I just realized that I don't have our love story written down anywhere. Not anywhere. How does that happen? We've been married OVER a year now. You'd think that I would have at least written it down in a journal or something. I tend to procrastinate everything that I do. Luckily that is what this post is for. This post is dedicated to our love story.
Now, for those of you that don't like lovey dovey, mushy gushy kind of stuff... I warn you now.
This post is not for you.
This post is not for you.
If you think you can handle it......
Read On
Before I decided to go to the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) I was enrolled at Utah Valley University. All of my classes had already been decided, I had been through student orientation, my scholarships were put in place- everything had been planned out. A couple of weeks before school was supposed to start, Miranda invited me to go down to CEU with her. (She had to go down there for a student government meeting, I was just taggin along for fun) While we were down there a bunch of the Student Government members tried to talk me into going there. I pretended to be interested in what they had to say when really deep down I was laughing to myself. There was no way I was going to move away from home and change up all of my plans. However, once I was back home I could not get CEU out of my mind. After much thought and prayer I decided that CEU was where I needed to go.
That was the best decision I have ever made. After a couple of weeks of school, they offered me a position on Student Government as an activity director (working with Miranda, Dallen, and Emily) We had a blast. Some of the activities we planned were fear factor, minute to win it, comedy sportz, dances, eagle experience, Lite Brite, etc. Lite Brite was probably the favorite activity of the year. It was so much fun. Here is a quick glance of what lite brite was like....
I met so many new people who became such good friends of mine. It was a good experience for me and I'm glad I chose to go. The most important blessing from going to CEU was meeting the love of my life. His name is Mark Hyde and this is how we met.
Mark and I lived in the same dorms. He was downstairs and I was upstairs. We were also in the same ward. I met him the first week of school and thought he was very attractive. However he was kind of dating another girl at the time so I didn't even try to really get to know him. Apparently he felt the same way about me but knew that I was waiting for a missionary so he didn't try either. That is until this one night. At one of the activities that we had going on I ran into Mark's roomate Regan. He and I had been discussing something that was going on at the time that I was feeling really bad about. After he left Mark had come looking for Regan. Since he had already left and Mark noticed that I was sad, he decided to sit down and find out what was wrong. After a long talk about everything that was going on, he told me that it would be ok and I should go hang out with him and Regan that night to get my mind off of things. Since the volleyball girls were out of town, Miranda was gone, and I hate being alone, I took him up on the offer. That night we all pulled an all nighter. We rented Iron Man, talked and laughed a LOT, and basically had a blast together. That was the beginning of our friendship! :)
DATES: (Although I don't remember the exact order that all of these dates went in....)
Date #1-
That weekend Mark invited me to the BYU game with him and Regan. I woke up that morning sick and wasn't going to go. That was the date that I started really falling for him on. Good thing I went. We went to the BYU game in Provo, went and visited a lot of his mission buddies, ate at Chilles, and then went home.
Date #2-
The next date we went on was a Halloween date. Regan took Kristena (who he is now married to) and Mark took me. We went to Walmart and had to come up with our costumes that we were going to wear to the Mentalist show that night. Mark and I were creative. We came up with day and night. Mark wore a bright yellow tee shirt- he was day. I wore a black tee shirt that we put star stickers all over and sprayed with silver sparkles. I also wore star sunglasses...- I was night. It was creative, I must admit. We met up with Regan and Kristena at Pizza Hut where our costumes were going to be judged by the waitress. They won- but only because they cheated. :) Kristena's parents lived there so they used costumes that were from her house. They did look pretty great though....
Unfortunately Mark and I didn't take a picture of our costumes... sad day! It was a great night.
Date #3-
This date was the date that he reinvented to propose to me (read proposal later on and you'll see what I mean) The reason he did this date was because I was having a hard time committing to being in a relationship with him. I still felt like I didn't know him well enough, and he didn't know me well enough to committ to anything yet. So he put together a "Get to know you date." It was perfect. This is what he did.
