8 years

Tyler and I celebrated out 8th anniversary last weekend. That sounds weird - because it feels like it hasn't been that long, and on the other hand, it feels like I've never lived without him.

in Idaho last summer

We met in Rexburg. We were in the same ward, both attending BYU-Idaho. He lived next door to my FHE brothers, so I had seen him around a few times before I actually met him. My apartment was assigned to his on a Sunday evening for sweet swap/dessert social a few weeks after school started. My first impression of him was that he was pretty cute and seemed like a good guy. His first impression of me, "she's too cool for me."And, he had complained to his Mom about going back to school because of the 'freshman girls'. Apparently, they weren't his thing. Too bad I was a freshman. Ha!

He asked me out on a date a few weeks later. We went fishing and had a bonfire. We went on a few more dates, and officially got together on Halloween. I met his family within a couple of weeks after that. I remember feeling nervous, and I wrote in my journal afterward, "I was scared to meet his family, but they reminded so much of my own." I just felt comfortable and 'at home' right away. We spent Christmas break apart, and that was the clincher. He asked me to marry him about a month later while we were visiting my parents in Washington.

There was one point in our dating that I knew he truly cared for me and would take care of me. It seems kind of silly to think about now, but I distinctly remember feeling this way. It was probably in January or February, shortly before we got engaged. We went to our "brother's" apartment for FHE. They decided that we were going to play a game where you stand in a circle and someone has a bowl of flour. If you answered a question wrong, flour would get thrown in your face. Nice, huh? I didn't think so. So we finished that game, and then they get out the water balloons!! In the middle of winter, in Rexburg. So I went outside to leave, and someone started throwing water on me (and I was probably throwing some back). So I was dodging the water, and Tyler was just getting back to his apartment. He came marching over, "what are you doing? You have a cold, and you're playing with water out here?! I'm taking you home."

Uhh...yeah. Not one of my better moments, but it's one of his. We've since had many moments in which I realize how great I have it.
I love him.