Our Story

In honor of Valentines Day this week, I thought I would post our story. It goes something like this:

My friend Alicia started a new job at ConsulMed (a medical billing company in Bountiful) in the summer of 2004. Sean worked in the same department that she was training in. I’m not sure what gave her the brilliant idea to set us up (I think she thought he was kind of annoying), but she started telling both of us about each other. Sean’s immediate response when he heard I was 19 was “She’s too young”. And my first thought when I heard that Sean was 24 was “Wow, he’s old”. But even though Sean said I was too young, Alicia continued to tell him about me. She brought in pictures of me to work (and his friends hung them up in his cubicle to tease him). This was one of the pictures:
After a couple of weeks of this, Alicia invited Sean to a party that we were having. Alicia’s sister was out of town and she was house-sitting. So she invited everyone there to play in the big backyard, watch movies, play games, etc. Now that I think about it… I don’t know if Alicia’s sister knew we were partying at her house… hmmm… anyway. Sean didn’t really want to go. He wasn’t really big into parties, especially where he wouldn’t know anyone. But for some reason, he invited his friend Andrew and decided to come. {This is quite shocking to me now that I know Sean. He must have really liked those pictures of me to be willing to break out of his comfort zone for the night!}

As we were preparing for the party, we decided we needed some more treats. I went out to the grocery store with a couple of the girls right before the party started. When we got back, Sean was already there. His brand new Mazda 6 was parked in the driveway. And my first thought was... hmm… he drives a nice car {this was before Mazda 6’s were in every driveway in America}… things are looking good for him so far (: When we introduced ourselves (awkward), I thought he was really cute and nice.

During the course of the party, we played around outside with water guns, watched Kevin James: Sweat the Small Stuff and then decided to play Sardines. Sean and I really didn’t talk much. Sean readily admits that when we started playing Sardines (a night game: turn out all the lights, one person hides, the rest find that person & hide with them until there is only one person left searching) he thought we were seriously immature. He actually talked on the phone outside for a good 30 minutes during the party! But there was a tiny bit of playfulness. He scared me once in the dark and I hit him (you know… kindergarten flirting). And that was about it.

The following Monday Alicia told Sean that I thought he was cute and assured him that I was still interested in getting to know him more. She gave him my number. We started sending text messages back and forth that week. Sean and his Dad & Brothers had been planning a road trip to Canada the next week. He asked me if I wanted to get some ice cream with him one night before they left, but I was having surgery for my kidney stones. When I told him that, he really thought I was making it up to get out of hanging out with him. He asked Alicia at work if I really had kidney stones and she told him I did. So on the Friday before he left, He gave some treats to Alicia to bring to me as a “get well soon” gift. I was pretty much sold after that.

Sean went on his road trip to Canada and we sent text messages back and forth the whole time. I pretty much already had a huge crush on him by the time he got back. When he got home, he finally called me for the first time to ask me out. He was driving down to American Fork while we talked on the phone (for a good 20 minutes or so) and he missed his exit (: After we hung up, I was really excited and wanted to call Alicia to tell her all about it. So I hung up and then immediately tried calling Alicia. Of course I had accidentally called Sean back. I felt like a huge idiot. He totally knew that I had meant to call my friend to tell her all about it.

Our first date: Sean picked me up and we had an easy time talking to each other on the way to the Macaroni Grill. We met Sean’s brother Dave and his girlfriend (now his wife) Kirsten at the restaurant. I’m very shy so I’m sure I was pretty quiet but we had fun and I really enjoyed being with Sean. Then we went to Sean’s parents house (I guess it was his house, too) and played games. Of course they wanted to play one of those games where you totally have to embarrass yourself (: I hate those games. But I think I was a good sport! After the game, we watched Kate & Leopold. Sean {after a lot of self talk like “ok, at 10:35 I will hold her hand”… “ok at 10:40 I will hold her hand”} held my had during the movie. We had a very fun time together and felt very comfortable with each other. I had never really met a guy that I could totally be myself around until I met Sean.

After that we have been pretty much inseparable! We had our first kiss probably 2 weeks after our first date (there is much debate on who actually kissed whom first… I think I kissed him first). And the Define the Relationship talk came shortly after. Which was actually pretty embarrassing. We had been to institute together and were waiting around afterward for Alicia. She was chatting with some guy and I made the comment, “She’s trying to get herself a boyfriend too!” And then Sean of course had to be like… “Who else has a boyfriend?” and I felt like an idiot. And then we had the DTR talk.
Sean told me that he loved me after we had been dating for 3 months (November 2004). And I said it in return. Then we started the more serious conversations. Sean isn’t one to say “I love you” unless he really means it. So we knew then that we would get married. But we took our sweet time to get engaged (: We enjoyed 7 more months of getting to know each other and having tons of fun together before Sean proposed on July 4, 2005. We went on a walk together after fireworks and Sean got down on one knee and popped the question with the most beautiful ring ever! I didn’t help pick it out at all and he did a great job. Oh... and I said yes!

After a couple of dramatic weeks following the engagement and a lot of fasting and praying together, we decided to get married on December 22, 2005. It was a long engagement, and we are glad that we did it. We purchased our townhome during that time and it was completed just 1 week after we returned from our honeymoom. So it worked out very nicely!
Our wedding and all of the festivities were wonderful. It turned out to be a beautiful day for pictures, and then it rained all night during our reception! We spent 10 days on a cruise in Hawaii (spent our first Christmas together on the ship) and then came back to the real world. And here we are two years and two months later! Happy Valentines Week!

Now it's your turn to post your stories! I would love to read them!