Our Dating Story

This might possibly be the most complicated dating story if I go into all the details of everything we went through and everything that happened in the 4 years that we dated. Most of you have been there for all the ins and outs so I will just outline the basic high points:

  

• Met in September of 2009 at BYU-Idaho (same ward and FHE family)
• Started dating the end of November
• First time we said "I love you" December 8th, 2009
• Long distance relationship from ATL to STL from January 2010-July 2010
• July 2010 Francisco left to Serve an LDS mission in Raleigh NC
• Returned March 13th 2013
• Proposed to me on March 24th 2013 (yep, that quick haha)
• Married May 17th, 2013

As you can see there's lots of details that are left out in just the basic bullet points of our dating experience. I would never have time to write out everything that has happend but there are a few things that stand out to me:

• I told him that I wanted to date him before he even showed interest in me
• I knew I would marry him within a week of dating him: without a doubt
• I fell in love with his family the first time I met them, New Years Eve of 2009
• I swore I would never wait for a missionary and I not only waited for a total of 2 years and 10 months but I also was completely faithful, lets be honest, who could compare to him??
• Went and visited his family multiple times while he was in NC, one of the times was during Christmas 2010 and another time was for the birth of his little brother Noah September of 2012
• I became best friends with the post office workers in Utah, also found out I'm very OCD about packages and letters
• I had the most supportive friends and family who knew I was serious when I said I was marrying him and who believed in us and supported me every step of the way 
• I started planning our wedding (with his permission haha) before he even got home (buying wedding dress, planning venues, bought his wedding ring)

There's so much more I could say and honestly as you can see, our relationship has not always been easy or even close to convenient. But through all the stress and tears and time spent apart and waiting I can say that our relationship worked out the exact way it needed to. Because of everything we went through:

• I learned I could trust him and that doesn't come easy as many people know
• I found my absolute best friend, I know everyone says that, but I really did. Yes we have the romance and butterflies and fairy tale moments but I know that when I'm old and we've lost our obvious good looks, that we will still be talking about everything and he will still be making me laugh all the time and honestly that's what matters most
• I truly learned for myself that I know this Gospel is true and also knew that the man I love would be a worthy priesthood holder and would be someone who puts God first 
• I learned that I'm safe with him; forever
• I fell even more in love with his family 
• I got my priorities straight and became the person who deserved him
• I learned to trust myself and the feelings that I have no matter what others say
• And I learned how much I truly loved Francisco and how lucky I really am

I don't know if that even all makes sense but if nothing else know this:

Every second of those 4 years were worth it!