our story. the long drawn out portion.

Anytime someone asks us how we met we never really know what to say. If it's someone we don't really know we just tell them at school. If it's a friend I'll make a joke out of it and tell them we met at SAMs Club. But our story is different than most.

I really was working at SAMs Club, which was a 45 minute drive from my house. It was December 28, 2007 and it was snowing like crazy so my manager was talking about sending me home early because he didn't want me to get stuck in Idaho Falls. As I was waiting to check someone out a cute boy, (with an Afro! Yes, my bobby had an Afro!) came up to me and asked me how old I was. I still get told I look anywhere from 14-17, so I understand where he was coming from! When I told him 18 he asked if I wanted to go to a movie that night. Looking back, the fact that I said yes to someone I'd never met before is pretty great. We exchanged numbers and I thought his phone was cool because he had the first generation iPhone and THAT HAIR! ;) About 10 minutes later my parents showed up, this happened often while I worked at SAMs Club. They got to shop and spy on me while I worked. I told my mom about this boy I was going to hang out with that night and even pointed him out to her, because he was STILL there. Just eating with his friends in that little eating area, you know what I'm talking about. The snow was still coming down so I was told I could leave. Queue: parents following me home! ;)

That night as I was getting ready to leave to go hang out with this kid I didn't even know, my mom kept bugging me about, well, what if he's a serial killer? Or what if he kidnaps you! I remember saying these exact words to her, "Well. What if I just met my future husband at SAMs Club!" That's right, I called it before I had even hung out with him! Since the snow was so bad I told Bobby not to worry about picking me up, I'd just drive into town. Honestly, the only thing I really remember about this night, is his crazy friend Jeff and the fact that they pulled out some playing dice that said stuff like, kiss, hug, and where! I think they were the "clean" version of the dice though! I had seen much worse.

The next night we hung out again, but this time my parents insisted on meeting him. He came to pick me up around 9 and we didn't leave to go do whatever we were doing until 11! My parents loved him! I still remember my dad telling me that besides Bear Chelson, he was the only boy that I'd gone on a date with that could have a conversation with him and look him in the eye. Everyone thinks my dad is intimidating. Even though he's a big teddy bear! That night bobby dropped me off at my house and stayed until around 4 in the morning. I was exhausted, but I just couldn't bring myself to let him go. (Little side note, at this time I had a missionary I was writing and was still kind of dating my high school boyfriend. Don't worry, Bobby catches up!) I still remember his excuse for our first kiss this night, "Jeff said that if I don't kiss you tonight he's going to be so mad at you." I'm sure this was just an excuse, but I guess it worked!

We spent New Year's Eve together. His roommates even put up a camera while they were leaving and video recorded us making out... Oh they were so fun!

As the semester started, we still saw a lot of each other. A couple weeks in, Bobby text me and said, "I was thinking that we need to have a one week trial of us being boyfriend/girlfriend. Then we can see where to go from here." Honestly, I thought he was joking! And I thought, man, this kid thinks he is something else. I entertained the idea not really knowing what to expect. A little side info... My parents were tour guides at the Rexburg Temple open house. And DURING this week trial that we had going on, Mr. Something Else decides to take another girl to the temple open house.... You will never guess who his tour guides were!! :) I get a phone call from my mom, who is just dying laughing, and she says, "guess who was just in our tour group!!?" Obviously I wasn't going to guess. "BOBBY!! And he was with another girl!" Please, if you knew my mom, hear that laugh! So, I text Bobby and ask him about it and about our 1 week, apparently free, trial. His reply? "Oh, did your parents like my cousin?" This was obviously him being sarcastic and trying to be smooth about it.

Well, I forgave him. The trial was over and we were just going to continue dating, but not being official. One random Sunday, that I didn't go home, Bobby asked me to come over to play games. I agreed, as long as he'd come pick me up. So he did, and along came Cory(another roommate.) and we were picking up another girl. As we pulled into the parking lot we saw 2 girls getting out of a car. Bobby says, "Oh, want to meet my cousins?" At first I had no idea what he was talking about. He walked to the car to talk to the girls and I walked into the apartment with Cory and the random girl. I was still kind of confused, so I just stood behind Jeff while he was showing me something on his computer. In walks Bobby, who is not alone. Him, not wanting to be rude, invited the 2 girls in. I had no idea what to do! He was my ride! This was a moment in my life that I was ridiculously grateful for Jeff's blunt personality. He made things awkward for the girls instead of for me! I called my mom, because I was a mommas girl like that, and told her all about the situation. I was so close to walking my butt home. But instead I insisted on Bobby taking me home right then! Well, okay, it was probably 30 minutes after all the awkwardness. And... I'm pretty sure went back over there later that same night? Ha.

Valentine's Day this year was a mess, the missionary was home, the high school boyfriend was still kind of around, and then Bobby. I pretty much insisted on ignoring all of them and spending the time completely alone at my house since my parents were out of town. I was hoping for some clarity!

