Once Upon a Time...

The Story of How We Met

One of the most frequently asked questions P and I encounter is "How did you two meet?" which is first answered with a bit of a laugh, followed by a "Well, let's see how simply I can answer that."

P and I were originally, well, I guess you could say "introduced" sometime in the month of November, 2006 (you will see why I use quotes around "introduced"). We were both in the thick of our missions for the LDS church; he was in the Nebraska Omaha Mission, I was in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission. I was serving with my companion, Sister Hickman and he was serving with Elder Lee. Ali and Matt had started a relationship before their missions and were now writing to each other cross-country.P and I at Matt and Ali's reception

Un-beknownst to me, Ali sent a picture of she and I to her - is it appropriate to call him a "boyfriend"? Well, regardless, she sent him a picture of us. And I didn't even look cute. I mean, hello! I was a missionary! Anyway, Elder Lee shared the picture of us to his companion, Elder Peter Neilson. Somehow, he was able to see past the looks and became curious about this sister missionary.

Lo and behold, the next tape Sister Hickman received from Elder Lee had Elder Neilson talking on it for quite some time...and he asked Sister Hickman to relay the message to her good looking companion (referring to me!) that, "If she's single, have her write me!"

What a shock that was. Sister Hickman and I had a really good laugh at that, and played that part of the tape over a few times. With a bit of nudging from her, I finally sat down Christmas Day to write this mysterious Elder a post card sized letter, which I didn't end up sending until about 2 weeks later. (I was a little nervous about writing the letter, since the only pic Sister Hickman had of the guy was one of him and his companion in lava lavas...looking quite full of himself)

In response to my poorly written postcard sized letter I received a 6 page very well-written letter. Yeah. I dropped my jaw at it too.

So, we corresponded. He finished his mission 29 June 2007 and we continued to write until I got home 7 November 2007. We texted all day and talked on the phone every night... He flew me down for a week to meet his family in St. George at the beginning of December. So, The first time we actually met "in person" was 6 December 2007 in the Las Vegas Airport. 2 days after I got home I made the decision to move down there. So I packed my belongings and headed for good ol' Utah.

On the way down, I stopped in SLC for a few days. P and I were able to attend Matt and Ali's wedding (Elder Lee and Sister Hickman). That was incredible. We finished driving the few hours left to get to St. George, stayed a few days, and then we both flew up to Washington so he could meet my family. We hung out there for a few days, then flew back to St. George again, where I picked up 2 jobs and we started working on our relationship...

and the romance just continues to bud and blossom...