Meat me in Indiana

           Our love story isn’t a very typical one. It started out my junior year of high school, Mitchell’s senior year. We were in the same first hour, a meats processing class. Yes, a class where you learn about butchering livestock. Romantic, right? We didn’t even really talk all that much through the course of that year, it all began on a school trip to Indianapolis, Indiana for the national FFA convention, my senior year. He came back to compete in a food science contest that I also was competing in. During the course of the week we spent on the school trip, we had so much fun hanging out.  

                On the plane ride home he was sitting in the row behind me and he passed me a note (ha-ha!) asking for my phone number - I of course obliged. Once we were home from the trip and life was back to normal, I realized how much I missed seeing him and talking to him. It took him almost 2 weeks to contact me after the trip. Once we had talked, we had set up a date for the following weekend, November 10th to be exact. I was so anxious the whole week leading up to our date, something that usually didn’t happen. He was every bit as nervous; more about the size of my dad than anything. :) After that first date we were inseparable. If we weren't at school or if he wasn’t working, we were together. 

                Mitchell was not a member of my faith (latter-day saint, a Mormon) at this point. During the course of the first few weeks of dating some things were happening in his life that were causing him a great deal of pain. He asked to attend church with me, because he was lacking  something in his life. Two weeks after attending church with me and my family, he began taking the discussions with our ward missionaries, two young men I will forever be grateful for. After his second discussion with them, they decided to determine how committed he really was to joining the church for himself (not just for me). They asked him to be baptized and without a bat of an eye he said yes! Everyone (but me) in the room, were silenced. Within a few weeks he was baptized and confirmed a member of the church by my dad. It was a special day that I am so happy I was a part of.  

                At this point we are 18 &19 - I'm getting ready to graduate high school. Our relationship continues on and we become each others best friend. We make each other want to be better. I fell in love so young, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.  Two days before graduation, he lost his father. A pain and sorrow that neither of us will forget, a time you wish you could forget. Even during all his pain, he was there for me during my exciting time - graduating high school! He showed me then, what a great man he was. SO strong in a time that it felt like his world had ceased turning.  

                Once we had been dating for a year, we decided to do something crazy and fun to celebrate. We went on a hot air balloon ride. Which is ultimately where we got engaged.  We lived in a weird world for a few weeks. Teetering between engaged and dating. We both knew we had growing up to do - together and individually. So we continued our relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend until we knew the time to get married was right. We spent 3 years dating and in love. It was fun, hard and scary, but so worth it. We prayed a lot for guidance and to know when the right time to be married was.                              

                We were finally married for time and all eternity on April 23, 2011. Our wedding was beautiful, it was everything I imagined. Although, all the decorations, food and planning didn’t mean as much to me as marrying my best friend meant to me. We were surrounded by our loving and supportive families and our closest and dearest friends. A day I will never forget.  

                As I look back on our life together, we have had hard times, times of pain and times of happiness and joy. All of which shaped us into the people we are now. Here we sit, almost 4 years being married and 8 years of being together, living our life still full of hard times and pain, happiness and joy. I couldn’t imagine my life any other way than having this patient, caring and loving man by my side, and couldn’t be more grateful for everyday that we get to share together.  

         

Your Typical Fairytale!

    Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl, Erin and Tony, these two beautiful people fell in love. They began to date, then got engaged, married and then had a baby boy... The end!! 

JUST KIDDING! 

    Seriously though.... I met my husband at a sort of mutual friend's missionary homecoming party at the end Feb 2010. I had a ride home from this event (my sister who I came with had a wedding to attend and left early) who totally bailed on me, so I was now at this party where I didn't really know anyone. So the evening goes on and the party eventually came to an end. I was sitting there on a couch, contemplating how I am going to get home because my ride had left the party to visit a friend, when I see these 2 guys being dorks and going crazy over popping balloons. Weirdos. (I did find it rather entertaining to be honest) As these two friends are popping the balloons, or at least trying to attempt popping them, one of the guys (Tony, if you didn't figure that out) came over to me and asked for a toothpick.... I told him "no sorry I just tossed mine and couldn't see the container of them" but really?? Random!!!! (This is an inside joke for us so I had to share that part of how I first meet him)  

     The evening went on and we all ended up at our friend's house playing "typical Mormon YSA games" until I had to go home. Tony and I had talked a lot during the impromptu game night because those kind of games weren't our thing. We switched numbers and he some how ended up giving me a ride home that night! 

