An Ode to My Husband

In honor of Valentine's Day, I found a friend who has a scanner (thanks Erika!) and scanned these pictures so I could put them on the blog. These are some of my favorite pictures ever taken of Christian and me.

The first one was taken three days before Christian's birthday, on April 3, 1995. He was almost 19, already had his mission call (to the New York, New York South Mission) and would be leaving the end of June. He lived in Hawaii at the time, but was in Logan (Smithfield, really) visiting his dad and siblings for a week. We weren't even dating at the time...in fact, I was in (puppy) love with his best friend, Robert. I was at home, probably doing homework at the time, when the doorbell rang. Who was at the door, but Robert and Christian, there to see ME! I was so excited, because I had two gorgeous guys there to see ME! My brilliant sister was very excited too, and she was brilliant because she thought to take out the camera and take pictures of us all visiting on the couch. I love this picture. Look at where my hands are: one is by Robert (because we were kind of dating at the time), but look at where the other one is. Apparently, I was kind of hoping something would happen, even though Christian and I didn't fall in love until two months later, when he came out again to visit his family one last time before he left on his mission. It is somewhat ironic (and, at first, awkward) that Robert and his wife, Heather, are very good friends of ours.

Now, with this next picture, some of you may be offended. If so, skip this paragraph and photo and move onto the next picture. I went to France in August 1996. I spent three weeks there, and my layover from Paris to Salt Lake City was at the LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Well, the airport happened to be in the area where Christian was serving. He got permission, and he and his companion were able to come and spend 45 minutes with me at the gate (this was prior to 9-11) until I boarded the plane. It was an absolute dream come true. His companion was a sweetheart and took a few pictures of us. I love this picture too, and I framed it and kept it in my bedroom and looked at it all of the time until Christian came home from his mission.

This next picture was taken just outside of the temple the day we were married. We were married September 16, 1997 in the Laie Hawaii Temple. Christian's mom purchased each of us a traditional Hawaiian wedding lei. We felt on top of the world. What a special day.
This last picture was taken on our honeymoon. We were married on Oahu and then flew to Maui for our honeymoon. Christian's ex-step-dad, Dave, was a professional underwater photographer who lived on Maui and had fantastic camera equipment. He took us down to Ulua Beach at sunset three days after we got married to take pictures of us. This is one of my absolute favorites. Our honeymoon was a magical time, and the pictures on the beach exemplify that.I love you so much honey. Thank you for everything. We are so blessed. Happy Valentine's Day.