Our Story

Today I wanted to share more on my favorite subject, the story of how Ryan and I met and fell in love. There are so many details I could share but I will be focusing on the big things that lead to our eventual marriage!

The first time I heard somebody talk about Ryan was when a friend of mine wanted to ask him to a girls choice dance our junior year of high school. I remember thinking “who is this Ryan and why have we never had a class together” Of course my interest was sparked at this point about who this guy was. A few weeks later Ryan’s group of friends were having a bonfire and they just so happened to invite my friend and I to join them. Now it might sound silly but I first noticed how different Ryan was from other guys I’d dated/ met when he offered to walk back to the house from where we were having the bonfire (maybe like a half mile from the house) to get me a glass of water to drink. Somebody had brought a bunch of soda to drink but since I was a competitive swimmer at the time our coaches always advised us to not drink soda, honestly still not sure why but we were always told it had something to do with our breathing. Not sure if that is true but whether is was or not I was not drinking soda at this time. When I had brought this up to our friend group I remember feeling funny saying it but Ryan responded quickly that he would be willing to go back to the house to grab me some water. Now mind you this was the very first time Ryan and I had ever met. Him getting up to grab me water is one of those memories that I can still clearly see in my head. It is like I knew then and there that he was going to be somebody special to me.

From that moment onward we became instant friends. Ryan was so easy to get along with (if you’ve met him you know this is true.) We began hanging out with each other in groups and with other friends pretty consistently. Although it was easy to see how different and special Ryan was from everyone else I for whatever reason never saw us more than best friends. This continued for a few months, we would text and hang out regularly. But something (finally) changed on the night of my 18th birthday. I had invited a bunch of friends over to just hang out and celebrate with me. As it got late that night most everyone left but a couple of closer friends. And although our first kiss is a long story in and of itself I am just going to say that eventually we ended up kissing that night. I still have no idea why, haha but up to this point I had not thought of Ryan as more than a really good friend but for whatever reason we kissed and I could honestly say the rest is history from there… but there is more detail to it all. After our first kiss we both were a little confused as to what it meant. So we kind of ignored it for a while. I went on a couple dates with different people after this kiss but the thought of being with Ryan kept becoming stronger and stronger. Until one day after my religious seminary class Ryan asked me out on our first ever date. Ryan had a his math class right next to the building that held my seminary class so we would meet up and Ryan would walk me to my next class since it was on the way to his following class. At this moment in time I was still really confused about my feelings. So when Ryan came up to me and said, ” can I ask you something” I though he was going to call me out of going on dates with other guys or something like that… so I responded pretty harshly with a stern “WHAT” I was ready to defend myself (for no reason.) That’s when he got all sweet and said, “oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to do a double date with my cousin and me. We were thinking of going rock climbing.” I melted to a million pieces at this point, Rys always been the sweetest. I of course said yes.

We went on that rock climbing date that coming weekend. Ryans cousin was heading out for his religious mission the next week so it was a last Ryan and cousin hang out along with the last date his cousin would go on for the next two years. Ryan and his cousin are very close which made for an even more fun night. I remember three specific things from this date, first I remember waiting in the parking lot for Ryan’s cousin to arrive. This meant we had some time just the two of us. This made me nervous because at this point I had undeniable feelings for Ryan. I remember fidgeting with his Aux cord to help pass the time. He has always been so great to put up with my weirdness, I remember him just smiling at me as I just talked his ear off while we waited. The second thing I remember is not being able to rock climb for very long, my arms got tired so quickly! The third thing I remember is going so Sonic after climbing and getting desserts and all sitting in the car together. Ryan and his cousin had tons of fun memories and experiences of their big family to share. I remember thinking, wow these guys are so fun. This moment also made me fall for Ryan even harder, he was so happy talking about his family and reminiscing with his cousin. We laughed tons together that night.

Because at this point our first kiss was in the past we took a while to finally kiss each other again. We both did not know if the other felt the same and naturally we were in high school so there was no way we were gonna tell each other (; But to make a long story short we both learned quickly that our feelings for one another were mutual! We ended up dating our entire senior year. I knew just a month into dating Ryan that I wanted to marry him. Which of course sounds crazy coming from a 18 year old, but I just knew.

After high school we both served religious missions, this meant we were apart for 2 years. We were only able to email and send letters once a week. It was an incredibly difficult time to be apart for so long but we both knew it was something we needed to do. After Ryan returned from his mission we quickly reconnected. We were engaged within 3 months of Ryan getting home and married 6 months later. I love our story and would not have it any other way because it has lead us to where we are now. Sometime in the future I will write more about our engagement and wedding day. Thanks for reading!

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