    Was it love at first sight? No. Not really... Definitely a connection though! In one evening I had really learned to like this man, who practically saved me from a grounding (I was in high school still... Did I mention that?), since I had a curfew still. He is sort of was like my "Knight in shining armor!"... Even his noble steed (his car) was white! Ha.

As soon as Tony dropped me off that night I knew there something special about him, so I actually walked straight to my room and prayed about him... I got only good feelings...

    We practically talked/texted every day since that day on! About two week later he came over in the evening to meet my parents and hang out. After he was about to head home, it was March 15th now, when he asked me to come sit in the car with him for a few minutes to talk. He opened my side of car,  I hopped in and he did the same on his side. We just sat there and talked for 30mins when finally he said,"do you know why I came over tonight?" And I had told him to meet my family and hang out... But he told me "nope... Well yes, but because I wanted to make sure I asked you out in person!" At that point I knew he was the one! I felt like guys just don't do that anymore... It also didn't help everyone I dated was in high school or immature. 

    A month went on and Tony was contemplating getting a new job. Well this new job required him to be gone a lot, so one evening Tony came to my house and asked me how I felt about him taking a job that would require him to be gone so much. Honestly, I knew he hated his job and I didn't mind the sacrifice of not being able to see him everyday, which is what I told him. At that moment Tony told me "I LOVE YOU" for the first time.... I had already known I had love for him but was waiting to know if it was mutual. Needless to say I was on cloud 9... It was probably the best night of our relationship at that point.

    It was fun that he travelled for his new job because I remember after I graduated high school he took me on a day road trip to visit where he worked,  he thought it was so pretty I needed to see it. We went to the LDS Oakland temple, saw the Golden Gate Bridge and so much more. It was a fun road trip and great bonding experience:) 

Graduation-2010

Oakland temple (and first photo ever taken together... Whaaaat?!) lol

    On September 11, 2011 Tony took me to Disneyland for my birthday!  Best gift ever... Or so I thought!! 

We spent our first day at Disneyland and it was so much fun showing Tony, my best friend, the place that made me the happiest! I remember Tony telling me it made him happy to see me so happy, but it was true, I was in Disney magic heaven! 

As we were headed to the park again for day 2, of our trip, Tony asked if I wanted to go take pictures in front of the castle before anything else so he could have a pic of me for his wallet! I said of course and we headed to get the picture done. 

    So I take a picture by myself like he requested and then he asks the Disney photographer if he could hop in one. Tony came and joined me for a photo. We actually took a few before he turned to me and said "Erin I love you so much." And me, trying to take this photo thing seriously says quickly "yeah love you too." His response, "no I really do love you Erin and want to spend my eternity with you." At that point his was getting down on his knee and I thought he was joking since he did that all the time... But eventually I caught on and said speechlessly "yes!!" 

The picture Tony made me take alone. Lol

Asking me to Marry him! 

I said "YES!!l"

    9 months later of fun, stressful, crazy wedding planning, we got married in the LDS San Diego temple, June 22, 2012! It was the most beautiful moment of our lives. 

Mr. & Mrs. Chavez <3

    We had our reception the next day back in Fresno, CA. It was fun and a lot of work! I was definitely glad when it was all over and I got to enjoy being married to my new husband!! 

Reception photos 

   We honeymooned at Disneyland, Universal studios Hollywood and the beach. It was a lot of fun and nice to get away from the our normal world for 7 days!

Honeymooning!

    We have now been married for a happy, almost, 3years in June! 

We have the most adorable baby boy, Elijah, who we were blessed with in April 2014. 

We can't have asked for a better life as our "Happily Ever After" continues! <3 

Love at Second Sight

When I was a little girl, I told my parents I was going to marry a Canadian named Bryan (only because my cousin had married a Canadian named Brian). Little did I know at the time that it would be true! But how did I meet my Bryan?

It was 2008, I was a freshman at Brigham Young University in Utah. I got a text from a friend saying he was driving down from Canada for Halloween and wanted to hangout! I reluctantly agreed and on Halloween night I dragged a couple of my friends to go meet him and his friends at Village Inn. The friend introduced us to his friends, Bryan being one of them. Bryan had a girl with him, so I really didn't pay much attention to him at all. We maybe said hi to each other and that was it. Keep in mind, this is what I was wearing when we met: 

Michelangelo baby!! Great first impression right? He told me later that he thought I looked like a nerd (even though he is a huge one), so I guess it wasn't love at first sight. Anyways, I didn't think I was going to see this friend or any of his friends ever again, and I was perfectly okay with that. 

