9 Years

I love this boy, he knows it and I'm sure the people that know me know it.
I have been smitten with him for quite sometime.

I thought that I would maybe do something different and talk about our wedding party on our anniversary. Not only were they some of our friends and family, they each had some part in our story.
Let's begin...

From left to right.
Heidi- Ryan's sister. She was my first real introduction to the Doug & Lori Stephens family and I thought she was the coolest girl around. Coming from a good family was always on top of my dating material list and Heidi was cool, so her whole family was cool. Which made me want to get to know that boy even more.

Hillary- Ryan's sister. At the beginning stages she was the kid sister (I think she was in Elementary/Middle school at the time). She was always around enjoying being a participant observer. At the later part of our relationship she was a great person to talk to, I just remember long conversations about life and love, among other things. She was another one that made me love that family more and more.

Eliza- My best friend. Temecula took her away for most of our courtship but she was in the "group" of our first group date. Not knowing then, she asked if I wanted to live with her and some other girls, that year ended up being the last year of my single life. I had a blast and she was with me, with every missionary letter and every sticker that was put on my countdown chart.

Jennifer- My sister. What can I say, she was the one that witnessed all of my relationship ups and downs. At first I thought Ryan liked her after a hiking trip that a group of us went on. But it turns out that he was just showing off for his cousin. Long story short. She did my hair and make up for most of the dances that I went to with him and she also did my hair and make up on my wedding day. She was protective when she needed to be and supportive when I needed her to be.

Matt- Ryan's cousin. I owe Ryan even looking in my direction to this guy. Once Ryan was on my radar, I can remember constantly asking Matt what Ryan thought of me, where I was on his cuteness scale and other annoying questions. He orchestrated alot of group hang outs in the beginning to help us (both not aggressive people in the dating scene) get to know each other.

Josh- Brother-in-law. We first met Josh on a double date with my sister, it was their first date. Josh and Ryan hit it off from the beginning and Josh told Ryan that he would make sure I waited to persue any relationship until Ryan got home from his mission. We got engaged the night of Josh's birthday party. If you need a refresher, see here. Along with Jennifer, he was our biggest supporter when things were off and he was always there to help out our cause.

Adam- Ryan's mission buddy. There was the famous 40 days, I was nervous about Ryan coming home from his mission because one letter had talk of marriage. So I stopped writing him. In Ryan's darkest hour of despair I think on a rainy night, while driving with Adam he threw all of his pictures of me in his wallet out the window. The next day Adam returned to the site of where the pictures were thrown and gathered them all up and returned them to Ryan. I think he knew once he calmed down he would be sorry he threw them out. He restored hope to Ryan and totally knew how to handle Ryan in his dramatic moments.

If you read this long post all the way through, way to go! Thanks for hanging in there.
Now go and celebrate Groundhog Day!