It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. -Rita Rudner

I will try to keep this as anti-cheesy as possible, but today I want to express my love for my husband! Why? Because today marks our one year anniversary! I can't believe its already been one whole year, and I also can't believe we're not together on this day (because I am currently visiting my family in Tri-Cities this week but that's another post at another time). So I just wanted to take a moment and write about how we met and share with you everything from "my" perspective of it all:

During the summer I was 16 (June 2002), I walked into church with my best friend Laurel. She talked me into going with her because she had just recently moved to Pasco and had not yet met anyone her age. Me, being the good friend that I was, decided to go with her. We sat down and immediately she pointed out a boy (yes they were boys back then, not quite men) she had her eye on. Myself, on the other hand, couldn't take my eyes off this dark haired, green eyed boy sitting up at the sacrament table. I then asked her, "Who is that!?" and she said "That's my cousin Marcus," at that moment I knew I had an in. After a few weeks at church and a couple of mutuals later, I asked Marcus out on a date while we doubled with Laurel and Ben Fox. Sparks flew between us at Red Robin and bowling, and we even got scared by a Finley Ghost. I knew I was in love...and from that moment on, I came home and said, "I'm going to marry that boy someday!" This was before I found out that he had a girlfriend...

After this, I spent the next two years pining for him: begging Laurel to drive by his house with me just to get a peek of him and giggling relentlessly behind him during sacrament meetings. Of course we had gone out a few more times but all in all he said I just wasn't his type, tears were shed and hearts were broken. All of my friends in Burbank knew of the crush I had on the infamous "Marcus Henry," so it was a surprise to one of them when he came into her work at RealLife to have his senior pictures taken. After finishing his photos, she grabbed and extra one that was thrown away and surprised me with my very own Marcus Henry, an 11x14 senior picture! (which I still have today). The picture sat in my room because it served as a good laugh to many. It must have rubbed off on me, seeing his face everyday for two years, because six months before he came home from his mission, I quickly started up the letters and packages again (assuming my competition of girls had probably dropped off writing him by now). When he came home, I was glad to see that my efforts were not in vain. I called him the day after he got home and we talked on the phone for 3 hours (I knew I had to get to him before he gave his homecoming talk and all the rest of the girls tried to snag him) and this began our year long courtship. A summer filled with love and jet skiis, two semesters at BYU, and one grand proposal and wedding later, we were married.

Most couples say they married their high school sweetheart, but Marcus' is even better, he married his high school stalker! Okay, not literally, but everyday I am so glad that that black haired, green eyed boy took a chance on me. What a loving, caring, and patient husband I have. Even though today we are not together, it is not the big events in life that continue to keep us together but the little everyday things that occur that just make me fall in love with him more and more everyday. Thank you Marcus for all that you do, I love you.