This Day- A Stroll Down Memory Lane

November 26th is a day that will always have a special place in my heart. It is a monumental day for Ryan and my history. Most of you probably know our story, but I do love to share it so if you've heard all this before, so sorry to bore!!!

Ryan and I were high school sweethearts- I know- how fun is that!!! We met our sophomore year of high school at Grace Evan. I had started going there with a few of my friends from school and it quickly became my core group of friends. We still dispute when the first time we actually met was (Ryan thinks it was when he came along with one of our guy friends to my house to pick me up for something, but it was really at a Houston football game ;-)(which for the record we went to different high schools because Ryan went to private school). Anyways, we quickly became friends and he claims he quickly became the "ride guy". He always gave me and my high school best friend Lauren rides to everything. He likes to throw himself a pity party about this, but hey I don't think any sixteen year old who guy gets asked by two girls to pick them up has it all so bad =) Plus, that gave us all that time to get to know each other! During those days AOL was all the rage, haha funny how quickly the times change. We would stay up until wee hours of the morning getting carpal tunnel instant messaging each other. For the longest time I really thought I would never view Ryan as more than a friend (sorry for all you romantic love at first sighters, that's not the way this one worked!) But after really getting to know his sweet and caring nature, I just knew he would be a really great something more. And here is a perfect example of that-

Ryan had never taken anyone on a date before and I had never been on official date (I had just turned 16, which was the legal dating age in our house=) And this was so amazing to me- he was not the teenager who called up the girl to ask if she wanted to go out- oh no- get this....
We both worked at the church at this time- Ryan doing set ups with a group of guys, and me doing cleaning with a group of girls. And sweet little Ryan came after school on his day off (unannounced to me) knocking on my front door. I was clueless, but after finally working up the courage and calming down his nerves =), he asked me to go on a date with him that Saturday. I of course said yes! So on November 3rd, 2001 we went on our first date- a double with our best friends Michael and Rachel (who are now married too- crazy huh!)- to Wolf River Cafe (where our entire group of friends went every Saturday night) and then to Serendipity (which I still have my movie stubs from). The next week Ryan freaked out. I still to this day don't know just what he was really thinking, but for some reason he decided dating me was not such a good idea. He claimed the whole don't want to ruin our friendship kind of thing I think. Yet, the boy kept calling me, asking me if he could pick up to go places, talking to me on the Internet, etc. How cruel right?!? Well, anyways, one night were supposed to go to Starbucks to meet some friends and Ryan asked if he could give me a ride. I said yes and he even ended up coming over early to hang out and help me decorate our family Christmas tree (we had two and it was always my thing to get to decorate the tree with all the old family ornaments). After we went to Starbucks and Ryan was dropping me back off at my house, he reached back and pulled a pink rose from behind his seat and told me he wanted me to officially be his girlfriend.(I still have the rose too!) That was November 26th, 2001. Yup, today, seven years ago =).

So every year, we celebrated our "dating" anniversary on November 26th. In 2004 we were getting ready to celebrate our 3 years as a dating couple. We were 19 and in our sophomore year of college at Memphis. I lived in an apartment and Ryan had planned a big date to celebrate. We ended up going to his parents house for a romantic dinner he had set up (with a little- no- A LOT of help form his mom- she was after all I think the mastermind behind a lot of his sweet surprises while we dating =) There was a vase of 3 dozen roses set up on the dining room table to celebrate three years. There was sparkling juice (yes, we were too young to drink) and a delicious dinner and dessert to the nines. After we finished the main course Ryan asked if I wanted to eat desert then or wait- I (of course) said I didn't care and so he said we could wait. Literally two minutes later he asked if I was ready for dessert. At this point I was wondering what was going on with him, but I just went along. After he asked me to open the small present that had been sitting on the table. I opened it and it was a Kim Anderson figurine that I used to collect at the time. It was a dark haired little boy with roses behind his back and it opened up. But this is so how I am- I decided I was not going to open it because I would not want him to think I was looking for something inside. So I said thank you and set it down. He then had to ask me to open it, haha, so I did. And inside was... your thinking a ring right? WRONG! It was a small piece of paper rolled up, and it read "Will you............" At this point I thought to myself- okay this is really cruel- if he is asking me something besides marrying him I am going to be ticked- even though I really didn't think he was ready to get engaged with us being so young- but he wasn 't cruel. At that point he got down on one knee and did the whole deal. So it was also this day, four years ago- we- completely unexpected to me- got engaged!!

So there you have it, I know this was forever long and probably not all that interesting to most of you, but it is a day full of memories for me and so I just wanted to share and tell you, Ryan, that I love you and that I feel so blessed that we will get to share so much of our lives together. We have a very special relationship and always have and I am so thankful for it. I have loved you since I was sixteen years old, and I will love you until the day I die. Thank you for everything.

And what is a stroll down memory lane with out old pictures?!? Well we have no shortage of those from over the years! I mean Rubbermaids overflowing with them. So I picked a few that I already had on my computer.

This picture is so funny to me- it's one from before we were official, just hanging out with friends. I think we both knew were both interested at this point, but nothing had happened yet =)

This was my 1st birthday with Ryan- we had been dating a little over 9 months and he surprised me with my sapphire ring.

Just some oldies but goodies...

We got to go tons of school dances together especially since we went to different schools. Here are pics from a few...

Our very 1st- Houston Winterfest- Jan. 2002

ECS Jingle Bell Ball- this was Dec. 2002

This was "Our Junior Prom"- We decided not to go so Ryan planned a special date where we went to dinner Three Oaks Grill and he had set up an amazing surprise in his back yard with candles, hanging lights, a special CD made with my friends of oldies love songs, the works. It was so sweet and romantic! No wonder I married him right!
Senior year's Houston Winterfest
Senior Prom

My high school graduation.

This picture was taken the day after I got home from spending a month of my summer between high school and college out in Colorado as a Young Life Family Camp counselor. I was so happy to get back and see him!!!

A Trip to South Florida to visit my parents in college- the summer before we got engaged. This was to this day probably our best trip ever!

November 26th, 2004- Our Engagement

And as they say- we are living in the happily ever after (Reality Version)!