The best place to start is always the beginning......

Ryan and I met in the summer of 1999. I was introduced to him by my nephew Brad who is a year older than I am and one of Ryan's best friends. I know, it already sounds a little weird! Brad is the grandson of my foster mom, this is the family that I consider as my own so that makes him my nephew. Explanation over! I had heard about this cool friend from my siblings. Why did they think he was cool you ask? Apparently it was because he had some fingers chopped off. Yeah, I don't understand it either. Anyway, later my nieces told me about Brad's cool friend. I did not think it was possible that he was that cool. Growing up Brad and I did not get along so well (all that has since changed. I consider Brad to be a good friend now, but that was then). I was pleasantly surprised when I met him and found out that he was both attractive and a cool guy to hang out with. I was 17 then, he was 18. We dated off and on until he left for his mission in September 2000. We wrote back and forth for the majority of his mission, but I DID NOT wait for him. We knew of too many received "Dear John's" by friends and knew that two years was a long time, a lot could change. We opted to retain the friendship, but beyond that we had no expectations. I dated in those two years. I enjoyed myself, met many new people and just had fun enjoying life. I think I will always miss the bonfires on the beach until all hours of the morning, even though now I am not sure I could make it past midnight! Fast forward to 2003, Ryan was back. We hung out and found that we still enjoyed hanging out together. During a conversation on his sisters couch we decided to make it permanent. Yes, you read it right. Nothing fancy, no candle lit dinner, roses, down on one knee or any other schmoopy stuff (that is not our style anyway)! We just DECIDED that we just liked being the two of us together, and frankly since it is hard to meet anyone when you only hang out with one person (not to mention we were happy and content the way the way things were)we chose to make it official. Six years, 2 kids, a cross country move and a masters degree later, we are happy as could be! We love our life, our children and each other! We would not have it any other way!