Part 1:

We all love a good love story right? Well, I might be a little biased in thinking that ours ... is the best :) 

So, once upon a time, this really great guy (my mister) had just finished up his Ranger School training in Georgia and he was home for the holidays with his family. He happened to run into a mutual friend of ours (he had grown up with her in Idaho and I knew her from a previous boyfriend - she was this ex-boyfriends sister-in-law. I love that fact). Okay, so this mutual friend tells Brad, "I have the PERFECT girl for you! I want you to meet her and just see what happens." Well, since he had been surrounded by guys and only guys for close to four months, he was completely gung-ho about hanging out with a girl! And ... while Brad was probably at home facebook stalking me, our matchmaker was talking to me, asking me if I would be willing to go out with him. "Sure!" I thought, "my dating life has been awful lately and I am all about a new experience! So ... I added him on facebook and sent him a message. I left it at that, not expecting to actually hear from him. 

Sunday, December 18, I was getting ready to go to a Family Christmas Party when I got a text from ... Mr. Brad himself. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to hear from him (you see ... I thought he was pretty cute!) so, we talked a bit that night and then we talked the next day, and the next and the next. I guess I really started to be interested in this guy and really liked who he was and the connection we seemed to have. We had a lot of similarities and common goals. It was exciting but at the same time, I knew I had to be cautious because he was going back to Georgia (and eventually overseas!) and I wasn't quite sure how that would all work. But, I kept going, something felt different with him and it just felt good and right. So, we talked every day for 2 weeks and REALLY liked each other by the time we finally met on January 1st. We knew on that day it either had to be: we really like each other and want to make this work OR we had to absolutely hate each other and never want to see the other person again. 

I met him up in Ogden where his parents were dropping him off. We were both really nervous but, first impressions were great, the nerves went away after a few minutes and we had a GREAT night. We cooked dinner together at my house with the kiddo. It was fun to actually BE with him and get to see how he is in person. He was SUPER sweet with the kiddo and being with him made me like him even more. While we were sitting down eating dinner I couldn't take waiting anymore and I put my hand on his leg ... he grabbed my hand back and I knew this was going to be a good thing. After dinner he cleaned up and let the kiddo help. While they were doing this they were singing songs and just really bonding and having a blast. I was watching them and had to walk into my room, cry, and curse the long distance. I was so mad that such a perfect man had come into my life but, it would be so challenging because of the distance. 

Well, we got ready to drop the kiddo off at a friend's house so we could have some one on one time. After we dropped him off, we were in a church parking lot trying to decide where to go and I asked, "well, what should we do!?" He looked at me and said, "well ... you could kiss me!" So, I did just that. We moved fast ... and we had to. Especially looking back, we had to move as fast as we did or we never would have gotten to the right place in the right time. After we had our first kiss and broke that ice - we went to visit with an old professor Brad has once worked with, who had been his mentor for many years. It was great visiting with him & his wife. Then we went to the Mt. Timp Temple and just sat and talked. We probably talked for a couple hours before finally heading home. It was just great how we clicked, there was never a lull in the conversation or that awkward silence. It was nice to talk to him and get to know him. 

We picked up the kiddo and went back to my house and talked. all. night. long we talked. literally. I think I finally dropped him off around 5:00 the next morning so he could catch his flight home. Before we left though we decided: "we want to make this long distance thing work" 

And it wasn't easy ... but it was definitely worth it.