The next day, I went to a BYU hockey game. I got a text from my friend asking where I was, and I didn't exactly want to see him again, so I just said I was at a hockey game (not providing the details on purpose). Next thing I know, he and his friends (Bryan included) from the night before were there. He and Bryan came and sat with me and my friend at the game. This is when Bryan and I started talking and kind of flirting. But obviously, I didn't think anything would come of it, and I didn't want anything to come of it at that point. 

Long story short, my friend was mad and left the game in a hurry and Bryan stayed behind before getting in the car with said friend. Bryan asked me if I was interested in our friend and I told him I wasn’t. He asked me to walk to the car with him to say bye to our friend because they were driving back to Canada the next day. I guess that was the first time I really noticed Bryan in a way where I thought, “man, this guy is a really good friend and loyal, I like that.” 

Side note: a girl from one of my classes had seen Bryan at the hockey game and asked me who “that hot guy was” and I told her his name, and then realized, “HECK NO!”, I am interested in this guy, back off!!

That night or the next, I looked Bryan up on Facebook and couldn't find him because I spelled his name wrong. Little did I know, he was doing the same because I got a Facebook message from him asking how I was doing. I was so excited that he had sent me a message!!! 

It all blossomed from there. We talked every single day from then on out! Bryan told me he wanted to come visit me before Thanksgiving to go on a date! He drove 12 hours through snowy Montana mountains to come see me! (talk about a leap of faith! Imagine driving that long for everything to have sucked? Ha). From our first date:

We had our first kiss that weekend and it was glorious! Bryan drove down to visit me when he could (once or twice a month)! He also flew out to Nashville to visit me during Christmas break! I flew out to Canada to see him and meet his family (I met his parents previously) in May of 2009. At this point we had talked about marriage and knew we wanted to get married! 

Bryan proposed on my 19th birthday, June 15th 2009! (Side side note: I never thought I would be a teen bride. I never wanted to be a teen bride. But then I met Bryan and I realized that marrying the right person was more important than worrying about being a teen bride) He had asked me, my mom, and sisters to leave so he could talk to my dad. As we were leaving, my mom said she had forgotten her phone on her bed and asked me to go get it. I ran upstairs and into my parents room and Bryan came out of no where and was crying! My first thought was that my dad said no to us getting married! I asked him what was wrong, and the next thing I knew, he was proposing! We got married on August 22nd, 2009 and it was one of the best days EVER! 

Single White Rose

   It seems like a million years and a couple dress sizes since my husband and I first met. It is by no means romantic but it is very special to me...

   I was seventeen years old and working at the movie theater. It was the "go to" place in our town, where all the kids hung out and the parents would drop off their teens during the weekend for the movies to babysit the kids. It was directly across from the mall, so a lot of people used it as the hang out zone. The smell of popcorn is forever a nostalgic smell for me. When we walk into one, immediately, the memories start to come back. When you start working at the movie theater they put you in concessions. You learn to pop popcorn, fill cokes, hand out candies, work the registers and do a lot of dirty disgusting work. It gets crazy and insane. The coveted place to be is in box (ticket sales) or in booth (the projector area) you don't get as dirty and you don't have to carry the smell of greasy popcorn home with you. Most of the girls would work box and the boys would work "Door" which is basically clean up duty of the theaters and crowd control. I was working concessions on my first day when around the corner comes a crowd of hooligans, a bunch of guys hooting and hollering. They all came to meet the new "meat" aka the new girl (me). They introduced themselves to me, little did I know that the one that told me his name was "lucifer", would be my husband.
My husband called himself Lucifer because "sympathy for the devil" was his theme song. He was funny, cute, and had an amazing smile. There was another guy I was more interested in at the time. He had dreamy blue eyes and dark hair. He was tall and could charm a snake. I really liked him more and flirted up a storm with him. Eventually I was 'promoted" to box and this is where the real magic began.

