You're Still The One

This is my favorite picture known as 'the kiss'.

WARNING: Long, sappy, smoopy, whoopy post...read at your own risk!
Kimball and I met in June of 1995, just 10 days before he left on a 2 year LDS (Mormon) mission. I was working for my dad in Salt Lake City, Utah and he made deliveries to us twice a week. Kimball saw me sitting in the parking lot on my lunch hour reading a book. He came up to me and we talked for a bit. He got my number and said he'd call that weekend, well he didn't and I'll admit I was disappointed but don't worry, he came back to my work on Monday and said he'd lost my number (now that I know him I'm sure it was true). He definitely looked like a 'bad boy' which was not what I needed at that point in time. I had already sent a brother and many 'friends' on missions so I definitely didn't want to fall in love with another guy leaving for 2 years. I decided to just go out with him, what could it hurt? We completely hit it off, we were inseparable for that 10 days. He convinced me to fly out to Washington for his mission farewell. I thought he was crazy and I was sure my parents would think the same thing, but for some reason they were all for it. I went and we had a great time, until we overslept and I missed my plane. I guess being in la la land will do that to a girl. I was so worried, I didn't know what I'd do. Kimball and I were still over an hour away from the airport when I looked at the ticket and saw the departure time, so we pulled over to a phone booth and called my mom. I remember my older sister Amie laughing her head off. She thought it was so funny that I was crying. Luckily they arranged for me to take a later flight and it was all good, or so I thought.
Aunt flow came to visit and I was in white shorts! SO...we pulled over again and stopped at a gas station. I WAS NOT about to buy tampons because I just didn't do that kind of thing. I asked Kimball if he'd do it and he said yes! Seriously!?! Oh the things we'll do for love. I think that's when I knew he was a keeper. OK so we got that all taken care of and headed off for the airport again. Kimball asked if he should forget the mission and we could just go to Vegas...kidding of course, but 2 years seemed like a lllooonnngg time. Here I am in said white shorts, just lally gaggin', taking pictures with no cares in the world...if I'd only known I was late for my plane!

We said our goodbyes, lots of tears and kisses. We wrote pretty much the entire two years. I had boyfriends during that time and apparently he had other chicks sending him packages (smart guy). This is the picture I kept near by as motivation to wait for him. I never said I was "waiting", but for some reason I always felt like I wanted to see what happened.

December 22, 1997 was a beautiful winter morning. The snow began falling as we all made our way to Heritage Gardens in Sandy Utah. Kimball and I had a lovely ceremony with a small and intimate group of 100 family and friends, followed by a delicious lunch.

We spent our wedding night at a The Armstrong Mansion in downtown Salt Lake City. As we pulled into the small little parking lot, I noticed a truck that looked very familiar. The next morning we went down to the cozy little dining room for brunch. There we sat completely alone when my old boyfriend (who had proposed to me...long long crazy story) walked in and sat down with his new wife. It was beyond awkward or ironic! We said "hello" and tried to hurry and eat and get out of there. As we caught the elevator to go back upstairs so did they, now it got even more awkward. I introduced him to Kimball since they both new of each other and held my breath as we slowly made our way to our floor. I can't even tell you how crazy and weird that was...if you only knew the whole story!

After enjoying Christmas and New Years, we headed to Mazatlan Mexico for our honeymoon. It was such a fun time. The weather was perfect and the beaches were to die for. We had a blast para sailing and kayaking, both resulting in crash landings (entirely my fault).
We hated to return to 'reality' but we were anxious to start our new life as newlyweds. Just 4 weeks later, I went in for outpatient surgery to treat my endometriosis, only to find out there would be no surgery...I was a few weeks pregnant. The only words to describe my feelings that day was shock and fear, Kimball would probably say excitement and surprise. Things don't always go as planned but we were so blessed to have our sweet little Jaxon. It's crazy to think it's been 11 years. Kimball and I are very different, he's way too silly at times and I'm way too uptight and the list goes on but what matters is we're doing our best, we're committed and we love each other. We've been blessed with 3 amazing children and we have a good life together. Happy Anniversary Babe! Thanks for all you do for me and for hanging in there through it all. Here's to 11 more years!