4 Years!

(Wedding Day Feb. 11, 2006)

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. It feels like it's been a lot longer sometimes, and others I can't believe everything that has happened in such a short period of time.
Ryan and I met at a church youth activity when he asked me to dance. Ryan was a senior in H.S. at Chaparral, I had just turned 17 and a junior at Murrieta Valley H.S. Ironically, I had just broken up with a loser boyfriend the week before, thank goodness! Our first date was soon followed after spending that weekend at the youth conference, I found him hilarious, witty, intelligent, and handsome.
We dated casually for a few months, then didn't really talk for a couple months, then got back together for the last 6 months or so before his mission...I know...kinda ridiculous :)
We each wrote weekly letters while he served his mission in Brazil from July 2003-July 2005. Those letters were my weekly delight, and to this day when I look at our binders full of letters it makes me so happy :) Ryan surprised me when he came home. His entire mission he told me he would be home the 21st ( I think) and he showed up on my doorstep a week early after I had come home from work. Biggest shock of my life!
He proposed to me the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2005. It was such a great day! The night before, he made sure I was in bed early. Called me somewhere in the crazy early morning hours and told me I had an hour to get ready. I did, and when he picked me up he blind folded my eyes, and drove me to the church where he first asked me to dance. A little sappy, but he turned on the song we danced to that first night and had another dance under the morning stars in the parking lot. lol. that's kinda funny. but cute. He blind folded me again and drove me to a winery in Temecula where a hot air balloon was being set up. That was SO cool! THEN, after the balloon ride, he drove me up to Idywild (where he first saw me, before the dance that same night) and took me to the same camp, got down on one knee...and I got a big question and a diamond ring! What was I supposed to say? Obviously, it was a YES!

(engagement picture)
Four years ago, we were married and I've been so happy to be with him each day. Real life came fast when we found out we were having a baby that same year, he joined the Coast Guard, and now we're in Georgia with another little man!

Thank you Ryan for loving me, and making me so happy. I love you, and look forward to spending forever with you :)