How Lauren met Brandon

I get asked all the time how I met my husband.  To be completely honest, when I tell it, it comes out like a Hallmark movie.  You know the ones where everything is cookie cutter and there is really no problems along the way.  Decide for yourself...

Our first picture.  Of course it was taken at the Swamp!

Up until 2012 my so-called dating life had pretty much been nonexistent.  Seriously, I went on one date during my high school and college years.  I was pretty much done with trying and content with it.  You know how that goes....once you quit trying, it happens for you.  That was me.

Fort Walton Beach 

In April 2012, Brandon and I started talking to each other on the phone because he was living out west and I was living in Florida.  Long story short, we had mutual friends who suggested we get to know each other.  Brandon had served his mission in south Florida and claimed he had been planning to come out and visit over the summer.  As we got to know each other, we were able to talk about anything, everything, and nothing, all before we even met face to face.  Weird, right? Well, one night I got up the nerve to ask him to come to Florida and it happened very quickly after that!  He came to Gainesville for a week and we visited his mission friend in the pan handle during that time too.  It was a whirlwind, but we were connected very quickly!

Summer Love: My trip to Utah in June

After he left Florida I was pretty devastated and completely unsure of how things would work out, but I did know that I was willing to do whatever it would take to try.  Hello moving out west.  Anyway, I came out to visit him in June and things were still really great so we decided to take our decision to the Lord and figure out who should move where.  Well, I was going to be finished with my grad program at UF in August and so I was pretty open to options.  When we finally got our answer, much to my dismay, it was that I should head out west and we could take it from there.  Great, an answer.  Only, I had no job and no apartment to live in.  I had also been offered two great jobs, one in NC and the other in Florida, that I turned down.

Wedding Duties. 

In July I headed back out to attend a wedding and hopefully find a place to live.  I had been applying to school districts within a two hour radius of where Brandon lived just praying to find something.  Nope.  Nothing.  The only thing I could do was be a substitute teacher and hope that would lead me to a full-time job eventually.  Well, the week of the wedding I got a phone call from a district in the town he lived in!  I was hired and found an apartment within just a few days.  Prayers are answered y'all!  I headed back to Florida to graduate and move.


 Sidebar: anyone who has ever taught knows that the first year is insane and you need a whole summer to get your classroom together.  Well, I was hired on August 3rd and I had to start contract days on August 12th.  I didn't arrive in town until the 11th.  It was basically a hot mess those days, but somehow I was ready for day one.

Back to our story.  August came and I moved out to good old Utah.  It only took about two days of living here before we exchanged the 'L-word' (LOVE).  Soon we were discussing the possibility of marriage and when we would probably try to have our wedding.  I HATE to be cold people so you know I must love this man if I was willing to have a December wedding in the middle of the frozen tundra!  We had to do it then because it would give me two weeks of winter break to have the wedding, honeymoon, and open house back in NC.

Right before he popped the question

September 27th, Brandon took me on a big scavenger hunt and proposed on a hill side in Logan, with the temple in plain view.  It was beautiful and perfect; although he did have the ring box upside down as he asked me -- something we still laugh about.  We were SO excited!  So, December 22nd was in our sights and we only had a short amount of time to take care of all the planning.  Add that to a first year teaching schedule and I basically did not sleep for the next three months.

Engagement Pictures

The start of forever 

We got married on December 22nd at the Brigham City Temple for time and all eternity.  The ceremony was beautiful and thankfully the weather wasn't terribly cold.  We loved our day, even though our reception site had no heat and our catering company was HORRIBLE.  I won't mention names, but if you ever need a Cache Valley caterer I will tell you who not to use.  The best part was that it was the start of our life together.  I hate when it's all a big fuss about a day, when really it is every day after that that counts and matters most.

I left out a lot of the details, but what is important is that I met the man of my dreams and we are together forever on this journey.

That is how Lauren met Brandon.