Sixteen Years Ago...

I was in Park City on my honeymoon. Sixteen years ago yesterday I got married to a wonderful man I met in a dance class. I happened to talk to him in that dance class because he had on an Evans & Sutherland shirt and my dad had worked there for a while before moving on to another company. It was a blue shirt. We didn't actually start dating for another three years and that also was a result of a chance (!) meeting at a spring wedding reception. There was dancing at the reception and we danced together for most of the evening. We started doing things together, like teaching a singles ward FHE group some ballroom dancing over the course of the summer. We went to a couple of BYU devotionals together. He invited me to Homecoming, having to wait to start our date until I had finished dancing in the Homecoming Spectacular with the ballroom team. I attended his English department musical based on The Scarlet Letter. He consoled and kept me company when I had to miss the latin team's trip to Austria to compete in the Worlds' ballroom formation competition thanks to mono (and no, I didn't get it from or give it to him!). He was the first (and last) boy I ever tried to kiss first (I missed his mouth because he turned his face, and I was so embarrassed that I vowed he would have to do all the work if there was going to be any more kissing! I can still picture the huge tree stump we were both sitting on on a walking trail on Maeser Hill. The sun was setting, and it seemed like the perfect, romantic moment. Hah! I wonder if that stump is still there.). We traded beating each other at fierce Boggle competitions. He proposed to me in the canyon, serenading me with his guitar on a snowy Sunday afternoon. We had to set a wedding date six months away thanks to work, school, and dance team commitments. He put up with me being gone for five weeks while I went on tour, and then, once I got back, he had to drive up the canyon to Aspen Grove to visit me in his off hours. I was working on the maintenance crew for the summer to earn and save money.

Our wedding day couldn't have been any more perfect. All of the most important people were there to support us as we were married in the temple, and then as we celebrated at a reception that evening. I can appreciate now what a major request I made of my mother when I asked for Grandma Jessie's brownie cake for my wedding reception cake because I've made it several times now and it's a bit tricky. But she didn't complain or try to talk me out of it. She just baked like crazy and it was delicious. The reception was a great party where I got to see so many friends I hadn't seen in a long time and be introduced to Justin's friends and extended family.

Our honeymoon was wonderful, a combination of nice hotel and roughing it camping. I learned to fish with a spinning rod on Justin's family river. There's a hole now up there called the Honeymoon Hole where the river goes past the spot we camped. There's still a debate about who left my hiking boots at my parents' house (it was him! He packed the car!).

And sixteen years later we have four beautiful, spirited children, four cats (does anyone want a kitten? We have two!), and four chickens. He works hard as a headmaster and teacher and Ph.d candidate and I teach piano and take care of the children and home. Our family goes to the Shakespeare Festival and camping; fishing and play wrestling in the living room. We have Sunday Night Movie Night and watch classics like "How to Steal a Million" and "The Great Race." There are certainly some challenges, but who doesn't have them? Here's to sixteen years more!