How I Met Your Father...

Wow! I can't believe Dan & I have been married for 14 years, yet we've been through so many changes since 1996...

I feel so incredibly blessed to have Dan in my life. It really is quite a miracle that we've worked out because ours was a whirlwind courtship! I was roommates with his cousin Shelley at the U of U. We lived at the XΩ Sorority house in the Spring of 1995. Shelly and Dan were close and Dan was serving a mission in London, England. She had pictures of Dan all over our room and talked about him often. We'd also been dancing and to parties with Dan's girlfriend, whom I will refrain to name:-) So, I knew a lot about him before I ever met him in April, 1995. He came over a few days after he's returned from his mission and we bonded over our love of the band, Rush. He also teased me about "having no social life" when I was in my pajamas at 11 PM at night! I told Shelley something like, "Your cousin's cute, but he's rude. Please don't line me up with him!"

I had been dating a few guys, but no one I was crazy about. I... ate my words and...  asked Shelley to line me up with Dan for a XΩ ice skating party in December of 1995. We just clicked. I loved that he was tall, fun to talk to and made me laugh. I went home that night and told my Mom I'd just gone out with the guy I was going to marry. YIKES! She shocked me when she replied, "I know." Can you imagine? Little did I know it at the time, but Dan had gone home that night and told his Mom the same thing about me!

We dated seriously after Christmas and got engaged, unofficially on February 7th, 1996... So we dated for just over 2 months before getting engaged. My Dad thought we were too young and that I was crazy, but thankfully, my Mom talked some sense into him:-) To tell you the truth, if my kids do that to me, I know I will freak out! Dan proposed by planning an elaborate scavenger hunt all over Salt Lake to the places we'd gone on many of our first dates. That night, we had a romantic dinner at The Roof restaurant overlooking the temple and city. He got down on one knee and opened a box containing the ring I'd carried a picture of in my wallet since I was about 18. (Don't laugh!) We were married 3 months later and the rest is history...

Ashlyn & I made Dan this Boston Cream pie for Father's Day! I couldn't ask for a better husband or father for our kids. As the saying goes, "You don't marry someone you can live with, you marry someone you can't live without!"