Mark decided to take me to all of the places around town that meant a lot to him. At each of these places he told me stories about himself now, as well as childhood stories. In the car on the way to each of the locations we had to ask each other get to know you questions. Not just the "what color is your toothbrush" but even the deep questions like "what was the hardest thing you've ever faced" etc. We took turns asking the questions and answering the questions.
The first place he took me to was this park by our dorms. We went up to this tree where he set out a blanket and his laptop. There he told me all about his "family tree" and how much his family meant to him. He showed me pictures of each one of his nieces and nephews and told me stories.
Then he took me to the baseball field. Baseball has always been a huge part of his life (obviously since he was on a baseball scholarship at CEU). He told me stories about his childhood, how he got to CEU, and how baseball has effected his life. Then we went on a hill behind the baseball field where we star gazed and talked about past relationships and how they've effected us. It was good opening up and getting out my feelings about the boy that I was supposed to be waiting for while he was on his mission.
Next we went to the hospital so that I could tell him about my wierd facination for hospitals, and he told me his appendix story and how that made it so he ended up at CEU (long story).
After the hospital we headed to the church. This was the most personal part of our date and the most special. We talked about the gospel and how it has been such a huge part of our lives.
Lastly, we went to this other park that had TONS of leaves already piled up. He knew that that has always been one of the things I've wanted to do so he made sure there were lots of piles for me to play in. Once our leave jumping fun had ended we went over to the tables where he made me hot chocolate and gave me this hoops and yo yo card (they are my favorite).
This was the date I fell in love with him and I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be in a relationship with him. It was the best date ever! :)
We had a lot more dates after that, but those were the dates that led up to us being in a relationship. Once in a relationship it was date after date after date. It would take hours to write down every date that we went on.
Before the proposal he spent a lot of time with my family, and I had the opportunity to spend time with his as well. (Even though most of his family is spread out in lots of different locations) I didn't think I would get to meet Vicki and Jake's family since they lived in Seattle, but around Christmas time, Mark's parents flew me out to Seattle to spend time with him and their family. We went on a underground tour of Seattle, to the Space needle and this awesome museum, to Pike's Market Place, ate at this awesome seafood place, to a Jazz game where we actually got to meet Kirilinko, and we were able to be there for Dantley's baby blessing. We had such a great time.
Our First Kiss:
This story is actually quite funny. We were watching a movie in Mark and Regan's room when Regan had to go check on his Easy Mac that he had out in the lobby. Once he left Mark turned to me and we were just about to kiss for the first time when Regan walked in.... He said akwardly, "I was just grabbing a spoon!" And then hurried back out of the room. Mark and I couldn't stop laughing. It was awesome.
The Propsal:
April 14th, 2011
That night didn't start off as planned, and that was my fault. He had planned this entire night out beginning earlier in the night. I begged him to take me to this stupid dance recital. Mainly because I got extra credit for attending and I needed to go because of Student Government. He took me since he knew it would get over at 8:00ish and it would still give us time to go to dinner and do everything else that he had planned. Unfortunatly after the dance recital I had to go set up for lite brite (something I forgot to inform him about). He kept asking me to ditch out but there was no way that I was going to risk getting in trouble. So instead he came to help set up hoping that if more people helped we would get out faster. We didn't finish setting up until 11. That kind of put a damper on his plans, but that didn't stop him from proposing.
He asked me if I wanted to go on a walk to get some fresh air after spending so much time inside setting up. I agreed. He took me around and we just talked about everything. Before our walk was over he took us back to the tree where he took me on that one "get to know you date." (That was where he taught me about his "family tree"). There he told me ALL of the reasons why he loved me and how much I meant to him. Then he got down on one knee and said "Now I want you to be part of my family tree" and asked me to marry him. It was so special, and he was so cute that I just had to say yes ;) That was the best decision I have ever made.
