Andrew and Annie: 2 Amazing Years

Today marks two years from Andrew and my first date. Since I have yet to write our courtship here is how it all began.

Winter 2010: I was coming off of a very difficult semester with roommates and decided I needed to start over and begin fresh with new roommates. I moved in with my new roommates and immediately liked all of them. About a week into the semester, we were assigned our FHE (Family home evening, Monday night activity) brothers. I knew who a couple of them were from a class the year before, a couple of them were really strange, and then there was Andrew. Andrew intrigued me.

The next week we went to the guy’s apartment for our activity. Andrew kept getting calls from Guatemala and disappearing down the hall. When he returned he would talk about how much he missed Guatemala and how amazing the country was. I just blew him off. He was wearing clothes from Guatemala and seriously every story he told was about Guatemala. It was bit overkill. After a few more activities with the guys, I found Andrew liked to have fun and play like I did. He was goofy and there was something different about him. I told my mom about him, she said to ask him to ice cream. She always told me to do that if I ever mentioned a boy, but it never worked so I didn’t even bother asking him. I also showed my best friend Mallory pictures of him on Facebook. Apparently I told her he was really cute, but I don't remember being as giddy as she described me.

After a brief stint with my roommate, Andrew got my number and we would text occasionally. After their fling ended, we decided he was just plain weird and talked about his mission way too much, so we kind of shunned him. We didn't really do much with him for the rest of the semester. He came to my flower show in March though and was so fascinated by everything. He hung back with me and would ask questions about all of the flowers. I really liked that he seemed so genuinely interested in what I did.

As the semester was winding down, I was trying to decide if I would go home for the summer and work, or if I could financially make it through another year without working... The day I decided to go home, I got a phone call from Brother Hill telling me he had a job opening on campus that I could have. After looking into my schedule and emailing a few professors, I created a schedule in which I could work and take several classes toward pursuing pharmacy school. I had my answer, I needed to stay. It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord will gently direct us into making the correct decisions.

Andrew and I talked and texted over the week break between classes and became pretty good friends. When I got back to school, I had all new roommates and was struggling with my decision to stay in Rexburg. I am a major homebody and was really homesick. I felt like I had no friends and didn't know why I had to stay in Rexburg. I just wanted to go home. I contemplating going home several times, but daily Andrew would check in with me and just be a good friend. He didn’t know how badly I was struggling, but he was so nice and always checked in and offered words of encouragement.

As I got more involved in work and in my classes (Anatomy and Physiology 2, Chemistry, Microbiology) I got very busy and began to enjoy myself some more. All sorts of boys began coming out of the woodwork that seemed to be interested in me. That had never happened before. Most of the dates I’ve been on in my life had been blind dates. There was a boy in our ward, a new FHE brother, and a guy at work... lots of them. Andrew and I remained friends and talked, but I tried to make him jealous with the boys that seemed interested. On June 10th he tried calling me at work. Then proceeded to text me to call him when I got a chance. I knew he wanted to ask me out so I texted him when I got out of work to call me. The conversation went something like this, "Spencer is asking a girl out from his Chemistry class and needs me to get a date to go with him so I need you go." HAHAHA. I still give him a bad time about how he could have just asked me and not have had to worry about using Spencer as an excuse.

The next day he picked me up, we did tons of stuff on our date played mini-golf, went to the park and played football and swinging, went to the sand dunes and had a bonfire and s'mores. It was freakishly windy so we didn't stay long. Then we went back to my apartment and joined my roommates in watching 13 Going on 30. It was the most fun and easy date ever. We just had fun and played and talked. I knew this guy was special. About a month later we decided marriage was in our future.

Two years later we are married and have the most amazing baby girl. I can't believe how blessed my life has been thanks to Andrew. I am so grateful that I married my best friend. He makes me so happy. Here are some pictures from the semester we met and the semester we started dating. We both look so young!