Our Love Story

Our Love Story

I met my wonderful husband Andrew in April 2004.  We had both heard about this group of bike riders that meet once a week and we got on their email list to be included.  It was not a church activity but they were single men and women of the same faith.  On the first day of biking season, we both had arrived early before the others came.  When writing this story, I asked Andrew what his first impression of me was and he said that I looked like some kind of “granola” type girl.  He was thinking I was hot-looking and that he wanted to talk to me.  We were inside our vehicles and I was thinking, “That guy is cute.”  I was hoping he would talk to me and he did!  Andrew made the first move by walking over to my car and introducing himself.  We connected immediately from the first day and I had a very good feeling about him.  I had been having problems with my hearing aid; it was making loud, squealing, feedback sounds.  I explained to Andrew that I wear a hearing aid and when I said it was ringing, he responded with a question, “Do you want me to answer that?”  We broke into a roar of laughter.  It was a clever joke.  He also made fun of my hybrid bike and called it “Wizard of Oz”.  It really wasn’t the right type of bike to be riding uphill on the road.  The guys told me to go on up ahead to get a good head start, but by the time they finally caught up to me, I was much closer to the top of the hill than they had anticipated.  At the end of the ride back to our cars, Andrew and I talked about meeting again at a singles church activity the following week.  We both left liking each other and looking forward to our next meeting. 

All week long, I thought about seeing Andrew again.  At the singles church activity, I met up with him and his friend, Wade.  At first, we mingled and socialized with other people there for a little bit.  A woman that Andrew had dated before was there, and she was sitting next to him but went to go get popcorn.  I noticed an empty seat next to him and sat, not knowing this woman had been sitting there.  He thought the situation was funny because he liked me better and was relieved that this woman didn’t return.  The ward had put together a movie night inside the gymnasium area.  We were advised to bring our own blankets and pillows to get ourselves comfortable and cozy for the showing of the movie.  To show Andrew I was interested in him, I shared my pillow with him, and he smiled happily about that.  At that moment we both knew that our feelings for each other were mutual.  

Andrew talked to me about getting a road bike that I could be riding instead of my “Wizard of Oz” bike.  He explained to me that it would be easier and faster to ride.  Since he is an expert on bikes, I invited him to help me find the right bike.  I didn’t pay very much for the bike, but I was very pleased with it.  When I rode it for the first time uphill, I couldn’t get over how much easier it was!  Andrew enjoyed having someone that could ride with him at his level. 

For our first date, Andrew and I went bike riding one night without the bike group.  He picked me up and loaded up our bikes on the back of his pickup truck and took me up to Emigration Canyon.  After the ride, he invited me to have dinner with him at Ruth’s Diner.  We enjoyed each other’s company immensely and we laughed so much.  (We still do.)  Andrew’s a big-hearted guy and his honesty and openness were what drew me to him.  We became best friends.  We had gone to church together on Sundays, served in church activities together, biked together regularly with the gang, gone camping, visited his cabin, and all kinds of other fun stuff.

At one of the bike rides with the group, we rode up Millcreek Canyon and about halfway up Andrew kissed me right in front of our friends.  They were shocked!  They had no idea we were dating for real, but were thrilled for us.  We now call that spot “The Kissing Point”.

In order for Andrew to see if I was “the one” for him, he took me on a camping trip.  Previously, he had been on camping trips with other girls he dated and they showed their “true colors”, which meant that they weren’t a good fit for him.  My air mattress was leaking air and we did not have a pump with us, so we blew air into the mattress as much as we could taking turns.  It was a lot of effort to do this.  Andrew didn’t seem to have any trouble but I sure did.  My face was turning blue just blowing so hard and it was working against me.  Andrew could see that I was struggling at this.  He laughed at me.  I slept horribly but I didn’t complain.  I told Andrew that I could do a great impersonation of comedy legend Marty Feldman from Young Frankenstein.  He wanted to see that.  So, I popped my eyes out, smiled BIG and walked over to him with a hunched back.  The look on his face told me that I was scaring him away, but we broke out laughing until our stomachs ached. He told me it was funny but not to do it again because he doesn’t want to kiss Marty Feldman.    

On one of our dates, we went to hear my brother Chris play drums in downtown SLC at the Panini Grill restaurant.  This was the place I found that I was “falling for him”.  It must have been that romantic heavenly kiss in the elevator that stole my heart.

The place where Andrew was “falling for me” was at Yanni’s Greek Express in Sugarhouse.  He likes to joke that it was when I said, “Let’s just take the food to my place and eat in front of the TV.”  When he heard me say that, he knew I was the one.   

I had made plans to go to Lake Powell with some friends before Andrew and I met.  It was for a few days stay in a houseboat with a group of singles of our faith.  There was waterskiing and boating involved.  I had already paid for this trip with no refund and so I went to have a good time.  We missed each other.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.  It was good that I did go, because it was after I came home from that trip that our relationship began to get serious.

Soon, we were talking about marriage and we felt that it was too soon to jump into marriage without asking each other the right questions of what we wanted out of life and what we expected from each other.  We knew we were very much in love, but it had only been 4 months.  Andrew had been divorced 7 years and I had been divorced 13 years and we were concerned that we had been too set in our ways.  We thought it could be hard to live with someone again.  I bought a book, “100 Questions to Ask before You Marry”, and went through these important questions with Andrew.  Afterward, we both felt more ready to marry.  Andrew didn’t want any more children as he had three from his previous marriage.  I had one son and was hoping to have one more but I realized that I was past the age of having any more, well actually I was only 39, but since I had already had a child, I was fine with not having any more kids.  Besides, all of our kids were fully grown.