We had a lot of fun and spent every living moment together. He taught me how to play Halo, something that we still do to this day. He taught me how to have patience, and that some things just don't matter. He showed me constant kindness and would listen to me when sometimes I just needed to vent. He took care of me when I was sick, helped me with my homework, put up with my stubborness (even when I was wrong), connected with me in ways that nobody else could. He is and will always be the love of my life. My perfect match. My Best Friend. I love you Markus Hyde. (No, Markus is not his real name. It's just what I call him)
We were married on July 20, 2011. That day was the best day of my life and way too long to post about now, but I'll make sure to post all about it another day.
This is just the beginning of our love story.
I met so many new people who became such good friends of mine. It was a good experience for me and I'm glad I chose to go. The most important blessing from going to CEU was meeting the love of my life. His name is Mark Hyde and this is how we met.
Mark and I lived in the same dorms. He was downstairs and I was upstairs. We were also in the same ward. I met him the first week of school and thought he was very attractive. However he was kind of dating another girl at the time so I didn't even try to really get to know him. Apparently he felt the same way about me but knew that I was waiting for a missionary so he didn't try either. That is until this one night. At one of the activities that we had going on I ran into Mark's roomate Regan. He and I had been discussing something that was going on at the time that I was feeling really bad about. After he left Mark had come looking for Regan. Since he had already left and Mark noticed that I was sad, he decided to sit down and find out what was wrong. After a long talk about everything that was going on, he told me that it would be ok and I should go hang out with him and Regan that night to get my mind off of things. Since the volleyball girls were out of town, Miranda was gone, and I hate being alone, I took him up on the offer. That night we all pulled an all nighter. We rented Iron Man, talked and laughed a LOT, and basically had a blast together. That was the beginning of our friendship! :)
DATES: (Although I don't remember the exact order that all of these dates went in....)
Date #1-
That weekend Mark invited me to the BYU game with him and Regan. I woke up that morning sick and wasn't going to go. That was the date that I started really falling for him on. Good thing I went. We went to the BYU game in Provo, went and visited a lot of his mission buddies, ate at Chilles, and then went home.
Date #2-
The next date we went on was a Halloween date. Regan took Kristena (who he is now married to) and Mark took me. We went to Walmart and had to come up with our costumes that we were going to wear to the Mentalist show that night. Mark and I were creative. We came up with day and night. Mark wore a bright yellow tee shirt- he was day. I wore a black tee shirt that we put star stickers all over and sprayed with silver sparkles. I also wore star sunglasses...- I was night. It was creative, I must admit. We met up with Regan and Kristena at Pizza Hut where our costumes were going to be judged by the waitress. They won- but only because they cheated. :) Kristena's parents lived there so they used costumes that were from her house. They did look pretty great though....
Unfortunately Mark and I didn't take a picture of our costumes... sad day! It was a great night.
Date #3-
This date was the date that he reinvented to propose to me (read proposal later on and you'll see what I mean) The reason he did this date was because I was having a hard time committing to being in a relationship with him. I still felt like I didn't know him well enough, and he didn't know me well enough to committ to anything yet. So he put together a "Get to know you date." It was perfect. This is what he did.
Mark decided to take me to all of the places around town that meant a lot to him. At each of these places he told me stories about himself now, as well as childhood stories. In the car on the way to each of the locations we had to ask each other get to know you questions. Not just the "what color is your toothbrush" but even the deep questions like "what was the hardest thing you've ever faced" etc. We took turns asking the questions and answering the questions.
The first place he took me to was this park by our dorms. We went up to this tree where he set out a blanket and his laptop. There he told me all about his "family tree" and how much his family meant to him. He showed me pictures of each one of his nieces and nephews and told me stories.
Then he took me to the baseball field. Baseball has always been a huge part of his life (obviously since he was on a baseball scholarship at CEU). He told me stories about his childhood, how he got to CEU, and how baseball has effected his life. Then we went on a hill behind the baseball field where we star gazed and talked about past relationships and how they've effected us. It was good opening up and getting out my feelings about the boy that I was supposed to be waiting for while he was on his mission.
