Has It Really Been 12 Years

Today is our Anniversary and it's hard to believe that we've been married 12 years! Of course we only look slightly older right!

Chuck and I met at Utah State my sophomore year of college. He had just gotten back from his mission and we were living in the same apartment complex. One of my first impressions of Chuck was that he was a BIG slacker. We were both engineering majors and had a physics class together. As Chuck would say I was always on time, wide awake and sitting near the front for our 7:30 a.m. class with PJ my study partner. Chuck was just the opposite usually late and barely awake if he actually made it to class. I remember going downstairs to Chuck’s apartment with several other guys to study for one of our first tests. We had tests every couple of weeks and our homework for all of the chapters was do the day of the test. It was 10:30 p.m. the night before the test and Chuck was barely starting on his 2 chapters of homework. I on the other hand had completed the assignment at least a week in advance and had actually already studied for the test. I just remember looking across the table at him that night wearing his Pizza Hut delivery uniform and thinking I can’t believe this guy – what a slacker!

I remember walking into Fluid Mechanics the first day of my junior year and sitting down. A few minutes later Chuck came in and sat by me and we discovered that we had several classes together so we decided to study together. I very quickly learned something about Chuck – he AMAZED me with how smart he was. I had to study and work very hard all through my engineering classes while these concepts came very easily to Chuck. With minimal effort he was usually the guy that received the highest score on any test. It sometimes drove me crazy!

We spent a lot of time studying with each other that year and he quickly became one of my best friends. At the end of the year, he asked me out on an actual date, but with us both going home for the summer I didn’t anticipate anything coming from it. Then the first weekend I was home from school Chuck called and said he wanted to come for the weekend to visit. Throughout the summer we called each other and Chuck came to visit every so often. At the end of the summer I went with his family for a few days to Lake Powell. I remember paddling around in a little row boat when Chuck suddenly stopped and brought up the topic of marriage. It was at this point I wanted to jump ship! I firmly told him I was not marrying him or anyone else until I finished school and my brother got back from his mission (I had a $100 bet with my brother that I wouldn’t be married by the time he got home and I had promised myself my freshman year that there was no way I was getting married before I was done with school.).

So our Senior year of college came and we kept studying and dating and were finally engaged just before school was out for the summer. We were married 6 months later in September one week before we started school again. We had 1 quarter to finish before we both graduated. By that time, my brother was home and I figured 1 quarter was close enough to being done!

And what a journey it’s been since then. Chuck engraved my diamond ring with the words “Joy That Lasts Forever”. He truly has brought Joy to my life! And he still continues to AMAZE me!