7 years later!

This is a really long post, it is kind of one of those for my own personal records but feel free to read if you'd like!

Matt and I celebrated our 7th year of marriage this past weekend! It's kind of crazy because 7 years doesn't seem like it has been that long but in the same thought it seems like it has been forever! I think back to when we were dating and it seems so long ago and we seemed so very young and so immature. It is weird to think about everything that we have gone through together now and how much we have grown and learned from one another.

I met Matthew when I was a sophomore in high school. I think I have blogged about this before but one day at school I was sitting in the Student Body Officer room and there was a really mean girl just bashing on me and the boy who I had a huge crush on. In came Matt and he put the girl in her place and then walked me to my Spanish class. I remember thinking how sweet he was and how maybe sometime I should date him, but like I said at the time we were both dating other people. So for the rest of the school year we were really good buddies. His friends would get me out of biology to go to the park and play football, and we would tease each other in the halls as we passed one another but that was about it. He graduated and I didn't hear or see him until the following October. One night I was doing homework and he called me up. The first thing he told me was that he had received his mission call to Budapest Hungary he was so excited and I was so excited for him. Then he asked me out. I was a little surprised but glad. So that weekend us and a bunch of his really good buddies all went out. They took us to this really old neat cafe called Bill and Nada's (sadly it is now torn down!) then we went to a haunted house and on a carriage ride through temple square. It was seriously one of my favorite dates. From then on we would go out all of the time. He would come over or he would plan these really fun and creative dates for us. We always would try new and exciting restaurants something that we still love to do. For awhile I really didn't think too much of it because I knew that he was going to be leaving on his mission within a couple of months, but then about two weeks before he was leaving it hit me that I really liked this boy and that I was going to miss him terribly. Our last date before he left we went out to dinner and then we went to this dance at Thanksgiving point with some other couples. We decided to take a walk out into the fields where we were all alone but you could still hear the music from a distance. We sat out there and talked and danced in the field all by ourselves. It was so romantic and so sweet. Later this would be the same spot that he proposed!!

So he left on his mission and we wrote back and forth the whole time. I was still in high school so of course I was still dating up a storm and had several other boyfriends while he was gone but he always had a special place in my heart and I looked forward to his letters and to his phone calls on Mothers day and Christmas.

Matthew was an amazing focused missionary. He loved the people in Hungary, and they loved him. He was called to be the branch president and did an amazing job at starting up a whole new branch and really showing those people what the Gospel is all about and how it works. A couple years back Matt and I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Hungary and I was able to see for myself the love that these people had for him and the love that he had for them. It was amazing to see their eyes light up as he greeted them with his famous Matt Hess smile. I was truly touched and reminded of how special he really is.

Matt came home from his mission in Dec. 2000 Of course I was there at the airport waiting to see his cute face and he went on our first official date two nights later. I was in charge of planning so we went downtown to see the temple lights and I wanted to do the whole carriage ride thing again for memories sake! But Matthew took it a step further and paid some teenage boy ten bucks to ride with us on the carriage and serenade us with Christmas songs. It was so fun. That is definitely one thing that I love about Matthew, he is so creative and so spontaneous.

As most of you know shortly after all of this the drama begins. For the next couple of months we dated seriously. I was still attending school at SUU so we would talk on the phone everyday and spend every weekend together. We rode the Greyhound bus to Colorado to visit my parents who loved Matthew from day one. In late February Matthew proposed and I said yes. About a month later I returned the ring and we called the wedding off. It was probably one of the hardest things that I ever had to do but there is not one day that goes by that I am not thankful that I did. I think I just freaked out. It was weird for me to think that I was actually getting married and that I was actually at that point in my life. Also you always hear of these big dramatic answers to prayers and I didn't feel like I had had mine. I believe with all of my heart that as long as you are doing what our Heavenly Father desires that everything will work out and that you will always be happy. And I don't think that I was 100% convinced that this was what was right. Looking back now I can see 100 different times where the spirit was telling me that it was right and that it was a good thing but while in it I just questioned and I knew that this would be the most important decision of my life and that it was one that I could not mess up.

So for the next several months we still talked on the phone and dated on the weekends I was home. That summer I went to Colorado to work and stay with my parents. There would be times where I was head over heels in love with Matthew and times where I really thought that is was over and we were done. The changing point for me though was late one night in July it was the night before my family was going on a trip to Jackson Hole and Matthew was coming with us. Matt and I stayed up really late talking on the phone. We were talking about all kinds of things past relationships everything and I don't really remember his words but it just hit me that night that I was going to lose this kid and I was going to miss out on the greatest guy out there. The next day we met up in Wyoming and he was so dang cute! He was so buff from working out all summer and so tan. I couldn't stop looking at him and then he was amazing with my family and my niece and nephews. I remember just watching him and thinking what an amazing daddy he would be some day. We had so much fun on that trip and when we got home my mom and I went dress shopping and I called Matt and told him I'm ready!! Give me that ring when your ready. So on August 17th Matt re proposed and we were married on Nov 30th 2001.

Now I would love to be able to say that after I got the ring the second time that I didn't have one more single doubt. But of course in true Brandi drama fashion that is not how it went down. I think maybe a month after I got the ring I began to freak out again. I felt so alone and I didn't know what to do. I wanted a blessing from my dad so badly but he was in Colorado so I called my brother Mike and I went over to his apartment and he gave me the most amazing blessing ever. I have never felt the spirit so strongly in my life. Still to this day that blessing tops all of my spiritual experiences. I knew and know without a doubt that I was supposed to marry Matthew and that everything was going to be fine. I left his house feeling so much better and I never questioned it again. I am so thankful that I had a brother who was living up to his covenants and who was worthy enough to just give me a blessing on the spot at a time in my life where I needed it so badly. And today I am so grateful that I had that blessing because every time Matt and I argue or run into rough times, I know for sure that we are OK and that we will work through it.

As I look back through our seven years I am amazed at the many things that we have gone through. We have so many fun, crazy, hard, and sad memories. I love Matthew with all of my heart. He is truly my best friend and I wouldn't trade him for anything! I am deeply IN love with him and am so thankful that he chose me and that I chose him. He is giving me the life I have always dreamed that I would have and I love him for that. I love his big gorgeous eyes and his soft skin. I love his cute mischevious smile when you never quite know what he is up to. And I love how there is not a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh.

I Love you Babe, Happy Anniversary!!!