The Beginning of: Our Story

Our story doesn’t have a specific beginning, really.  I mean, it starts, obviously, but it wasn’t one of those “enchanted-evening-across-a-crowded-room” kind of moments.  We first met doing baptisms for the dead with our ward.  It was the first activity our ward did after the Ririe YSA branch (his branch) and part of the Rigby YSA ward (my ward) was combined to make the Ririe YSA ward.  We met, we did baptisms, and I went home.  No big deal.  Though, I do remember trying to learn his name—Heath.  Not strange, but not one you hear all the time.
Our relationship went on like that for about six weeks.  I got called to be the Relief Society President, and he was the ward Mission Leader, which basically means we saw each other a lot at meetings, meetings, and more meetings.  We also hung out with the same friends in the ward, at Sunday night game nights, lots of ward activities, and movie nights on the weekend.  To be honest I wasn’t really interested in a relationship. I thought he was cute, don’t get me wrong, and I admired a lot of things about him, but I had just been in a relationship, and wasn't looking for another one right away.  Plus, one of my friends was really interested in him, and I’m not the type to mess with things like that.  He told me later that he was kind-of interested from the beginning, but he had also been in relationships before in a different singles’ ward, and had basically sworn off dating within the ward.
So, like I said, it went like that for a while: both slightly interested, but not really willing to take the step forward.  Then, I wrecked my car.

It sounds silly to say that a car wreck was what triggered our relationship, but I honestly think it was.   The details aren’t important to this story, but one Sunday morning someone pulled out in front of me, and I ended up in a “ditch” (a big canal really) on the side of the road. Because word spreads fast in a small place like Rigby, Idaho, it wasn’t long before it got back to Heath.  Because I had just left our ward council meeting, the Bishop found out at almost the same time, and through an assignment/volunteer process, Heath and the other mission leader, Sawyer, were soon on their way.  They actually showed up before the police, though that’s not saying too much since it took 30 minutes for the cops to show up.  I was very touched that they came. Sawyer gave me a hug, and Heath offered his hand for me to squeeze, since I was shaking pretty badly.  He also gave me his number, just in case I needed anything.  In my head, dear reader, I can see you start to nod.  You’re seeing where this is going, right? Good.
That night, there was a surprise going away party for Holly, a mutual friend of ours, and so we both attended. I was very sore from my wreck, but tried to be tough.  My little brother showed up just before the guest of honor, and Heath volunteered to go tell him where he could hide his car.  Just as he got to Clayton's car, Holly's car pulled down the road.  Not wanting to be caught, Heath jumped in with Clayton and they drove to the parking spot.  As they later walked back to the house together, they had an interesting conversation.  The details are fuzzy for me (since I wasn't there) but the gist is basically this: Clayton suggested to Heath that he should ask his sister (me) out on a date.  Heath responded a little surprised--he didn't think I was interested at all--but he didn't say no. I guess I must credit Clayton (who was actually encouraged by my mom--discerning as she is) with planting the "bug" in Heath's ear.
The next night at FHE, my neck was hurting something awful, due to the whiplash I got from running my car full speed into the side of a canal bank.  I was literally in tears. Because of his job as a physical therapy tech, Heath knew a few stretches I could do, to help with the stiffness. He also offered to rub my neck, an offer I gladly accepted, even though I was a little taken aback by the shift in his attitude towards me. By the next day, I was feeling 100% better.  It was a miracle, which is what I told him the next night at our meetings.  The look on his face when I hugged him was priceless.  I don’t think he was expecting it, but he seemed nothing less than pleased.
To me, though, the most interesting—perhaps prophetic—thing happened a few days later.  Our ward was again at the temple, this time doing sealings.  If you haven’t done that before, the actual process isn’t what was significant, but rather what happened before we started.  As I walked in, one of the workers asked for my name, and my ward.  Then she started to ask if I was waiting for my husband, since many people do sealings as a couple.  As she realized that I was with the singles’ ward, she stopped mid question, and all she got out was, “Are you waiting for….oh, never mind.”  When my friend Amber showed up, we joked a little bit about the incident.  Each of us had an empty chair next to us, and we decided that technically we were waiting for our “someone,” but that he probably wasn’t going to show up that night.  We thought we were so funny we even turned around and shared our joke with the Bishop.  By that time, Heath had showed up, and taken a chair next to the Bishop and his wife, so he also overheard our joke.  I had turned back around to talk to Amber again, and a few seconds later, I was surprised to hear a voice next to my ear.  “I guess I’m the one.”  It was Heath. He had moved over to sit by me, in the empty chair supposedly being saved for “the one” for me.  I laughed, and so did he, but I couldn’t deny the funny little feeling I got when he said it.
That night we went out to dinner with a friend, and I impressed him with my ability to eat.  Seriously. And a few days later we had our first "official" date--drinking hot chocolate ("luke" actually) and a few hours of great conversation. The rest, as they say, is history.
It's been over seven months now, since that night, and to detail every thing that has happened in the process of our relationship would take much more time and space than this blog (or your attention span) would allow.  But as each day passes since that night, I'm starting to think he was right.

Here are some pictures, just so you don't feel like I'm skipping the good part! Obviously there will be more stories to come.....stay tuned!

Making pizza so we could watch some football! 

It's Santa! 

Driving to Utah...first of many trips!

Decorating the Christmas tree.

Salt Lake temple at Christmas time! Freezing cold! 

Matt and Corrinn's wedding photo booth!

Cherelle's wedding!(We went to a LOT of weddings!)

Katelyn came to visit!

Easter eggs--sensing a theme with us? 

Four-wheeling!

Campfire on Easter.

Shooting on the desert! 

Mother's Day picnic at the park with my family.

Fixing a wound from 4 wheeling on my bday!

Yep, that's how it is! Happy birthday to me. :)