7 years....holy cow!

Seven years ago today I married an amazing man...where'd he get to now?!  Just kidding...he's still right here beside me.

J and I are celebrating our 7th anniversary today!  So what better way to reminisce than with a post about how we met, got engaged and our wedding?

In a somewhat unromantic way, J and I met at a bar.  Yup, at a bar while I was in college.  I was working as a waitress at the time at Outback Steakhouse and had made friends with Super-Mom.  J was working at Safeway and was friends with Super-Mom's boyfriend.  So when Super-Mom and I would hang out, we'd inevitably be with Super-Mom's boyfriend, and there would be J.  So we saw each other around, said hi here and there, but never really talked.  One night, we were hanging out at a bar on the main drag of Tucson with all the crew and suddenly everyone decided they wanted to dance.  I had just gotten a drink and J wasn't in the mood to dance, so they all deserted us and went off to the dance floor.

So what were we to do?  We started making out!  HA HA, just kidding!  We started to chat and learn about each other.  I may have been a college co-ed, but I wasn't a sleazy college co-ed!  He told me he had just broken up with his girl friend and how crazy she was.  Probably 30 or 40 minutes later, crazy girlfriend walked up as I was giving J my phone number.  I left them to talk and went about the rest of my evening.

I remember that the next day I really wanted J to call, so since I knew someone dating his roommate, I got the roommates number from my friend and essentially stalked J that way.  I called his cell phone, but refused to leave a message.  But I didn't call just once, nope, I called probably 7 times.  I wasn't desperate, I just knew a good thing when I saw it.  Finally, he called me back and we planned to meet up the next evening at yet another bar.  (I always thought that he was too "hot" for me.  Later on, J told me he thought the same thing about me. Awwwwww...)

We met up that evening and had some fun.  He asked me out on a proper date and of course I said yes.  So a couple days later he picked me up in his huge, orange truck.  Think massive Chevy truck, lifted and Dukes of Hazzard orange.  I think he had to boost me up into it in my going out outfit.  (At the time, I had a Lexus ES 300 - my Mom's old car - and he was way intimidated by that.)  We had dinner at this place called Oregano's that I love and then we planned to go to a movie...Kate and Leopold.  Only when we got to the theater, it was sold out and the only other movie was...wait for it...Blackhawk Down.  I kid you not!  We watched it.  Well, he did.  I think I was looking away for a lot of the gory stuff.  Not the best first date movie!  He drove me home, kissed me goodnight and left.  I walked in and told Melslaw that I had met the man I was going to marry.  Go ahead, ask her!  That was January 2002.

We continued to date and get to know each other.  I could bore you with all the other details, but let's get to the engagement because I love this story!

I graduated from college in May 2002 and afterwards went on a trip with my parents and their friends.  We went to Grand Cayman for about a week or 10 days, I forget...best place EVER!  There was lots of beach time, shopping, reading and relaxing.  During one of our shopping trips, I found a tanzanite ring that I fell in love with.  It was about $400.  I figured I could buy it for myself as a graduation present.  I decided to think on it and maybe go back before we left to get it.  I had told J I would call him while I was gone so we could talk quick, from my cell phone (a $56 phone call!!).  I told him about the ring and he said the funniest thing to me.  He said, "You'll run out of fingers."  I never went back to get the ring.  Went to bed that night and had the weirdest dream.


J and I were visiting different people from his family.  Every person I saw would ask me when the wedding was and I would tell them I didn't know.  Then, they would tell me a date.  Every single person I talked to kept moving the wedding up by one day.  Just before I woke up, the person had told me the wedding would be the day we were flying home.  

I woke up and laughed it off because we were getting home about 11 pm, so he wouldn't have much time for a wedding.  He was picking us up at the airport and when he did he seemed a little tense, but I just wrote it off as being nervous because my parents were there.  We dropped my parents off at their house and I followed him home in my car.  I was exhausted!  All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and go to sleep.  I changed into my jammies real quick and slid into bed about midnight.  When I laid down, I slid my hand under my pillow and shut my eyes, only to have my hand find a velvet box.

I popped up quicker than I knew I could and looked at J.  (He says I opened the box, then shut it real fast, then opened it again. But I don't remember any of that.)  I said, "is this what I think it is?"  He said yes, and before he could even rightfully propose I was screaming "yes!"  So apparently, my dream came true and he did have time.  I think we were destined to meet and we both knew it, and weren't going to let it pass us by.

I planned to move to Denver from Tucson after graduation, and he had told me earlier that he wanted to come with me.  So we knew we were leaving late June, but had to tell his parents that we were not only engaged but moving to Denver.  They weren't happy that I was taking him away, but seeing as how we are now married and back in Tucson, I think they have forgiven me for that.

We moved to Denver and made it work.  Got jobs, got laid off, got different jobs, bought a house, and planned a wedding.  We got married in Tucson on April 16, 2004 at Wild Horse Ranch.  I tried to upload the video but youtube.com only allows 15 minute videos and ours is 23 minutes!  Here's a couple photos.

 My girls...BFF in Phoenix and Melslaw (Melslaw also sang beautifully!)

 

Walking down the aisle with Mom and Daddy

 

By the power vested in me, you may kiss the bride! (that's Schelle who married us!)

The whole family

Mr. and Mrs. J

Some smarty-pants wrote on my Dad's truck so he could see this.  Very smart and cute!

We also did a video (one of the first I am proud to say) of photographs of us growing up and showed that at the reception.  That's here too.  (If you get this via email and can't see it, click here to go to youtube.com)

And then a year later when I came home for MBM's wedding, Mom asked me to be a part of her business.  I called J to get his reaction (it happened to be snowing HARD in Denver) and his exact words were, "I'll pack the house, you stay there!"  He was sooooooooo ready to move back to Tucson.  I also got snowed in in Tucson for a couple extra days, as they closed the Denver airport.  

But when I finally got back to Denver, we put the house on the market and just about the time we were ready to take it off because it wasn't selling, it sold for full price!!  However, the only stipulation was that we were OUT in 14 days!  Yes, 14 days!  We still hadn't even told our bosses yet or packed up at all!  We made it and moved back to Tucson where we again got jobs, bought a house and now planned a family.

We started trying to get pregnant in June of 2007, and here we are doing IVF in June 2011 - 4 years later.  I never thought it would take us this long, but apparently that is God's wish.  

So now you know our story.  I'm very grateful that I knew J was the right guy for me.  This journey wouldn't have worked without his support and patience. Yes, we have our disagreements, but the love is there to get us through.  I'm so lucky in love.

Happy 7th Anniversary my love!  Thank you for choosing me as your wife!

Oh, last piece of all this...this is what we got each other for our wedding present!

And here she is today...just without the t-shirt because she is all healed up!

Happy Saturday Blogites!