4 years

This picture was taken during our engagment. BJ and I met July 4th, 2003. We met at a big family party. No, we aren't related, even though this is Arkansas. I was very close to his uncle and aunt and that's why I was at his family's big party. BJ has a very large family, 9 aunts and uncles on his dad's side. His dad is one of 10 children, so these family get togethers are always large and full of people.


I had actually met BJ several years prior, when I was in the 10th grade and he was in 11th. His aunt was my health teacher at school, Mrs. Foshe, and she and I were very close. At the time I was bowling on a league in Springdale. One Saturday morning during league, I saw on another lane's screen, the name BJ Foshe. I went over to him and asked if he was related and he said he was, that she was his aunt. We talked for just a moment.



I went home and wrote in my journal about how cute I thought he was. (Yes, I still have the journal!). Mrs. Foshe (Carol) told me that he had a long time girlfriend. That was the end of it. I spent a lot of time with Carol and her husband over the next several years, including different family functions, and never ran into BJ again. Until July 4th, 2003.

I saw him arrive and thought "hey, that's BJ Foshe," as I recalled meeting him the years prior. At this time, I wasn't thinking that he was cute (although he was!) I was really thinking of him more like a guy I met and would say hello to. I really had no romantic interest at this point. I wasn't seeing anyone, but I guess I might have assumed he was, I don't know.

At any rate, as the festivities wore on, I watched him from afar. Sometime later in the afternoon he was sitting in a lawn chair and there was an empty one beside him. I went over and sat down beside him and said "hello, BJ Foshe." I'm sure he thought I was a dork. I asked him if he remembered meeting me, and he did, and he remembered my name.

I wasn't nervous because I did not have intentions of this being anything more than a friendly encounter. We proceeded to talk for the next several hours into the darkness and the fireworks display. We talked about being children of the early 90's and watching shows like fraggle rock. I remember our conversation vividly. It came with ease and like I had known him for years.

I know I have said this but I'm going to say it again, I got no vibe from him that he was interested in me in a romantic way. I really thought we were just hitting it off as friends. Truly. So, as the night came to an end, we all got up and began to pack up our chairs and coolers. He disappeared into the crowd and I began to collect my things. My brother Kyle was with me and I was trying to corral him up to the car to go home.

I sort of look around for him, hoping to say goodbye, but never saw him. It was at this point I think I started to think it would be cool if he was interested in me. Our conversation had gone so well and we seemed so comfortable with each other, I thought maybe... I decided not to worry about it and Kyle and I headed to the car. I was standing at my trunk loading my things when he walks up.

He proceeded to hand me a piece of paper and said "hey, if you wanna hang out sometime, give me a call."

I don't recall what happened next, but both Kyle and BJ tell me that I said nothing, but took the paper and turned away. I suppose I was nervous or embarrassed. I have no idea. I think it just caught me completely off guard. I smiled all the way home. Kyle made fun of me (he was about 7 at the time!)

The next night I called him at his house. His mom answered. I remember thinking, I am just going to call to give him my number so he could call me and then I was going to get off the phone.

So, his mom answers and I ask for BJ. (*this is my favorite part of the story!) She says he is there and asks me to hold on. She doesn't cover the phone or if she does, I can still hear her and she hollars in a very high voice "BBBBBBBBJJJJJJJJJJJJ, it's, BBBRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDY."

I was laughing SO hard. Luckily it took him a minute to get to the phone so I could stop laughing. I was thinking this was a good sign, that he had talked about me to his parents.

So we get on the phone, I try to pull the "here's my number, thanks" thing, but we ended up talking for over 2 hours.

We started dating in July and were engaged by October. We were engaged almost a year and were married the following August. It was all very quick, but we knew it was meant to be, so we didn't see any reason in waiting. I fell in love with him almost instantly.



We were married and lived in my townhouse for one year. We set a goal when we got married to try to buy a house by our one year anniversary. We closed on our home 6 days shy of our 1 year wedding anniversary.



The following year, we began our family and were blessed with our precious daughter, Jordan. Last year, we acclimated to being parents and spending our time with our girl.




This year, we found out we're adding again to our family with our son arriving in a couple months!

We really couldn't ask for more!

To my husband,

I love and appreciate you more than you could ever know. You are my best friend and the love of my life. I love doing life with you. I love being parents with you and I love our life together. I hope that this next year brings even more blessings and happiness to our family. Thank you for all you do for me, you truly are selfless and a portriat of a great husband and loving father.

To many more years together!

p.s. you can see what I wrote last year here.