Ten

Randy and I recently celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary.  All year, I have been strolling down memory lane in my mind remembering all sorts of things.  I've always wanted to share our story with the few friends I have that read my blog.  So, here's our story

In the fall of 2001, Randy had recently returned from a church mission to Australia.  He was going to a local college as a freshman in NM, substitute teaching, and dating around.  I was living in Idaho and was a junior in BYU-Idaho's accounting program.  It was the busiest, most stressful semester of my life with the workload from my classes.  I began dating someone.

As part of my degree, I was required to have an accounting internship and tax season was the prime-time for it.  My dad knew Randy's dad & I applied for a job with his company.  I sold my housing contract, broke up with my boyfriend (mostly because he didn't want a long-distance relationship), and moved back to NM.  In the meantime, Randy's dad kept putting me off on whether or not I had a job with him.

Just before I was going to begin looking for a job--any job--Randy's dad, Ken, called and offered me the internship for tax season.  I worked for a few days with Ken doing some training while the rest of the office was off for the Christmas-to-New Year's break.

Randy and I met for the first time on January 3, 2002.  I was still in daily communication with my ex-boyfriend and wasn't interested in Randy.  He eventually befriended me, figured out who the other guy in my life was, and asked me out.  We went on our first date on January 18th to an Institute Fireside.  The next day, the 19th, we went on our second date.  (Our second date was originally scheduled as our first, but on the 18th he asked if I wanted to go the fireside, so we went out two nights in a row).  On our second date, we doubled with a friend of his.  We had dinner and then watched a move.  He held my hand during the movie and then kissed me goodbye on the cheek.  I was thrilled.

The next day, I told my ex-boyfriend that I wouldn't be calling him anymore...  I don't recall what each of our dates were, but by January 26th, we knew we were both looking for the same end-result and talked about getting married.  I then started attending the Single's Branch with him instead of my own home-ward for church.

By the beginning of February, we were unofficially engaged.  We had our first Valentine's Day together, went on a few trips (Arizona--where we went to the Snowflake Temple open house, visited my great-aunt & uncle, and visited my grandparent's graves, and Colorado--where we went to a wedding reception for his former mission companion).  We also hit a bump that month.  Randy had to decide if he was really ready to commit to marrying me or consider another girl who really liked him.  I fought for him (not literally) and won him over.  :)  By February 28th I had purchased my wedding dress.

On March 2nd, we went ring shopping.  On the 7th Randy slipped the ring on my finger and said "Yes, I will marry you."  That's right, no proposal.  He wouldn't even let me look at the ring until I got into my car.  I was super delighted that he chose the ring we had both liked.  Later that month, we went furniture and apartment shopping.


After April 15th, I was done working for Ken.  We loaded Randy's stuff up, and what little I had in NM, and headed to Idaho.  We moved Randy into our future apartment & me into my student housing.  The next two months were almost like we were married in a way.  He picked me up for class every morning.  We were finished with class around lunchtime and went to his place to have lunch.  We then came to my apartment to do homework in the afternoon.  I made him dinner, he went to work, I exercised, and then I called him for a few minutes before we went to bed.  I'm pretty sure we were always in bed before 10:30pm on school nights--in our own apartments, of course!


We were able to have some fun before getting married.  We took a day-trip to Jackson Hole and had an old-fashioned picture taken.  We also went to Utah for a weekend to get our wedding license and do a little bit of shopping (a dress to wear to the temple & jewelry for the big day).  A week before our wedding, we went to a summer dance in the Garden's.  I'm not sure how long we even stayed, but I'm certain it is the one and only dance Randy will ever have taken me to.  He's not much of a dancer, even though I get the urge to do some dancing when a good song comes on.


After finals and white-glove clean checks for me and moving my things into our apartment, we headed to Utah with my cousin and roommate, Amy, for our wedding.  Two nights before we were to get married, we crashed on the bed with my cousin in the room while waiting for my dad's delayed flight to arrive in SLC.  If I remember right, we picked him up at 2am.  The next day, June 27th, my brother Alan and I were endowed in the Provo Temple.  Randy and I went to the Nauvoo Temple dedication that evening with his family.



On June 28th, 2002, we entered the doors to the Provo Temple as Mr. and Miss, and left as Mr. and Mrs.  We had our wedding luncheon at Olive Garden, a backyard open house in American Fork, and then we left for our honeymoon in Park City.  We spent nearly a week there and the went to NM for our wedding reception.  


We returned to Idaho after missing a week of our summer classes to resume life as normal--but this time as a married couple.

Our first picture leaving the temple as a married couple.

We had a good amount of support there.  I was sad that my Farnsworth grandparents weren't there, but my Grandma had Alzheimer's and had always suffered from anxiety.  As they drove to Utah, she was getting sicker and sicker, but as soon as they turned around early to go home, she was okay.

The temple & grounds look a little different today.

At our open house

Look!  I still drive that same car!

A hot air balloon ride on our honeymoon.