Our History

I think this is an appropriate place to record a brief history about Ammon and me. Let's see, back when we were both 15 years old there was a youth conference out in Ruby Valley, Nevada (close to where we both lived, though we lived in different towns). As luck would have it Ammon actually came to this on (in an effort to get out of his summer job for a week). After we all arrived at the church we divided up into "families" where Ammon and I were slotted to be brother and sister. He nearly switched families but ended up staying (coincidence? I think not).

The conference was out in the middle of nowhere; they had us camping out there. We had to hike in the dark out to the camp ground. Ammon and I managed to get ahead of the rest of the group so it was just the two of us. We walked and talked over the long walk. Well, I talked and Ammon listened. I was under the impression that I was annoying him, but he was so cute that I thought I'd risk annoying him longer. That whole week I tried to get Ammon to speak to me. I finally succeeded one night when we all sat around quoting The Princess Bride. Ammon was the only one who could keep up with me and I was very impressed. Before the rest of us headed out Ammon was whisked away and I was left with only his name, phone number, and mailing address.

Ammon claims that before the next dance he tried to call me but never got through. He also claims that he told his brother, Tabor, about me. I'm not so sure. We did write a few letters back and forth. Meanwhile, Ammon turned 16. At the next stake activity, a youth dance, Ammon actually showed up, another surprise. We danced and snacked and spent the entire evening together, much to the consternation of one of the girls that had been in our group and had a crush on Ammon.

And so it went until December when I finally turned 16. For my birthday Ammon gave me a copy of The Princess Bride to read, which I was thrilled about, and he took me out for our first date (both of our first dates ever). He claims that he was smitten with me from the day we met. I must admit that I was smitten with him as well. I wasn't allowed to single date until I turned 18, so for our first date we went to the birthday party of one of my friends. We ate at Pizza Barn, had ice cream and Baskin Robbins, and hung out at Walmart, woo.

Our dates were basically a repeat of the first. We usually had just one other friend with us and we would go hang out. We often went to one of my friends house to watch a movie. In fact, it was at my friend Lauri's house during such an activity that Ammon got up his courage to hold my hand the first time. Prom came and I was able to go as Ammon's date (he held my hand on this occasion and gave me a peck on the cheek at the end of the night, he was so shy).

Ammon and I talked on the phone all the time. Actually, I talked at him on the phone. He said very little, which drove me crazy. That, and being so far away, it was an hour drive just to see each other. So, at the next youth conference I broke up with him. We wrote one or two more letters, wrote a couple of times, and then didn't speak again for a few years.

Right before my senior year (right after Ammon had graduated from high school) my family decided to move to California. For some odd reason I thought I should write Ammon a letter. It was so strange because I was convinced he hated me (and for good reason, I hadn't been very nice when we broke up) and thought the last thing on earth he would want was to hear from me. I had continued to think about him over the years. I compared every guy I dated to him, but no one added up. Anyway, I finally wrote the letter right before we left. A few weeks after getting to California I got a letter from Ammon. He wanted to email back and forth, but every time we opened up an email program our computer would crash, so I told him that. He thought I was making excuses, but we wrote back and forth for a while until our computer was under control, then we would email.

We emailed the entire year. It was pretty casual at first. Towards the end of the school year it got more serious though, and more frequent. In fact, Ammon started calling me some. I had a boyfriend at this time (which Ammon didn't know). I was planning to break up with my boyfriend, but I didn't want to do it until after graduation. When graduation rolled around I headed out to Nevada to see my friends graduate. Ammon and I were able to hang out and he even took me out that night. He held my hand! I about died, we had decided to just be friends. Then he moved in to kiss me, but I flinched (I did have a boyfriend after all) and he backed off. When I got home from this trip the first thing I did was to email Ammon to find out what that was all about. It was discovered that we both wanted to be more than friends and thus it began anew.

Ammon told me he loved me that summer. I was smitten, but I was scared and it took me a while to warm up. He came down to California for a weekend and we finally had our first real kiss, it was heavenly, but I was mad at him for kissing me in the theater, it was too cliche. That weekend flew by way too fast. Ammon had his mission call long before this and I wasn't looking forward to the ensuing 2 years.

I went down to spend the weekend with Ammon right before he left on his mission. I'm sure his family was confused at why I was there. I know Ammon didn't tell them how serious we were. Ammon asked me to wait for him. I said no. I was 18 and about to go off to college for the first time. But I did promise to write and that in 2 years we would pick it up where we left off. I cried for 3 days after he left. There were days while he was gone when I would just lie in bed and read over the last few letters that I had gotten from him, it was the longest, hardest 2 years of my life.

I went away to school and dated around some. I was proposed to twice (but obviously didn't go that direction). The problem was that I wrote Ammon and told him all about it. It took 1 month to get a letter back and forth, so that was a hard time for both of us. I missed him and wanted him to still want me, but was terrified he would wake up one day and realize he was too good for me. It was hard on him because he was helpless. I finally ended up going to Russia (which made the letter exchange even slower) and lived there for 9 months and then traveled around with some friends. I wrote to Ammon the entire time and told him everything. I was completely in love with him, but was terrified of having my heart broken.

Right before Ammon came home from his mission I wrote to him and said I didn't want to see him for a good month. He would be returning to school in Provo and I was up in Rexburg, so I figured it would be easy to avoid him. Ammon didn't like this plan. The day after Ammon got home from his mission he called me. We stayed on the phone for about 3 hours even though we didn't have anything to say to each other. The next day when he called I asked him to come and see me that weekend. It was labor day weekend, so after church on Sunday Ammon drove up to Rexburg to spend the next day with me. What an awkward and wonderful reunion. I was so worried that he would take one look at me and head in the other direction. He assured me that when he saw me I was in no danger of having him leave. He held my hand and kissed me that night.

We saw each other a couple more times, talked on the phone everyday, and wrote emails back and forth constantly. I finally decided that I either needed to let go of my fear of being with him, or lose him (not that he would have given up so quickly). After I came to this realization it only took us a short time to get engaged. In fact, we were engaged a month and 9 days after Ammon got home from his mission.

Our engagement was rocky since I was still scared of him leaving me. On top of that we lived 4 hours away. But we made the plans and were finally married in the Salt Lake Temple. That was one of the most wonderful and beautiful days of my life. What a man. We adore each other and the last 3 and a half years have been nothing but wonderful.

How is that for a mushy story?