Birthday Amazingness! annnnnd.....

So I know a lot of people are curious as to how Ben and I met and well ya you know our story:) I also know that my birthday was awesome and the best one yet!!! Well it was so fun!!!! We went to the Suns game this last saturday and got 3rd row seats! It was pretty dang cool to be so close you could see the sweat droplets forming on those basketball players! Hahaha a little nasty I guess but still! that is close!!!! I will be putting some pictures on here for sure of that! Maybe also telling a little more about it also!

I have REALLLY been wanting to write about how I met my baby though! It was really fast, met at 10:00 p.m. on memorial day(the 25th of may, a few days after his birthday and a week and a half after a good friends wedding I was in and caught the boquet!), went out spotlighting and falling in love until 6:00 a.m. with his sister and a good friend of ours, Getting engaged almost exactly a month later and then getting married almost exactly 2 moths after that!! So a lot of people have been curious as to where he even came from!! Well he came from a lovely place called Cornville, Arizona! Doesn't that sound cute??? Hehe it is cute and so is he! He moved up to Flafstaff again after his mission, he returned in July of 2008. Apparently he had been scoping me out for a while but thought I was a city slicker and I thought he was kind of a cocky and arrogant pretty city boy! Haha I was wrong!!!!!!! and so was he!

March 2009: I see Ben with his at the time girlfriend at institute vollyball night leaving the building behind his girlfriend, you can tell she is mad at something, I notice he is very respectful toward her and very nice, sadly though... She doesn't seem to appreciate it very much and doesn't really acknowledge he is being so sweet to her and continues to stomp out the door. I have a lot of sympathy for him because that was pretty much how any relationship I had ever been in was... the I realize I was actually having sympathy for ths guy that I had been told was a huge jerk! It made me think for a second but then forget it soon after.


April 2009: I see Ben yet again at another Institute activity.... Soccer! I was of course whoopin on the boys and having quite a bit of fun, Ben says I was flirting with everyone but I say I wasn't!! I was pretty bitter toward boys in general at the point in time so itwas nice to take out some anger out on some of them... ha! Ben got his share trust me! although I seemed to actually not want to hurt him... I wanted to spare him I guess... besides... his girlfriend was there again giving me the STTTINK eye!

1 week before meeting: I kept telling my mom how "that Ben Sandall guy" keeps popping into my head for some reason and I keep thinking maybe he isn't the guy I have heard that he is.

