AND SO IT BEGAN

As Kathrin (shout out) clearly pointed out on one of my previous posts, Kami and Erik getting married on August 7 is really stealing my (and Clayton's) THUNDER. Thanks guys. Seriously . You see Clayton and I got married August 4, 2005. Because we are taking time off of work for their wedding on Thursday, we could not get our anniversary on Monday off. Feeling bad yet? Try harder. We have decided that we will just celebrate it this weekend. But to make us feel better maybe they could swing a few of those gift cards our way.

Don't get me wrong we did celebrate. I decided to take us on a trip down memory lane. Clayton was kind enough to humor me. It all started at the Logan LDS Temple. I had packed us a picnic and we ate on the Temple grounds. Old Grist Mill provided the food. When Clayton and I were first married we would go to the gym and on our way home from working out we would stop at Old Grist Mill to get sandwiches. It was a year later that we decided that we could make our own sandwiches. Who knew.

Rewind to the summer of July of 2004. Clayton was home from Hawaii for the summer and one of his friends asked him to go to Church with her. He called his friend, Spencer to find out what time his ward started (thanks Spencer). As luck or fate (you decide) would have it Spencer was in my ward. Our ward met at the institute.
Clayton told my friend Amanda that it was her job as a member of the RS presidency to set us up. One month (and one broken nose) later we went on our first date...to the driving range. Those of you who know me know that my golfing skills are not well...quite up to par (pun very much intended). One thing on that date really stood out to me and that was how easy it was to talk to this boy. It wasn't the usual "how many kids in your family?" "what do you like to do?" questions. Our conversations were so comfortable and came so naturally. It was like no first (and somewhat of a blind) date that I had ever been on.
We went out a couple more times that summer before Clayton headed home to Hawaii. That is where the email relationship came in. I guess you could say that we had an Internet relationship. I wasn't looking for a relationship, but the more I emailed him the more my feelings grew. I started to get really excited for him to come home for Christmas. This new feeling was really baffling to me. Two days after he got home we had our 1st kiss (December 12) at my house. Rumor has it that I threw him against the front door, but I beg to differ. That Christmas was one of the best ever. We spent pretty much every day together that month. The night before he left to go back to Hawaii we were in his parents basement watching tv and he said, "I love you" and got up and ran to the bathroom. He doesn't remember saying it out loud, but he remembers saying it in his head. Strange. As he drove me home that night he said it again...what he thought was the first time. That next day he flew out and the next four months were really, really hard. Finally in April I went to see him in Hawaii and it was then that I was pretty sure that we were meant to be. June 12 (six months after our first kiss) we got engaged (at my house...see this house I was living in had a lot of significance). I'll save that story for another time seeing how this post is long enough as it is.

7 weeks later on August 4th we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple. And that is the story of us. Did anyone make it this far? Didn't think so. These other pictures are other stops we made on our trek down memory road...

Bench on Cliffside that over looks the Temple. This is where we used to go makeout! Good times.
Anniversary Inn. Where we spent our first night as a married couple. Bow-chicka-bow-bow.

I'm so glad that Kami and Erik have found each other. I wish them nothing but happiness and love...even though they are stealing our thunder/glory!