After my parents got back into town I convinced my mom to go to Bobby's board shop with me and get me a jacket. I hung out with my mom and Bobby and I think a couple of Bobby's roommates at the shop. Weird? Not if you knew my mom! Bobby and Cory convinced my mom to let them take her bug for a test drive... And I did something that day to finally win Bobby over. That night, as we were picking up Bobby's little brother, we made it official. The next few weeks were a blast. We spent a ton of time together.

The first week of March my mom and I headed to Vegas. I was so excited for this trip and had been counting down the days! Before I left Bobby asked me if he could go to lunch with a family friend from back home who was a girl. I wasn't going to be the girl that had a leash on their boyfriend so of course I said yes. The second day we were in Vegas I was getting super frustrated with Bobby, I knew the night before he had gone out with this girl, and I knew he was snowboarding that day, but he usually was always texting me. So I was wondering what was going on. I remember sitting in the mall food court with my mom, eating Panda Express, so confused about what to do. Bobby wouldn't text me or call me back and I wasn't one to call a boy a million times. Even I knew what desperate was! ;)

That last walk to the bus was the last walk my mom and I would have. When we got on the bus she had a heart attack. Between calls to my dad, my uncle, my aunt, my moms best friend(who had been in Vegas the night before) I was trying to get ahold of Bobby, my boyfriend. Who was with this other girl at the time. I called Bobby, I called Cory, I called Jeff. Everyone knew what was going on with Bobby. And no one wanted to get in the middle of it. But no one knew what was going on in Vegas. Bobby finally text me, he probably thought I was super desperate by this time... I'd called everyone to try and get ahold of him.

Bobby- I'll talk to you when you get home tomorrow.
Me- No you won't. My mom just died.

He called me immediately but by this point I was at the hospital doing paper work and getting my moms belongings. The next couple hours are a blur but I do remember Bobby asking if he should come to Vegas, I remember talking to a lot of different people on the phone. And I do remember that this night was my first experience with In N' Out. And maybe that's why I don't like it? My flight home was for the next morning so I told everyone to stay in Idaho. They'd get there and we'd be turning around to go home.

I talked to Bobby until 4 in the morning. I knew that he was going to break up with me so instead of prolonging it I just told him to do it. So although he did breakup with me the night my mom died, I pretty much forced him to. He says now that if I wouldn't have told him to, he never would have.

I only saw him a couple times after I got home and before my moms funeral. And to be completely honest, I remember almost nothing about those few days. So if I did see him more, I have no idea! The night of my moms funeral he came out to my house, he took my outside so that we could see the stars, and he told me he loved me. I didn't feel like I could say it back so I just told him I liked him a lot! ;) this was a Tuesday and I didn't see him again until Sunday. We spent the day together. He told me he loved me a couple more times and we said good bye. I then didn't hear from him for a couple of days. And I've always hated being the first to text someone. So that Wednesday I finally text him and said, "Next time you tell someone you love them, make sure you mean it." He didn't respond so I said, "well, I guess this means goodbye." That was that.

I didn't hear from him again for the next month. I went on with my life and figured he'd done the same. I got a new phone and didn't have very many phone numbers. I randomly got a text that said, "hey, just wanted to see how you were doing?" I knew it was either Bobby, Cory, or Jeff because it wasn't an Idaho number. Since I didn't know who it was, I asked!! ;) the reply was, "You know who this is." Okay, cocky! So I said I got a new phone and said I thought it was either Bobby or Cory? Okay, it was Bobby... Continue conversation... Later on he asks me to come to their annual end of semester breakfast! I figured, why not? So I went.

We slowly started hanging out again. A month later, Bobby was going to Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby. And he invited me to go! 2 days before he was leaving but he still invited me. Probably just to be nice, not thinking I'd actually go! But I went home, convinced my dad, bought a ticket and actually went! We spent the time with Bobby taking Cory and I all over Kentucky showing us his mission and introducing us to the people he really loved. We weren't dating but we got asked a lot if we were. We even went to dinner with his mission president and his wife. Bobby just told him that he was bringing his friend, and to see their faces when they saw I was a girl, priceless!

The day after we got back for Kentucky we made it "official" again. And then on May 10th Bobby took me to a random trailer park in Rexburg. We got out of his truck and he told me he had asked my dad where he had proposed to my mom. She was a single parent living in a trailer at the time and my dad had asked her to marry him in her home. Bobby then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Uhhh... YES!

You'd think that we lived happily ever after, after all of that. But that'd be too easy! I was still mourning my moms death and my way of coping was being the biggest brat ever. I have no idea why he stuck with me! We set a date for August 31st. But I decided I wanted to spend Christmas with my dad and brother. So we pushed it back to January 10th. Then my dad got remarried in September. So I decided since he got married, I might as well move it up! So I moved it up to November 21st. Talk about a roller coaster! It took me until the first of August to fully accept and fully give myself to Bobby. I had such a hard time trusting anyone at this time in my life.

But WE MADE IT! November 21, 2008 came and was the best day of my life. All those bad times... They were worth it! I now get to spend eternity with my best friend. And I wouldn't have it Any. Other. Way.