Where It All Began

    I've tried starting a blog a couple of times throughout my life and each time I have failed miserably. Either I didn't have much to say or just completely forgot and figured it was way too late to catch up. Now that I am married to the man of my dreams, I feel like I need more than just my journal to keep tabs on our busy life together. So, I conformed just like every other married woman, and started a blog. Plus, I need something to keep me busy instead of Facebook.

This blog can't just start almost a year into our marriage. It needs to start from the beginning. Our story is really confusing and kind of long, but it's worth it I promise! 

    Where it all began...

Ryan graduated from Hurricane High School in 2009 and I graduated from Desert Hills High School in 2011. As many of you may not know, Hurricane and Desert Hills are rivals. Go figure. After Ryan graduated, he served a full-time LDS mission in the San Fernando California mission with my Uncle Steven. At the same time, I was in college at Dixie State and writing another missionary from Ryan and Steven's mission. Once everyone returned home from their missions in 2012, the missionary I had been writing flew to St. George to meet me and visit. Steven was also visiting my family, so Ryan decided to come over and say hi to his mission buddies. We all had a lot of fun and my mom absolutely LOVED Ryan. A week or two after the whole shebang, my mom kept on telling me to go on a date with Ryan. I didn't think it was a good idea, but my mom told my uncle to tell Ryan to ask me out. Guess who I heard from a couple of days later? Yep, Ryan. He texted me a little bit and then, asked me out. I'm not one to turn down a date, so I agreed. We were supposed to go bowling, but Ryan had to do a school project he had forgotten about so we went to a play. A really really weird one at that, but we just laughed about it the whole time. Afterwards, we went to grab some fro-yo and he took me home. 

    According to Ryan, I had the worst time ever, but I honestly really did have a good time. He was a gentleman and I liked that, but I really wasn't interested. Ryan seemed more like the friend type and I didn't see us going anywhere, especially with the whole ordeal of me and his missionary friend. It was too awkward. Ryan tried setting up other times to hang or go out, but I wasn't the biggest fan of texting and ended up just kind of ignoring him a little bit...ya, I was a brat and it definitely kicked me in the butt later. 

    I ended up dating another guy and about two or three months had passed. It was October and President Monson had just announced the lowering of age for missionaries. At first, I didn't think much about it, but then I really started to consider serving a mission. I had never really thought about or planned on it, but I figured if there was any better time, it was now. I met with my Bishop and all I had to do was give him the word and I could start my papers. I never thought anyone would ever receive the answer "no" as to whether or not to serve a mission until I did. The answer was clear and simple. A mission wasn't for me. I honestly was pretty ticked. Why would I get a "no" for something so amazing as a serving a mission? I couldn't believe it and didn't know what to do with myself. 

    It wasn't even a day after I had received my answer when something kept on telling me to talk to Ryan. My mom had been bugging me about him ever since he came over that first time, but this was something else. Every day that same thought, "Talk to Ryan", would pop into my head over and over again. Soon, I even started seeing his name and face on Facebook all the time when I had hardly ever seen him on there before. It drove me nuts to the point where I finally gave in and texted him. I was mortified. What was I supposed to say after I had ignored and dropped him those three or four months ago? I didn't think he would talk to me and I honestly wouldn't have blamed him. It was only a couple of minutes after I had sent the text when, to my surprise, he replied and it wasn't the kind of text I expected. He was extremely nice and asked how I was. He didn't mention a thing about me ignoring him or anything like that. It was like we had talked just the other day and everything was fine. Boy did that make me feel better! We talked for awhile and he ended up asking me on another date. Once again, I said yes and when it came down to the day of the date, I didn't want to go. I was still extremely embarrassed and thought he was planning on paying me back for what I did or something like that. I couldn't cancel though because that would completely destroy what little of a good reputation I had with him. So, I put a smile on and decided to be myself. 

    The date consisted of walking around the St. George temple and watching the nativity scene with his best friend, Gary, and his date. It was at the beginning of December and a little nippy outside, so hot chocolate afterwards was a must. I ended up having a great time. Talking to Ryan came easily and I loved that. He wasn't awkward in any way and always had something to talk about. Instead of me keeping up the conversation, it was him and it was a nice break from the other dates I had gone on before. Since we had been able to talk so easily with one another, I thought having a good guy friend would be nice. I didn't necessarily have any feelings for him quite yet and didn't think he was super interested in me anyways, so being friends was good with me.

    A couple of days after our date, my best friend, Kate, and I T-boned an SUV that pulled out in front of us on our way to church (church, out of all the places. Who would've thought?). Ironically, the wreck took place right in front of my parent's church building so, my young women's president, who was a nurse, and Bishop, who was a former paramedic, heard the crash and came outside finding me and Kate battered and bruised. Her car, Rhonda, was totaled. Kate's knees had slammed into the dash and we're pretty sure my head hit the windshield even though my airbag deployed because there was a huge crack in the windshield right where I was sitting. We weren't in any serious condition, just in shock, but we headed to the ER anyway to make sure everything was okay. I was supposed to go to one of Ryan's friend's mission homecoming with him later that morning, so I had my sister, Tianna, let him know what had happened and that I couldn't make it. After three hours spent in the ER and a neck brace to show off for the next two weeks, we made it home. I spent the day resting and a little after dinner, there was a knock on the door. Ryan and his friend, Rachelle, made me cookies and came to check up on me. Embarrassed as all get out, they saw me in my "beautiful" brace and talked for awhile. I didn't expect anyone to come and see me, but Ryan and Rachelle were the only two who ever did. It meant a lot to me and that's when my feelings for Ryan started to turn into something more than just a friend. 

    Ryan and I continued to hang out and go on dates for most of December. I started to really like him and things were looking pretty good for us, but right around Christmas, he started to act weird. We would still do things together, but he kept his distance from me. I couldn't figure out what was going on. One day, he invited me to go sledding with him and his friends, so I decided that if he was still weird, I was going to talk to him to see what was wrong. Of course, sledding was a blast and Ryan was back to his normal self. What the heck was going on? Afterwards, we went back to his apartment and he told me that we needed to talk about some things. My thoughts started to run wild, "Crap. This is where it ends. At least I didn't get too into the whole thing. It will be easier to handle this way". We sat on his bed and he started to tell me about how he felt. He really liked me, but didn't want a serious relationship. He didn't feel ready and wanted to date around a little bit more while still dating me. I guess this wasn't too bad of news, but I had been played too many times to play this game, so I gave him an ultimatum: Either be with me and only me, or just be friends. None of this friends with benefits stuff. I wasn't going to do that. "Well, I guess let's just keep on doing what we've been doing and see where that takes us", he said. Dang it...I tried. "So, Teisha, will you be my girlfriend?" Say what? I was completely taken by surprise, but managed to sputter out yes. I thought to myself "Wow, that went a lot better than I thought it would!". :)

    Ryan and I have been together since that night, December 29th, 2012 and the rest has been a dream. I told you it was going to be a long story, but I like details so whatever. I know those promptings to talk to Ryan weren't just for kicks and giggles and this may sound weird, but I am extremely grateful for listening and not serving a mission even if it didn't make sense at the time. The greatest blessing of my life came from trusting in the Lord and I've never been so extremely happy in my entire life. 

 Ryan's Graduation with his family

 My Graduation with my family

 Ryan and my Uncle Steven on their mission

 Ryan and Steven post mission

 Steven, Ryan, and Ethan when they were visiting 

 December 2012 (around the time we started dating): Ryan and us girls

 December 2012: Christmas in the Canyon out at Tuacahn

New Year's Eve 2012: Ryan and I and his best friend, Gary, with his date