Happy 12th Anniversary

Today is July 11, our wedding anniversary. This is the story of how we met...

We had both finished serving LDS missions and were enrolled at Ricks College (now BYU-I) in the fall of 1996. I was serving as Assistant to the Studentbody President, Mark Gee. My stewardship was over the Ricks College Standards Committee, which is a student run organization helping promote, uphold, and enforce the Honor Code. My first responsibility was to find a chairperson for that Committee. President Gee highly recommended Joseph Kelly for this leadership position. He then introduced us to each other. Several days later, I organized our first Standards Committee meeting, which began with an "ice breaker." (get-to-know-you activity)

We met in the west ballroom of the Manwaring Center, and I had everyone sit on the floor in a large circle. Keep in mind, it is the beginning of the fall semester, and there was ample participation and interest in this organization. (Hence, there were 30-40 students involved at this point.) I passed around a roll of toilet paper, instructing the students to each take as many squares as they'd like, as I explained the purpose of our organization. When the roll of tp had made it's way around, I then gave more instruction: for every square of tp the person took, that student had to tell something about him/her. (Hi, I'm so-and-so from such-and-such, and I'm majoring in blah, blah, blah.) Mr. Joseph center-o-attention Kelly took about 30 squares. (Insert: normal people took 4 or 5 squares). I remember resisting the urge to roll my eyes and wonder where this guy got his sizeable self esteem.

(He was however, dang hot, for an annoying guy.)

(And he obviously knew it.)

(And he didn't care.)

I digress.

As it turns out, Joseph contacted me soon after to let me know his semester was too busy to include the Standards Committee. This was the last time I saw him for a few months. (He was probably too busy schmoozing Charmin girlie freshmen.)

Fast forward to December 31 of that same year. Mark Gee, our Studentbody President, was a 'local' from Sugar City, Idaho, a small farming community a few miles outside Rexburg. He organized a cross country skiing trip for New Year's Eve and invited any students who were left on campus during the holiday break. ***A couple of my old mission companions and a convert we taught had previously invited me to fly back with them, all expenses paid, to Lexington, KY where I served as a missionary. For some reason, I politely declined. This trip would have been during the holiday break as well.***

Joseph was also a 'local' from Idaho Falls (a sizeable city 25 miles south of Rexburg with it's very own Super Wal-Mart, a few democrats, and taxi cabs). He had been working in the Rec Ed Center located in the basement of the Hart building. Mark invited him to go along, and knew Joseph could get everybody's ski equipment checked out, etc.

So the group of 10 or so of us enjoyed a beautiful New Year's Eve day skiing up in Herrimann State Park, and afterwards, we all went out later that evening doing various activities . And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Dick Clark in this paragraph. Long live Dick.

The next morning, January 1, 1997, I was helping my mom put away Christmas decor when he called asking me out for that evening. That was date #1. We have been together every day since then. He proposed on date #3 (January 3.) We fasted the following Sunday, and the experience I had with that has been sacred and dear to my heart. Because I hope the Lord will give me more of those sweet experiences in my life, I will not post those details on this blog. It has been hand written in my journal for my children to read. If they live long enough. And stop urinating on neighbor's slides.

It's been quite a ride for us both. Bill Cosby once said, "The best gift you can give your children is for your husband to be your best friend." That's our goal...What a tender mercy the Mister has been in my life, and in our children's lives. I'm so grateful for these memories and hopeful for many more to sustain us through the years...