We had participated in a 100 mile bike ride for the National MS Society.  Andrew wanted to try one of my healthy drinks that I blend in the juicer everyday hoping it would give him the energy for this long ride.  Well, after a while he noticed his breath was the same familiar breath I had.  That didn’t deter him from wanting to marry me!

Even though we decided to marry, we didn’t want any of our friends to know until we were officially engaged.  So, it was hard to keep our engagement a secret like we had talked about.  We could hardly wait to tell everyone.  We looked at rings together and picked out my engagement ring, but the ring needed to be in a smaller size.  We sent it away to get it done.  A week later, Andrew came to my house and met me at the back door.  He showed me the ring and asked, “Will you marry me?”  It wasn’t the most elaborate proposal, but I was so happy and I didn’t care.  In fact, I didn’t know the ring was ready and I was surprised.  It was one of the happiest days of our lives and our decision to marry was the best decision we’ve ever made.

When my son Joshua came to visit, he took our engagement pictures.  It was a wonderful and special day.  Having Joshua there, it was extra special. 

During the time we were engaged, Andrew had a dream about my dad.  It was at this time my dad had passed away 5 years earlier.  He never saw a picture of my father and I hadn’t told him that my dad liked to play cards.  Well, he dreamt that he was playing cards with a group of men, which was weird because Andrew doesn’t play cards.  He didn’t recognize the group of men at the table except one gentleman and somehow knew it was my father.  My dad got up and walked around the table to greet Andrew and gave him a sincere hug.  Andrew told me and my mother of his dream and we were filled with tears and gratitude.  It was amazing!  We believe that it was my dad accepting Andrew to be my husband.  It confirmed our engagement all the more.  It was such a beautiful and simple dream.

After 6 months of dating, Andrew and I had married civilly and then worked on becoming sealed in the temple later.  I asked my mother if she would like to plan our wedding.  She was so glad to help.  My mother absolutely loves Andrew to death.  I was so grateful for her help in preparing our wedding day.  She was more experienced and better at this than I ever would be.  She has a knack for interior decorating, and even though her back was hurting very much during the later stages of planning, she still managed to do a great job.  That’s how amazing she is.  Thanks to other family members that helped.  I’m also grateful for my darling niece Heather who took my bridal pictures.  They came out beautiful. 

She was going to take pictures of the wedding but her 2^nd baby was born on our wedding day.  She managed to get a friend to fill in for her.  Thanks to the photographers who dropped everything to come through for our wedding day!  An accident with the cake topper fell off the cake and it broke the groom’s head.  Andrew worried it was a bad sign, but we can see now that our marriage is wonderful.  I was feeling calm and cool as a cucumber, but when walking down the aisle, I started to get emotional and having a hard time in keeping cool.  Andrew was feeling a little bit nervous and excited.  However, when we locked our eyes at the backdrop archway area, we couldn’t help but smile, and felt totally relaxed.  The wedding took place at the LDS Mountain View Ward church building located at 1889 South 1700 East Sugarhouse.  It was very close to my mother’s home on Wilson Avenue and it made it easier for her to get to when planning the wedding.  Because Andrew knew of my healthy eating habits, he worried he wasn’t going to eat fatty foods ever again.  So, he ate everything in sight and gained 10 pounds before the wedding!  My brother Vinny almost did not make it to the wedding and I was so happy to have him at the wedding.  It wouldn’t be the same without him.  I was also very grateful that my son Joshua flew in to SLC from Georgia.  Since my dad had passed on, I asked Joshua to take my dad’s place and walk me down the aisle and give me away. 

It meant so much to me for him to be there.  If they had not come, it would have been bittersweet.  So, we kept the cost of the wedding to a minimum and we were glad we did.  My wedding dress was $500.00 and the wedding amounted $1,500.  Not too bad compared to many other weddings we’ve heard that went overboard.  We had our wonderful Bishop Jeffrey Slatter from the Monument Park singles ward marry us.  We left the chapel forgetting to sign our marriage papers and we joked afterwards that we were having an affair before we got married.

We spent our honeymoon night at the Red Lion Hotel and the next morning took a 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico.  It was our very first cruise.  We made friends on the ship and had a fantastic time.  For our one year anniversary, we went to an all- inclusive trip to Cancun. 

It rained almost every day, but two weeks after we got home from that trip, hurricane Wilma hit Cancun.  Wilma was the most powerful tropical storm ever recorded on the Atlantic Basin.  We were so grateful we escaped from that terrible storm.  After two years of marriage, the day of our sealing at the Bountiful Temple had finally arrived and it was the best day ever.  I shed so many tears on this most joyous day of being sealed to my husband for eternity.  There are simply no words to express how much this meant to both of us.  

We stayed overnight at the Grand America Hotel to celebrate and repeated our honeymoon cruise trip to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico.  We have been happily married 9 years now.  I love what L. Whitney Clayton had to say about marriage, "Marriage is a gift from God to us; the quality of our marriage is a gift from us to Him."  We feel very blessed.  He still makes my heart skip a beat.  My “best days” are all really simple; just days when my husband and I spend the whole day together.