    With Randy (my husband) working "door" he had the chance during the day shift and weekday nights to hang out around the ticket area. He would tear the tickets and tell people with theater the movie was in. What was nice is that he would be able to talk to me during the boring times when no one was buying tickets. This is where I got to know the real Randy and start to get a crush on him. Soon after we starting talking he notice another new girl who started working concessions. She was cute, bubbly and bouncy...everything I am not. He was definitely interested in her. After some encouragement from me he finally asked her out. During the entire relationship he would seek me out for advice on what to do, where to take her. She and I had started to become good friends. After a short while she told him that they are not meant for each other and that he needs to ask me out instead. One week later we were dating.

    We never really told people that we were boyfriend and girlfriend because we never discussed it. One day under the full moon and a beautiful starry night Randy gave me my first kiss. I told a friend that because we kissed we were boyfriend and girlfriend she told him what I had said and that is how HE found out that he was my boyfriend and no longer on the market.

    Several years before in Young Womens our leaders were talking about how we need to know when we have the "right one". They said that he would be the perfect man in some ways. He would be endowed, a return missionary, gentleman.....on and on the list went. I started to get overwhelmed because A) i was homeschooled and the boys that I knew would never ask me out in the church and would only meet guys outside of the church B) the boys at church were too scared to ask me out because of my parents C) I had a feeling that I would never marry a mormon. I went home that night and prayed to my Father in Heaven and told Him that the "sign" for me to know that the man was "the man" he would give me a single white rose (my favorite flower) After that I never told anyone what my favorite flower was. I would always tell them my second flower a sunflower (they are the happiest flowers in the world!!)


    Randy took me on our first official date to Applebees (we had been seeing each other for a good while but never really went on an actual date until a few months later). He ordered me a surprise desert and took me back to his home where he had candles lit all over his living room with two big beautiful sunflowers in a vase in the center of the coffee table. We ate our dessert in candle light and i was really starting to fall in love with this guy. He was so handsome and sweet and kind and loving and everything that I wanted and it was becoming harder and harder to see myself without him.

    One day after a very long day at work I was tired and met up with him at his house. He was outside with his buddies hanging out, i walked up to him and gave him a kiss, he handed me a single white rose and said "Because I love you and I thought of you when I saw this flower" That day was the day that I knew I would marry this man in the temple. He fulfilled all my dreams and answered my prayers..it sounds silly to think that a single rose could do that but it did.

    Randy was not a member of the church. He did not believe in the church and had no intention of joining. Rand proposed to my after we had been dating for 5 1/2 years, He proposed to me after he had graduated from college (I told him I would not marry a bum) on a Sunday in front of my whole family. I was so happy I cried like a baby. We were married on December 31 2009 in candlelight in my parents home surrounded by white roses.
Randy started to get interested in the church when we found out I was pregnant. The teachings of the church surround family and that is what really spoke to him. We were sealed in the temple on July 2, 2011 when I was seven months pregnant with my oldest.

Our story is not so special but it is our beginning. It is perfect to me and will forever be the best love story.

Anthony and Meghan sitting in a tree...

"How did you meet your husband?"

It's something I get asked pretty much every time I meet somebody new. I guess they are trying to figure out how I ended up so far from my days of eating vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea, telling my mates to "put another shrimp on the barbie" and riding a kangaroo to school.

Well here is our love story, enjoy.

I met Anthony when we were 21. He was a missionary for our church and I was just investigating the church at the time. I didn't really like him at first, I thought he was a total dork!

See... Total dork haha! (Oh and he apparently took a picture with a random car because it had a FL license plate in Aus)

