Monday, April 11, 2016

Our Story: How We Met

April is our anniversary month. I know, how did that happen?! I still haven't wrapped my head around it, but it's not till the 30th so I still have some time to process. (And find an anniversary gift--eek! Any and all tips would be appreciated.)

Anyways, in light of our upcoming anniversary, I thought I would share a short series of posts about our story, from how we met to our wedding day.

How We Met

Our story begins in July of 2014. At the ripe old age of 18 (nearly 19), I had just finished my first year of college and was home for the summer, juggling three jobs and contemplating what my next step in life should be. Fresh out of a bad relationship, I was fed up with the male gender and decided to avoid them as best I could for the remainder of the summer and possibly life.

My plan was going flawlessly until I received a call from my church leaders asking me to be a counselor for an upcoming youth conference. Without hesitation I accepted, happy to have a legitimate reason to get work off for a few days and excited for the opportunity to help.

Fifteen miles away in the vast land of Provo, a young man I had no idea existed received the same call.

On July 8th, the youth counselors had a training meeting. Part of that process was learning and playing those awful get-to-know-you games that you have to play at church gatherings. In that glamorous scene, I first met my husband. We were playing "Mingle Mingle," a game where you basically dance around hokey-pokey style until the music stops, someone calls out a number and you get into a group with that number of people, and then they tell you a topic to discuss. I landed in a group of 3, two guys plus me. One was tall and named Tayler, the other short and named Spencer, and that is literally all I can remember after first seeing Tayler. Remember how I had sworn off men? It was really working! Haha I didn't think about being attracted at all. We just discussed our favorite music and moved on.

Two days later, July 10th, the conference started and I don't know what changed. Briefly I caught a glimpse of him again and I was like Hot Dang. It was Tayler wasn't it? Was he that tall yesterday?!

Each of us counselors had a group of 8 youth, and I loved my cute troop of 14-year-old girls. The day was filled with activities, rope courses, rock walls and group games, and the night finished with a dance. Tayler and I were both busy with our groups and would occasionally catch glimpses of each other (each pretending like we weren't staring!:) but we didn't get to talk until that night at the dance. Counselors were encouraged to dance in an effort to help the teens feel comfortable dancing and in my mind I was like score! Because let me tell you guys, I love dancing. I'm pretty average at it but it's one of those rare things in my life that I'm like heck yeah I can jump in and keep up. So I may or may not have strategically danced toward Tayler's general area. My plan worked and the next slow song that came on, he asked me to dance.

After that my resolve to avoid men for the rest of the summer and life faded substantially.

For three minutes we swayed back and forth to a song neither of us can recall, talking about something neither of us can remember. I do remember being amazed at how easy it was to talk to him and how we simply seemed to be on the same wavelength. I danced with a few other guys after that, but my journal entry from the night said, "Tayler was my favorite! He's a tall, dark, and handsome man who made me laugh the whole time. Hopefully I'll see him more."

And the rest is history.

So there you have it my friends. Magic can happen from cheesy stake dances.
It wasn't all smooth sailing after that- I might have introduced him to my family as the wrong guy-but I don't want this post to be seven miles long so more on those stories later;) I've always regretted not starting this blog while we were dating/engaged so I could have everything recorded here, so next week I'll be sharing the how we fell in love side of things! Haha it's now or never!

How did you meet your husband?

Do you remember your first impression? Good or bad? :)





5 comments:

  1. This is so sweet, Cort! I love "how we met" stories. I've had a couple friends tell me how adorable you and Tayler are. Like Nicholas-Sparks-inspired-movie-adorable. Keep it up :)

    As for my first impression of my hubby? Haha. It's funny because I was head over heels serious in ANOTHER relationship ;-) I remember writing in my journal, "Yeah, Preston's pretty cute....but I'm still in love with ****." It's crazy the loops and turns you sometimes have to go through to find your Mr. Happily Ever After.

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  2. I still can't believe it. You're the first person I've come across who has even a relatively similar story to us. Was this EFY? I love your blog too and have decided to follow it! Keep it up, please! :)
    www.youngandhitched.com

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  4. I met my husband on a blind date in college. My first impression was, good thing he is cute because he ended up being 15 minutes late.
    I love your blog! You certainly have a new follower.
    newlywedforeternity.com

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  5. I met my husband on a blind date in college. My first impression was, good thing he is cute because he ended up being 15 minutes late.
    I love your blog! You certainly have a new follower.
    newlywedforeternity.com

    ReplyDelete