Ten Years

Wow it's been ten years today that Darren and I were married. We had a lot of history then, or so I thought. We started out our marriage with $400 from his last check in Ogden and the first month's rent already paid on an apartment in Orem. We were living on love and a prayer that things would work out. Hey...we are still doing that. Darren and I were married at 21 and now as I write this I realize that I have been in love with this guy for half of my life. I realize that we could have easily become a statistic, but it wouldn't have happened. I had seen that picture of the Manti Temple on my parents wall for years and knew what it would take to get there. Plus I was bound and determined to marry a returned missionary and we knew what it would take to get him there too. It helped a ton that Darren was a good guy and felt no shame in being good. It is one of the reasons I was drawn to him.Ten Random Things About Darren & I Together:

1. The first time I cut Darren's hair was in highschool. It took me three hours. He looked like I gave him a buzz cut in the end. He never complained once about it. I still cut his hair all these years later. He still never complains.
2. I barely talked to Darren for two months after he bought my engagement ring. Talk about cold feet!
3. The first time I saw Darren after his mission the gap in his teeth took me by surprise. I had forgotten he had it.
4. Burger King holds a special place in my heart because we always went there after his baseball games and he would eat the other half of my whopper.
5. Our first fight after being married was about how to arrange the books on the bookshelf. We both wrote about it in our journals.
6. Darren and I generally like the same books. He finished all of the ones we were supposed to in highschool for our English class and then told me the endings if I didn't get it done.
7. Darren once cut a slice off of a stump, carved our initials into it, and sent it to me while I was away at college.
8. I still have tapes that Darren made for me just talking to me. I WILL NOT let him throw them away...ever!
9. Aerola, Colorado...nuf said.
10. When we were 18 I was on a cheerleading trip and shopping with some of the other girls. We must have been in Hallmark because there was a machine that you could make and print your own custom card. I made a card for Darren that day. The message inside said... "Even after all of these years together, you are still the one I run away with in my dreams." ...that message still applies.