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.
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