January 12, 2001..Photos fixed.

First Date, May 2000. I love that we have this photo!!
2 minutes after the proposal....we are so happy!!

. Matt asked me out the day we met and we went out that weekend. We went with some of his friends to Farmington Canyon where we hiked, made tinfoil dinners (they were burnt), and watched a movie from a TV that someone had brought up the canyon. I was sick that day, I had Strep Throat (no longer contagious) and an ear infection and wasn't feeling the best. Luckily, Matt asked me out again.

We dated all summer (Matt was in Provo working, he had just graduated from Weber State) and I was taking the summer off from BYU and living at home with my parents and working. Our first date was at the end of May 2000. By the time I moved back to Provo in mid-August we were in love! In fact, I think I had only been in Provo one day before Matt declared his undying love for me. (Okay, it wasn't that dramatic, it was funny and sweet.) Two weeks later was my 21st birthday. Matt planned a spectacular birthday celebration, and I can't remember if I have written about it here before or not. And I am in a hurry and not going to search for it right now. But it was fabulous....early morning hot air balloon ride (that got canceled, dang!) Breakfast, drive to Cedar City to see the Shakespearean Festival (the whole drive down, Matt kept teasing me that we were driving to Vegas....I was about 90% sure he was kidding. The farther South we drove, the more nervous I got.) Surprise! Instead, we saw a wonderful play, had a fabulous Shakespearean "Feaste" and drove home that night. On the way home we stopped at a park (it was another trick...I will explain another time, or link to the other post I am thinking is out there somewhere). Hidden in the woods was a cake picnic and a blanket full of presents. One small gift box had me a little nervous. (Now, I was pretty dang sure I wanted to marry Matt. But we had never talked about it and I didn't feel quite ready.) I breathed a sigh of relief that it was only a watch, and then realized I was a little disappointed. I came home that night to a bedroom full of flowers Matt had sent my roomates to pick up and put in my room. Such a fun day.

One month later, I was ready! We still had never talked about it. We just knew. No one believes us when we tell them we never talked about getting married, but it is true! Matt got a ring (he had my sister come with him for final approval) he spoke to my parents (he was nervous and my parents thought the whole thing was hysterical) and casually suggested a hike for a Friday afternoon date. I suspected nothing. He proposed at the site of one of our most memorable dates, Sundance. It was lovely and of course I said, " yes!"

We were married January 12 in the Bountiful Temple and had our reception in the church where we first met, eight months earlier.

We spent our honeymoon in Hawaii and moved to a little (very little) apartment in Provo where I finished school, Matt got his Masters, moved to another, (slightly bigger) apartment. We moved into our fist little house just before Zack was born. We have lived here in Lehi for eight years, which we find funny, only because when we got married, Matt was planning on going to Law School and we were not planning on living in Utah at all. Things change and we are so happy to be where we are right now. We have had a great ten years with all kinds of fun and interesting and challenging things thrown our way, and I think we have learned an awful lot. We still have much to learn and a long way to go, but life couldn't be better.

Happy Anniversary!

**Edited to add: Here is the link with more details if you are curious.