one step, two step, more steps

So Larry and I celebrated our 3 year mark being married on April 21st. I am very grateful to have such a loving and caring husband, who is also a wonderful father. For those that don't know it has been a long road for us and many many years of friendship to get to where we are today. Those that have stayed by our sides: we are indebted to your kindness and support. I know many people have had to listen to me over the years yap my mouth over the "cute boy". I still feel sixteen around home, and I think I may feel like an eternal teenager because of him.

Now for a condensed version of our "courtship":

I first met Larry at youth way back in late 1996. My friend Ruth was talking to his buddy Mike, who let the cat out of the bag that Larry liked me. Well once that knowledge was made known to Ruth she did everything she could to set us up. Luckily Larry and I really hit it off on the phone, and soon he was tying up my parents phone lines for hours on end. We went on our first "date" sometime in March of 1997 to see Grease when it was released in the theaters. I say "date" because I wasn't 14 yet and my mom dropped me off and two friends went with me.
We dated for some time then broke up. We stayed good friends for the next couple of years, but grew apart in social activities and drifted away from our friendship.I would call him occasionally to check in on him and he would do the same to me. So for the last couple of years of high school it was a phone call here and there. I did see his buddy Mike's mom at church and she would keep me updated on how the two were doing.
After I graduated high school he started contacting me again and I would occasionally receive the phones calls. More of the time my roommate got the calls. We started talking more once I started college in the fall of 2002. By Thanksgiving of 2002 we had finally saw each other again. The last time I had seen him before that was probably sometime in 2000. We met up and instantly hit it off again. We dated once again this time for a short 3 or 4 months before he pulled a disappearing act on me. He did give me a promise ring and promised that when the time was right he would marry me :( I had to wait for him for a different type of mission then most girls. He needed time to figure himself out and wanted to protect me.
After the break up I was pretty devastated and it took me a while to move on and be okay. We both went our separate way for a short amount of time. I made my mistakes and he did his. We lived and learned what we needed. I had moved away for a short period of time and came home to visit my family when you wouldn't believe it, I ran into him. I happened to be going to get my dad for a lunch date and saw a small care accident and it was him! I was excited, scared and frustrated all at the same time. I told my dad about the run in and he asked why I didn't stop to say hello (my parents are old school and make small talk with anyone they know). As I was re-telling the story to my younger brother the house phone rang. After all the years he still remembered my parents number! First thing he did was apologize. Seems as though he didn't want to hurt my standards or pull me down and felt that it wasn't the right time for us. So it took him a little more then 2 years it happened. We began talking on the phone again in May 2005. Since then we have done a lot of talking. From May 2005- January 2007 we saw each other twice, but talked on the phone contently. I must have been his New Years resolution because we have talked and been together since then.

This is very condensed because so much has happened to us. I love him with all my heart and I know I can trust him with my life. It has been an uphill battle to get to where we are today but I am grateful for every moment of it. I have learned a lot about myself, the atonement, forgiveness, laughter, forgetting, and living because of him. I look forward to the next 60+ years with him and some more kiddos.

Now for the cools, as we say. We spent our anniversary being fairly boring. Larry went to school I hung out with the kids. Larry did come home early from school to spend time together though. His mom came over and watched the kids while we went out. We took the motorcycle for a cruise down to El Pinto restaurant, which was very nice.  We had a nice meal and a good time. It was nice to get out. We then cruised around some and then went up to the temple. We sat for a bit and talked. It was very windy that day so our ride down to El Pinto was, needless to say, exciting. We then came home and cuddled our munchkins and went to bed. Even though the date was simple it was very enjoyable and relaxing. It is something we need to do more often.