saw in his workbook that he had labeled one of the hemostats in a black and white photo as one of the major blood vessels. Uh oh.

(In his defense, the photos in our lab book
were black and white. A hemostat looked
pretty similar to some of the vessels.)

The studying paid off when one night in his apartment, he leaned in over the workbook and we had our first kiss. He claims it was all my doing because I was giving him "the look." I admit I was more than ready, but he's the one who took action.

Engagement

Things moved pretty quickly. (Not compared to Tony and Cindy, but compared to most of the rest of the world.) We got engaged in March of 1997, after about four months of dating. He took me out to eat at Carver's Steakhouse. In retrospect that cracks me up. I don't even eat steak! I ordered salmon. I guess it was just the nicest place he could think of to take me. It wasn't really a surprise because we had already picked out my engagement ring together.

After dinner he drove me to Rock Canyon Park in Provo.
It is a beautiful place and held a lot of memories for us.
He got down on his knee and proposed.
I think it was the first time I saw him nervous.

I said YES, but apparently I was either
nervous, too, or verklempt because I remember
he didn't hear my response. After a minute
he said, "Are you going to answer?"
Oops. I felt bad I had kept him in suspense.

The Wedding

We were married in June in the Logan Utah LDS Temple.
The wedding day is all kind of a blur. I remember Andrew was a little late to the temple and for the first time I started to think maybe this was too good to be true. I was relieved when he made it. We had a reception in West Valley that night. I loved it. It was a blast to share that special day with so many friends and relatives.

The Honeymoon

We took a road trip to Southern California for our honeymoon. We didn't take any pictures. The scrapbooker in me could kick myself over that, but it didn't seem important at the time. It was pretty eventful with car problems and a trip to urgent care, but we still managed to have a wonderful time.

The married life

Hard to believe that was over ten years ago. Since then, Andrew finished his bachelor's in business. I graduated from hygiene school. We had Brandon and moved to AZ. Andrew finished his MBA. We moved to NC. Andrew started working for Avery. We had Whitney. We sold our first house and moved to our current one. And now we're expecting Caroline. Phew--we've managed to get a lot done!
Random photos

Dressed as Greg and Marsha Brady
Halloween 1998

Christmas at Disneyland
2000

First visit to Carolina Beach
July 2003

Valentine's Day 2004

Summer 2004

After Andrew performed Jeremy and Erika's wedding
July 2006

Christmas 2006

Tenth Anniversary Caribbean Cruise
June 2007

Other random thoughts on our relationship
Three of your spouse's traits that made you fall madly in love

I said:
1. Made me feel so comfortable around him
2. Always made me laugh
3. SOOO dang good-looking

He said:
1. Happy nature
2. Friendliness
3. Intellect

Something you gave up or put aside when you fell in love:
I said: flirting
He said: carbonated beverages and eating in the bathroom

A piece of wisdom your spouse taught you that you will never forget:
I said: Together we can do anything.
He said: You can choose to be happy in life regardless of circumstances

There you have it, the story of our love. I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband to share the ups and downs of life with. And it just keeps getting better as time goes on.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh! You guys are just perfect together. I love seeing those old photos.

Natalie said...

You guys are too cute! David and I also met in a similar way. We 'found' each other playing intermural co-ed soccer. He enjoyed watching me throw people to the ground, while I enjoyed watching him score all the goals. He would even pass me the ball so I could score and look good. I knew he liked me then :).

And you should warn people about that graphic picture...freaked me out!

And what is this about eating in the bathroom? Uh-GROSS!

Megan said...

You two are just cutey-pa-tooties!

Couldn't help but read the post with the Eagles' "Take It Easy" running in the back of my mind once I read you were the girl from Winslow, Arizona. Such a fine sight to see! LOL!

Ang said...

What a wonderful Valentine, Andi. One thing I'm grateful for on this Valentine's Day is a happy marriage--and the happy marriages of all the people I love. Thanks for posting!

carrie said...

and after all these years, you still like each other. Ü you guys are awesome!
-bigger

Anonymous said...

There's something genuinely romantic about having your first kiss while looking at a picture of the ascending aorta.
Thanks for the ten year summary.
You neither one look any older than you did ten years ago.
G&G Hiatt

The Normal Mormon Husband said...

Loved the post and the great memories you decided to include. I'm a lucky, lucky man....now if I could just manage to start sneaking Laffy Taffy's back into the bathroom.....

Joey/Denny/Emma said...

What a sweet, romantic post. You two are an amazing couple -- loved hearing all the details of your courtship.

Joe and I didn't take a camera on our honeymoon (to Puerto Vallarta), either (I know; it just didn't seem important at the time). And now I wonder, "What were we THINKING?"

Vlazny's said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vlazny's said...

This was great! Now it is not even worth telling our twisty tie and a ticket story.

Marianne said...

Cute!!!

Erika said...

That was so awesome! The picture of the two of you after my wedding totally made me cry at my desk at work! I was so happy about this because I DON'T CRY unless I'm mad and I really want to so that other people (and myself) know that I have emotions other than anger.

Anyway, that was sweet and great to see how you two love birds came to be:)

Sandy said...

What a fun post! It brought back memories -- I remember Andrew showing up to work a week or two after you guys had gotten married and just ECSTATIC because you had left the TV tuned to ESPN. He was so excited to have a sportsy wife:) You guys are so cute together!!