How it all began

Once upon a time there was a girl who was on dating apps. It wasn't her favorite thing, but it was the only way she ever went on dates. She matched with hundreds of men, some great, some not so great. She went on lots of dates, some great, some not so great. And she was afraid that this would be her lot in life. A perpetual dater. Then one day she saw a new dating app advertised on Instagram and decided to give it a try. It wasn't her favorite app ever. She got a few matches and one of them started to talk to her. Little did she know when she agreed to a first date, that it would be her last first date.

That's it. That's the exciting story of how I met Bryan. We had both been on the app less than a week. We met at Cafe Rio for our first date. We saw each other 5-6 days a week for the first 3 weeks. By date #4 we were exclusive. Day 10 I was just waiting for him to say I love you, so I could say it back. I don't know why that was a thing for me, to wait for him to say it first, but we were only 10 days in and I felt a little silly saying it. I barely knew him! I met his family at the beginning of February and we were already talking marriage at that point. 3 weeks later we made the drive up to Idaho so he could meet my parents. I guess you could say we are the typical Mormons and I'm really okay with that. As my dad says, "when you know, you know. Why wait?"

At the beginning of March we went ring shopping and picked out the most beautiful ring. It's simple and I love it. He isn't very good with secrets so I knew when he had picked it up and I knew where we were going for him to propose. What better place for this Disney fan girl than the happiest place on earth? My cousin was there to record it for us and it was fun to have some people around to cheer. We spent the whole day at Disneyland and it was perfect.

He has two kids who I adore (girl-13 and boy-10). They are really great kids. They make me laugh and I'm finally getting over feeling like an idiot when I'm around them. I am also going from 1 niece and my 3 adopted nephews to his 13 nieces and nephews. Yesterday at Easter dinner, his almost 8 year old nephew called me "aunt Cathy" and it was just the cutest!

Wedding planning is stressing me out, but I'm on spring break and I'm determined to knock some things out and feel on top of it. I've made myself a to-do list and I'm going to work on it diligently. Hopefully by the beginning of next month, there will only be a few tiny things to take care of. The biggest stress in all the wedding planning for me is waiting for the temple clearance. If anyone is looking for something to fast for this next Sunday, I'd take all the extra help we can get.

I never would have thought in December when I had ZERO prospects that I would be planning a wedding for June?! I am so blessed to have found someone who treats me so well and shows me in so many ways that he loves and values me. I hope he feels that I do the same for him. I'm excited for this new adventure in my life!