Ok, I won't embarrass Todd too much. I know Todd probably gets more embarrassed by the crazy things I do than the crazy things he does, wait, does he do anything crazy? Hahaha!
I knew Todd was coming to Alamogordo before he even knew who I was. Our Bishop, Bishop Mertz, mentioned to me and a friend that a young man was coming to manage a new store in the mall. Being the stalwart non-judgmental Latter-day saints that we were, we came to the conclusion that anyone who worked for a company long enough to obtain the managerial position in a store at such a young age, could not have served a mission and therefore we probably wouldn't have any interest in him. I first saw Todd drive up in his white Nissan Sentra. Crazy as it sounds, I remember thinking that I could be driving his car. But we didn't have any interest in each other at first. Ok, I don't know about him, but I should say I didn't. We both were seeing other people and so I suppose our eyes were only half opened at the time. Todd was made the Young Single Adult Rep for our ward and kind of spear headed the great group that was to form. There was a lot of activities planned and it wasn't your typical "meet market". We were just a bunch of young singles who had a good time hanging out together. That was pretty much how the whole summer went. By Labor Day I knew it was time to call it quits with the guy I was seeing and coincidently Todd was single as well. Because Todd was pretty much the only person with his own place (yes, we loved his roommates as well!), everyone in our Young Singles group hung out there most of the time. Did I mention he only lived a block away from my parents house? Anyways, I got to know him a little better by hanging out with everyone. I remember one night after playing volleyball or something we were doing at the church, that Todd asked me to go to Smith's with him to buy a cake mix, I think. I was so excited but at the same time I was bummed because I had torn one of my contact lenses and was wearing my glasses that night! Oh the things we thought were important back then! Dating was such a stress! I'm glad I'm married now! I hated how you weren't quite sure if someone liked you or not and the awkwardness of it all. A week or so later, it was pretty obvious to everyone else that Todd and I were "a couple". One of the funnest parts of it all was all the time we spent talking and finding out how much we really had in common. We never really had a formal "date". Pretty much everything we did was free. We watched movies, talked, and I remember going hiking. See, Todd, I did like hiking (it's so different now that we have kids but I will enjoy it again sometime!). One night Todd took me to the parking lot of the church and taught me how to drive his car, his car was not an automatic! Yes, I got my license in a very small town where you only have to make right turns and park the car to pass the driving portion. They don't care if all you know how to drive is an automatic. Miss those small towns at times. When we decided to get married, there was no formalities and huge planning to make it just right. We just knew! It was brought during a conversation one time, and then later I remember asking Todd if he wanted to get married. It was the right thing to do and it was time to make it official! So, time wise, we started dating in October sometime and were engaged by November with plans to be married in February. Boy, three months of engagement was forever! I hope Kate enjoyed reading this as well as she likes to read while mom is typing! Yes, Kate, that's how your dad and I met. One of the funnest times of our lives. But we still continue to have fun!
