Pieces of Me

Yesterday was Nathan and my four year anniversary! I can't believe that we've been married that long. (But of course, sometimes it feels like we've already been married my whole life.) I love looking back and remembering how we met, when we were dating, and all the fun things we did together. Here's a trip down memory lane, just for you babe. :)

WARNING: This post is very photo-heavy. Proceed at your own risk! :)

This is a great photo from Jared Laney's surprise birthday party. Nathan and I met at BYU -- we lived in the same apartment complex, and his best friend was dating my roommate. He would just come hang out at our apartment and play games with us and I'd cook him dinner. Sometimes Matt (his best friend) would come with him, but a lot of the time it was just Nathan. :) He was laying the groundwork, I suppose. LOL.

These two pictures are from our first 'real' date together. We went to a Sum 41 concert together. The best part about this was the way Nathan came about asking me to go to the concert. First, he just mentioned in passing that Sum 41 was going to be in Salt Lake and they were doing a concert. Then a couple of days later, he asked me if I would maybe like to go, if he was able to get tickets. I said that might be fun. So then a few days later, he said he had been able to get tickets and wanted to know if I still wanted to go. I said yes and we went to the concert and had a great time. Later I come to find out that he had already bought the tickets a few days before he even mentioned the whole thing to me in passing! He sure is a schemer, making sure his odds look good before going in and asking me out. :) To his credit, though, it wasn't exactly my style of music at the time. He was slowly introducing me to some punk stuff, and I had never been to a real mosh-pit included concert before, so he wanted to make sure that I would even want to go before he asked me. But that just made me laugh.

Here is me and my best friend Summer, at Newport Beach.
The summer after Nathan and my year of college together, we went back to our respective homes, me to Texas and he to California. That was only a few days after our concert date, and so I was bummed that we had to be apart for so long, because I wanted to see where this thing was going. But I settled for emails and was resigned that I wouldn't see him again until the fall.
About two weeks after I had been home, I got an email from Nathan's dad. (I had never met him before.) He essentially said that Nathan had mentioned my name to his parents and said that we had been hanging out together during the last few months. He hadn't even said that we had been dating or anything, but his dad knew that if he was even saying my name to them, that it was a bigger deal than Nathan was letting on. :) So Nathan's dad looked me up on the BYU website, found my email address, and sent me an email.
He invited me to come out to California for a visit with Nathan and his family, and he said that I could invite Summer to come with me so that I wasn't coming out by myself. He said he would take care of the flight and that we could go sight-seeing while we were there. But he also said that he didn't want to embarrass Nathan too soon, so it was to be a surprise visit! At first I was a mix of emotions, like shock, excitement, disbelief, worry. But I decided to go and have fun, and just see what happened.
So Summer and I went out to visit Nathan and he was SO surprised, it was hilarious.

Then this is a picture of us in downtown San Antonio. Later that summer, after I had visited Nathan, he and his old mission companion took a trip back to Oklahoma to visit. They just happened to stop by my house in San Antonio (yeah, it's not a direct way, but they were in the 'area') and stayed with us for a few days. I got to show them around San Antonio and Nathan got to meet my family. That was a lot of fun, but still a little awkward because we weren't officially dating or anything -- just getting there. :)

This is from a sunrise hike that we took to Stewart Falls once we were back at school. This is where we had our first kiss! :)

Me and Nathan and Homer. Good times.

Us in my apartment at Courtside.
We spent a lot of time with each other that school year, as things got better and more serious. :)

This picture is hilarious. It's me and Nathan on the couch with my creepy roommate that used to come sit on the couch with us while Nathan was over. I swear, she must have had a huge crush on Nathan and imagined that if she sat there long enough and bugged us, she could lure him away. It was weird at the time, but now it's just funny. :)

Ah, our Italian vacation! This was the summer after Courtside. Nathan's dad served his mission in Italy, so they took a trip out there to see it, and they invited me to go with the family. By the time we were here feeding the gross birds in Milan, we were engaged, but no one knew it yet. We planned some of the wedding in the back seat of our van traveling around Italy. Good memories. :)

Hanging out near St. Peter's Basilica. Look how young we both were! Crazy....

After a long hike up to Mt. Vesuvius. And I mean LONG! :) What a fun day.

Eating at a cafe in St. Peter's Square in Venice. One of my favorite cities in all of the world. I seriously could take a vacation there for three weeks and still see new things!

My favorite part of our entire trip -- taking a romantic gondola ride down the canals in Venice with my sweetheart. I've been so blessed.

A couple of months later, we were taking our engagement photos in San Antonio, gearing up for a wedding in less than 2 months! It was a crazy schedule, but I'm so glad we didn't wait. We knew it was right and went for it. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

At the Houston temple where I took out my endowments. Such a special day, to have Nathan and my parents there with me. That was overwhelming and amazing and life-changing.

The night before our wedding, our rehearsal dinner at PF Chang's in San Diego. I was so happy to have so many family members come down to the wedding. It was perfect weather and just a great place to get married.

The day my life changed forever.
Nathan and I were married in the San Diego temple on August 13, 2004.

And here's my main squeeze. :) Nathan has been such a blessing in my life. He is the perfect companion for me, he challenges me and supports me and is always trying to make my life better. I love him more than I knew possible and I'm so thankful for him. I am glad for these great 4 years, and am looking forward to the next 40 with him.

Love you babe! :)