Next we went to the hospital so that I could tell him about my wierd facination for hospitals, and he told me his appendix story and how that made it so he ended up at CEU (long story).
After the hospital we headed to the church. This was the most personal part of our date and the most special. We talked about the gospel and how it has been such a huge part of our lives.
Lastly, we went to this other park that had TONS of leaves already piled up. He knew that that has always been one of the things I've wanted to do so he made sure there were lots of piles for me to play in. Once our leave jumping fun had ended we went over to the tables where he made me hot chocolate and gave me this hoops and yo yo card (they are my favorite).
This was the date I fell in love with him and I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be in a relationship with him. It was the best date ever! :)
We had a lot more dates after that, but those were the dates that led up to us being in a relationship. Once in a relationship it was date after date after date. It would take hours to write down every date that we went on.
Before the proposal he spent a lot of time with my family, and I had the opportunity to spend time with his as well. (Even though most of his family is spread out in lots of different locations) I didn't think I would get to meet Vicki and Jake's family since they lived in Seattle, but around Christmas time, Mark's parents flew me out to Seattle to spend time with him and their family. We went on a underground tour of Seattle, to the Space needle and this awesome museum, to Pike's Market Place, ate at this awesome seafood place, to a Jazz game where we actually got to meet Kirilinko, and we were able to be there for Dantley's baby blessing. We had such a great time.
( Love this picture because of the kid in the background)
Our First Kiss:
This story is actually quite funny. We were watching a movie in Mark and Regan's room when Regan had to go check on his Easy Mac that he had out in the lobby. Once he left Mark turned to me and we were just about to kiss for the first time when Regan walked in.... He said akwardly, "I was just grabbing a spoon!" And then hurried back out of the room. Mark and I couldn't stop laughing. It was awesome.
The Propsal:
April 14th, 2011
That night didn't start off as planned, and that was my fault. He had planned this entire night out beginning earlier in the night. I begged him to take me to this stupid dance recital. Mainly because I got extra credit for attending and I needed to go because of Student Government. He took me since he knew it would get over at 8:00ish and it would still give us time to go to dinner and do everything else that he had planned. Unfortunatly after the dance recital I had to go set up for lite brite (something I forgot to inform him about). He kept asking me to ditch out but there was no way that I was going to risk getting in trouble. So instead he came to help set up hoping that if more people helped we would get out faster. We didn't finish setting up until 11. That kind of put a damper on his plans, but that didn't stop him from proposing.
He asked me if I wanted to go on a walk to get some fresh air after spending so much time inside setting up. I agreed. He took me around and we just talked about everything. Before our walk was over he took us back to the tree where he took me on that one "get to know you date." (That was where he taught me about his "family tree"). There he told me ALL of the reasons why he loved me and how much I meant to him. Then he got down on one knee and said "Now I want you to be part of my family tree" and asked me to marry him. It was so special, and he was so cute that I just had to say yes ;) That was the best decision I have ever made.
We had a lot of fun and spent every living moment together. He taught me how to play Halo, something that we still do to this day. He taught me how to have patience, and that some things just don't matter. He showed me constant kindness and would listen to me when sometimes I just needed to vent. He took care of me when I was sick, helped me with my homework, put up with my stubborness (even when I was wrong), connected with me in ways that nobody else could. He is and will always be the love of my life. My perfect match. My Best Friend. I love you Markus Hyde. (No, Markus is not his real name. It's just what I call him)
We were married on July 20, 2011. That day was the best day of my life and way too long to post about now, but I'll make sure to post all about it another day.
This is just the beginning of our love story.
stop it. you're too cute. love you two:)
ReplyDeleteNICE! So glad you both are part of my family tree.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard this story in over a year! ;) Love it just as much as I did then!!
ReplyDelete