Timeline-ish of our lives together

So many of you are probably already familiar with our story but for those of you who aren't (and for those of you who want it retold WITH PICTURES!!!!) here's a little stroll down my memory lane.

Christina and I first met in 2004. I had just gotten home from my mission in the Czech Republic and Christina was just out of high school. We both moved into Campus Plaza and by fortuitous circumstance we happened to be neighbors. We were also in the same Family Home Evening group so we spent many Monday evenings together playing silly games and eating sugary treats. We passed the school year as friends but nothing more.

The next Fall Semester (2005) we both came back to Campus Plaza having spent the summer working. We went on a group date that one of my roommates set up and had a good time playing three-legged miniature golf at Trafalga. We both had a good time but no sparks...yet.

Winter Semester - 2006: We were both taking Stats so we started doing homework together. We also started running together in the mornings. After several unsuccessful attempts to get Christina to go on a date with me she consented.

Then one day she forgot her Stats textbook during our normal study time so she had to sit a little closer to me to do the homework. She "forgot" her textbook a lot more after that. We dated through the summer and I proposed to her on September on a dock by a pond in the rain. Basically the smartest thing I ever did.

We got married on December 28th, 2006 in Salt Lake City temple and thus started our lives together. But wait there's more!

Being married during the end of our undergrad time at BYU was a wonderful experience. I later found out that because Christina had heard so many times that marriage is hard work that she was afraid that sometime after we got married things would stop being wonderful and that life would be miserable or something. Good thing she was wrong and we love each other more than ever!

Over the past (almost) five years, we have had many wonderful experiences together. Like our first summer when we would have picnics in the backyard and spit watermelon seeds at each other. One of those seeds sprouted and grew into an enormous watermelon plant that yeilded two or three 30+ lb watermelons!

In 2008 we had the wonderful experience of being able to live and work in Seattle for the summer. I collected data for the Flourishing Families Project and Christina had an HR internship at Oki Golf in Bellevue.

2009 was an important year for us. We both finished our bachelor's degrees, Christina's in Business and mine in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. We went back up to Seattle one more time to continue the internship experiences we had the year before. At the end of the summer I started BYU's Marriage and Family Therapy Program and Christina got her first "grown-up" job at DecisionWise, a leadership and employee engagement consulting firm in Provo.

Not much changed for us in 2010. Graduate school was in full swing for me, going to class, doing therapy at the BYU clinic, and working on my thesis. Christina was hard at work at DecisionWise and (usually) enjoying it. However we were fortunate enough to have really awesome parents who set aside some money for us to use for a European vacation. We spent 5 amazing days in Prague, and another 5 exciting days in Barcelona. Best. Trip. Ever.

And so far the year 2011 has proved to be quite eventful. WE FOUND OUT THAT CHRISTINA WAS PREGNANT!!!! I graduated with my Masters in MFT, Christina quit her job and we moved to Corvallis, OR where I started my PhD at Oregon State, Christina's brother Stephen and her sister Jessica both got married, my older sister Amber had a baby and my youngest brother Travis left on his mission to Brazil. So now we are patiently awaiting the arrival of our baby girl in the next couple of weeks and looking forward to the new experience of parenthood. And don't worry, we'll post pictures :)