May: I finally have a day off of work and want to do something ALL day but everyone is busy and can't when I can, during this time my friend Ryan Jones sends a friendly text saying he is in cottonwood... hanging out with my favorite person.. Ben Sandall, He knew what I thought about Ben before and that my feelings toward him weren't necessarily pleasant one's. I let him know I actually had maybe been having a change of heart.... we talked for most of he day , while he was with Ben!, about how Ben was actually a really cool guy! This was even more interesting to me so then I presented a challenge.. almost like a little test for Ben, If he texted me, I'd give it a shot... maybe... if not well then I guess we never would have known! I wasn't really looking for anything, I hadn't really dated at all in over a year so I was definately not thinking about what anything could turn in to. Anyway! I told Ryan I had kicked Ben's bootay at soccer a few weeks prior and well he told Ben... Ben started talking back, I said well if he's gonna talk the talk then he needs to be a real man and say it to my face! Haha I'm such a little stinker....I know:) Well 2 minutes later I get a text from a random number.... guess who it was?? Ben! We ended up talking the rest of the afternoon.. texting I know... a tiny bit pathetic but it's okay! He sent me a picture of the sunset and well that was a big clue! If anyone knows me well they know that my phone is full! I mean packed, we are talking 300 pictures of nothing but sunsets! and this one was a very good one!! Ben, Ryan and Ben's sister Megan ended up coming to Flagstaff at 10 o' clock at night. We decided to go mud bogging/spotlighting. This was definately not something I was expecting out of this perfect clean looking man! I was so excited and ready!! I went with Ben in his truck which he opened the door for me!(1st plus!!) and Ryan and Megan went in Ryan's. We talked the whole time and I noticed that he seemed SOOO nervous and shy and that he was stumbling over his words! He could barely speak! He kept staring at me also so I of course was feeling even more shy! I felt like maybe there was something on my face? This was the first time I really got to see how truly amazing and sweet this guy was. He was nothing at all like what I had assumed and like what other people had said. It made me feel very bad because I have always been one to get to know someone or something for myself before making judgements with other's opinion's. During this time in the truck, I had the most powerful comforting and safe feeling, My husband was sitting right next to me. After talking and spotlighting for a while we went to Jack in the box and got smoothies and shakes, I love smoothies! (p.s!) after this (we did not want the night to end) we went to my parents house, where I was living at the time, and started to watch Get Smart. I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it and apparently everyone else had at some ppoint also. I noticed this at 4 a.m. when I woke up with mine and Ben's heads very gently resting on eachother's! Hahaha! We had been sitting by eachother but not touching, I think it startled Ben when I woke up, He noticed we had been that close and said," I' so sorry! I'm so so sorry, I'm so sorry. IT WAS SO FLIPPING CUTE!! and funny! hehe I said it was just fine!!! I promise! and he then asked me If I would go to dinner with him tomorrow... I mean tonight? I said yes and then we woke up Megan and Ryan and decided to go watch the sunrise. I led us to a property up on a hill I had found a fews earlier. We all sat up there and watched the sun come up over the mountain and took lot's of pictures. Megan is quite the picture taker;) Ben and I walked over to the edge of the hill for a little bit. This is the first time he said to me very sincerely.... "you... you are just... Incredible. :) I had never had someone be so nice and I could tell he meant that with all his heart.

The next night, Tuesday: The next night after a very anxioussssss day at work Ben picked me up and took me on our very first "official" date. We ate dinner at Oregano's. Ben showed me a song in the truck, one that I listened to very often that he thought I probably hadn't heard yet. he played "Unbelievable" by Josh Gracin. This is one of my absolute favorite songs!!!!! I started singing along and he was shocked that I knew it! After dinner we went to the bowling alley and bowled it up! I of course didn't do as good as I usually do! Dang it! But if I remember correctly... I still did better than Ben! haha! After this, we went down to sedona! During the drive down my ears kept getting plugged up, I was still trying to get over a very bad cold... or something and Ben showed me a cool trick! I couldn't do it to myself so, for the first time, Ben touched me! haha sounds bad but it's not, He just put his hands on the sides of my face, then suctioned(sp? that doesn't look right) his hands on my ears and released the pressure, Yes I loved that relieving of pain but I LOVED that he was touching my face! He took me on an airport road where when I got out could literally see the WHOLE Verde Valley! It was so beautiful! I hadn't brought a jacket unfortunately, and not intentionallly but was a little worried I would get even more sick if I stayed out there for to long. We went and sat on a bench at the edge of the cliff and looked at all the sparkling lights. Ben could tell I was cold so he put his arm around me! First move!! On the way back to Flagstaff he grabbed my hand. He took me home, we hugged, I went inside, waited in bed for him to tell me he was home and went to sleep.

The next few days were also just as amazing, Wednesday we went to Sedona again and saw a movie with Megan and her date, We saw The Night at the Museum 2. Ben went to te bathroom and came back with a coke for him and lemonade for me, he had remembered I had ordered it a few times before that. Afterward we went to a park in cottonwood and played on the playground. Megan and her date left and Ben and I sat and swung and talked for a long time, just about life and the future and our fears, dreams, all that good old beginning of love stuff:) On the way home we stopped at the top of the switch backs to look at the perfect starry night sky, we talked about the unknown and the things so much greater than our comprehension. This was a "deep talk" night! ;) We once again hugged, I went to bed and waited for him to let me know he was safe at home.

We did not miss one day of seeing eachother until the day we were married and sealed together for time and all eternity in the Snowflake Temple. I Have a lot more to blog about and not enough time so... again... this post will be continued..... :)