Our Story

Since Lacey tagged me, I get to write mine and Ben's love story. Oh....for cute!

Where did you meet your husband?

I met Ben through my dear brother Scott. They both went to Italy on their missions, so they knew each other before we all came to Utah State. Scott and I registered for the same creative arts class so that we could sit together and be best friends. It turned out that Elder Christensen from the mission just happened to have creative arts with us. What are the odds that in a class of 800 people, my future husband would run into my brother and we would all sit together? (I guess the odds are pretty good...) So after our first creative arts class, Ben and I had Chemistry class together without Scott, and after that we had an hour break where we usually went to the library to "study". The rest is history.

What was the first thing you said to him?

Something like "hi." I actually thought he was kind of weird because he was so friendly to my brother. I thought he was just this stranger that was way too eager to meet someone new.
(For those of you that know Scott, you know he's not an overly outgoing, animated person, so that's why it struck me so weird that he was talking to the friendly stranger. We love you Scott!)

Where was your first date? Kiss?

We had a hangout before we actually had a date. We went to a creative arts event together with his sister Brooke and all of her friends that had crushes on Ben. (Luckily, Ben and I worked the seating arrangement so that Ben was on the end, I was next to Ben, and then his best friend Ryan was on the other side of me with all the other girls way on the other side. Take that!)

But anyway, back to our first date. Ben asked me on a date about 2 weeks after we met, and I found out later that I was his second choice for the date. :( Oh well, I won. We went to the Bluebird for dinner and then to National Treasure afterward. We had a great time talking about all sorts of things we had in common. It was a great date. I got a wonderful hug at the end of the night.

Our first kiss was at my apartment after we watched a movie. (Coincidentally, Ben kissed me after he promised his best friend Ryan that he wouldn't for at least another week. Take that, Ryan!)

Long or short courtship?

I guess it was short...it seemed long to me though! We met in January, got engaged in April, and got married in August. I dated Ben the longest of anyone I've ever dated...

Where did you get engaged?

We got engaged at Maddox in Brigham City after one of Ben's soccer games. He completely surprised me! He arranged for both of our families to meet us in Brigham City so they could be there when he proposed. Cute, huh? He had written me a love letter and a list of 100 memories and had his brother and my sister bring the letter and roses to me at the table. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, but I eventually figured it out. :) After reading the letter I looked up and saw both of our families standing there and then Ben came out and knelt down and said "Melinda, I love you so much, will you marry me?" And I said yes.

How did the reception go?

We had a luncheon at the Gathering Place at Gardner Village for our family and friends and then held our reception at Heritage Gardens. Our reception was AWESOME. We appreciated all the support we received from all the people who attended! The dessert buffet was amazing, our photographer was amazing, the flowers were amazing, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen looked amazing in their clothes. The bride and groom weren't so bad-looking either. It was a definite success. Everything went perfectly. (I guess I was kind of a Bridezilla. Actually, not really, I'm just into details.)

How was the honeymoon?

We went to the San Juan islands for our honeymoon. We flew to Washington and then took a ferry to Orcas Island. Unfortunately, our travel agent didn't think we needed a car, and she was dead wrong. Our Bed & Breakfast was a few miles inland, and we had to wait 45 minutes for a taxi to come pick us up. When we finally got to the Turtleback Farm Inn, I was starving and felt so sick. We had to hitch a ride into town with one of the employees so that we could get a few things at the grocery store and get something for dinner. Interestingly enough, there were zero good restaurants in town. Everyone we talked to said that the food was terrible everywhere and it was all overpriced. We did discover a pizza place that was pretty good, though. This kind employee took us back to the Inn when we were finished in town, and we just sat on the bed and laughed until we were in tears because we were so stranded. Up until about the third day of our honeymoon we had to catch rides with people going in to town. I felt like I was 14 again, asking my mom for a ride somewhere. On the third day of our honeymoon, while riding the town shuttle around, we saw an ad for rental cars on a pamphlet. We thought there was little hope since we called everywhere on the island and all the cars were rented, but we asked anyway. It turned out that they had this old blue chevy van. We had never been more excited to drive a stupid van. Overall, the honeymoon was a success, but it was kind of a disaster. We were able to do a lot even though we didn't have a car at first. We went whale watching, swimming in a freshwater lake, to the community farmer's market/craft extravaganza, and many picnics. It was great, and it makes a great story as well.