His companion at the time was a nice guy, but he had a little bit of a crush on me and he called me WAY more than could ever be considered appropriate. He wasn't trying to be inappropriate, he legitimately didn't get it. Anyway, he would call, I would tell him that I couldn't talk and he would call back a few minutes later. I ended up figuring out that when he called, I had to ask to speak to his companion so he wouldn't call back. At first, Anthony didn't realise that it was his companion calling me, he just thought I was a weird girl that called the missionaries all the time!
Anyway, we never talked about anything that a missionary shouldn't be talking about, it was always about the church and the gospel. All the missionaries I had spoken to knew with every fibre of their being that the church is true, but the way Anthony talked about it, this knowledge seemed so real.
I'll save my conversion story for another day (It's a long one!) but I ended up being baptised and Anthony's companion was still calling me. I had mentioned wanting to visit the US one day and Anthony said that I should come visit him in Florida if I went after he got home. Then one day, he asked me a weird question. He said that he would probably start dating when he got home and asked if it would be weird for me if he was dating someone else when I went to visit. Still thinking of him as nothing more than a friend, I said no, but then suddenly I realised how badly the thought of him dating anybody else hurt my feelings.
He told me that he didn't want to date anybody else, that he wanted to wait for me, but that he wanted me to wait for him too. I asked him what the point of waiting for each other was, I mean, we would wait for 6+ months, go on a few dates and then I would go back home to Australia and we would never see each other again. Seriously, what would be the point in that. He then told me that he was in love with me and was going to marry me. There was something within me at that very moment that knew that was true, I knew he was the man I was meant to spent eternity with.
Of course, being that he was a missionary, not only could he not date, but it really wasn't appropriate for us to see each other. He was there to do missionary work, to bring the gospel to the people of Melbourne, the last thing he needed was for me to be a distraction.
So for the next 5 months, we wrote to each other every week. When he wrote, he would send me photos of himself and his companions and, for the first time, I saw through the dorky short sleeved button down shirt and missionary haircut and realised that he actually was really really good looking! (Of course, I never thought he was ugly, I just never bothered to look past the dorkiness haha). Over those months and through all those letters/emails, I went from having strong feelings for him, to falling so madly and deeply in love with him, I could no longer see a life without him.
I remember the day he finished his mission. I knew he was leaving to go home and all I could think about all day was going to the airport to see him off. Of course, he was still technically a missionary, so I didn't, but it took a lot of self control not to!
The next day and a half felt like forever as he traveled home and I waited to hear from him. I have never been so happy to hear my phone ring as I was when he got home that day!
It was another couple months before I was able to go visit for the first time. My first visit was only for 3 weeks, but every moment was amazing! I fell deeper and deeper in love with him every second that we spent together and I fell in love with his family too. (Although, I'll be the first to admit that I found his dad a little scary... I still tell him that now haha!)
When it came time to go home, I was heartbroken. I started planning my next trip before I even got back to Australia.

The next ten months were pretty much torture for both of us. We talked all the time (thank goodness for Optus prepaid international minutes!) We would play video games together, watch movies together etc. but obviously, it wasn't the same as actually being together.
When I went back, it was even more amazing as the first time. I had been there for about 2 months, when he suggested we go to the beach one evening at sunset. It wasn't the first time we had gone to the beach (duh, we were in Florida) so I didn't really think much of it. On the way there, we were holding hands and I noticed that his hands were sweaty. I must have commented on it, because I remember him saying something that made absolutely no sense, like "uh its because the windows are open and the ac is on" or something totally silly.
Anyway, we got to the beach right before sunset and he said that he had a picnic blanket in the trunk of the car. He handed me a bag that had strawberries and chocolate in it and he went to get the 'picnic blanket'. When I saw what he was holding, I thought he was CRAZY. He was holding a quilt!!! I remember asking him why he had a quilt instead of a picnic blanket and he just kind of dismissed my question and started walking towards the water. We found a nice, quiet spot to sit and as he laid out the blanket, I realised why he had a quilt: it was hiding a tiny suitcase. I started laughing, thinking that he was playing a joke on me.
(quick background story: my sister's ex proposed by putting the ring, that she knew he had for like a year, in a suitcase and saying something like "I guess that's yours now" and I told Ant that I thought it was the most unromantic proposal ever (sorry sis!) and I joked that if he ever proposed by putting a ring in a suitcase, I would say no. So of course, he always joked that that was what he was going to do.)
Anyway, he bent down, opened the mini suitcase and pulled out a ring! Anyway, he got down on one knee, asked me to marry him, and of course I said yes!

8 months later, we were married for time and all eternity in the Orlando Florida Temple.
Actually, we were lucky, we got two weddings! One in Australia and one here in Florida. After the weddings, we had an amazing honeymoon, in Avon, Colorado, where I got to see snow for the first time ever and shortly after that, we moved to Nashville, TN, to begin our happily ever after...

Oh by the way: Aussies don't ride kangaroos and I have never heard anyone seriously use the phrase "put another shrimp on the barbie" (they are prawns in Australia). I do love my vegemite though!!

I think only other Aussies will get this picture haha

Hope you liked reading our love story. How did you meet your significant other?

honeymooning in Colorado

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