My One and Only

I know that a lot has happened since I have really updated my blog.  And when I say a lot…I mean A LOT! 

I like to think that God has a sense of humor, like He lets me go and plan my life just for fun.  So if you think that it is sacrilegious to blame God for my year…then you might not want to read on. 

Just when I thought I had my life figured out, resigned from my job, made concrete plans to move and stay in Mesa, found roommates, applied for jobs, had my full time school schedule planned out until the end of my Graduate program, etc…just when I had it all planned out…God laughed.  And my plans…they were altered. 

So just when my “concrete” plans were working out and I was feeling good about the change in my life, to finally walk out of Thatcher for good…I can’t.  I swear to you, the Gila Valley wants me to stay in it, or this is where I am supposed to be because every time I try to leave, something is thrown in my path to bring me back or make me stay.  This road bump that God put in my path this time was none other than Ryan.

Now, to be open and fair, I have had my fair share of “bumps” or stalls in my road when it comes to the male gender the past couple years.  Ryan is by no mean a “bump” or obstacle in my road (thank goodness.  One more not so decent choices in relationships would have sent me fleeing Thatcher for Antarctica and away from my bad judgment in guys as fast as I could).  He was just an unexpected extra…and a handsome one at that I might add. 

So here begins our “Once Upon A Time”…

Let’s just say that I have known who Ryan is for a few years, just because some of my friends have dated him and I have seen him around.  However, just because I knew who he was doesn’t mean I knew him…or had ever talked to him.  And in the tradition of a true man, he doesn’t remember me at all until we “formally” met.  I think we were definitely supposed to meet though because there are too many factors in our lives to bring us to together to just be coincidence.

One day in our single’s ward I saw Ryan sitting by himself on the back row.  I kept thinking that I should introduce myself and invite him to sit with my roommate and I.  I mentioned this to my roommate, who knew who Ryan was so she started telling me about him.  Before I knew it church started and I never got the chance to talk to Ryan.

Luckily, just a few days following this almost encounter, I happened to be at Doug’s house.  Now I had been friends with Doug’s extended family for years, but had only just begun a close friendship with Doug’s immediate family.  Doug teaches at EAC, where he taught Ryan and used to work with Ryan during the summers doing construction.  Coincidence…probably not.  Anyway, I was at Doug’s house and he mentions a guy named Ryan who he thinks I should be friends with.  He tells me that Ryan’s friends are all married and that Ryan needs some single friends to start hanging out with.  At this point I had no idea that Doug was talking about the same Ryan I had seen at church just a few days before.

Doug continues telling me about Ryan and finally he tells me that Ryan wants me to have his number so that we could hang out.  Doug then gives Ryan the story that there is a girl in Ryan’s singles ward that wanted to hang out.  Then he said that I wanted Ryan to have my number.  Tricky Tricky Doug!

One of us (neither of us can agree on who) made initial contact through texting just to get to know each other a bit.  Ryan asked me out to lunch on one of the only sick days I took the entire year.  Of course I had to decline since I was sick.  So in true Ryan generosity, he asked if he could bring me lunch, such as soup.  Well, since it was lunch time and I had yet to shower or even brush my hair by that time, I declined again.  I think I scared him off because I didn’t hear from Ryan for a month even when I would text him to invite him to do things.  At this point I hadn’t even really met him yet so it didn’t bother me, no big loss.

During that month I resigned from my job and prepared to move to Mesa to attend Graduate school.  I had just returned from visiting Rex and Amber in Utah when Ryan all of a sudden made an appearance again.  He texted me so I invited him to come hang out with some friends of mine.  We all went to play racquetball…Ryan left really fast after our game.

I told Erin that I thought he was nice but that I doubted I would ever hear from again because he left so fast!  However, Ryan apparently had other plans.  Randomly over the next few weeks he would show up and he texted me constantly.

The week he finally asked me out, I had a date with someone else.  I was actually really excited for my other date.  However, when it was all said and done, on the night of the date I couldn’t wait for the date to be over so I could talk to Ryan.  Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.  In fact, (and this might be really bad to admit) Ryan came over after the date with the other guy and that night is the first night we kissed.  Oops.

I told Ryan we could only date until May because I was moving.  Well…by the time I moved we knew things weren’t even close to being over for us.  I still moved.  In June we got engaged.  I did major Grad. school courses until the middle of October, then I moved back to Pima.  I was lucky to make my schedule at school work to where I only had to go to classes on the weekend in Phoenix and online.

Ryan and I were married on November 5, 2010 (I had so much help in preparing for my wedding! 

I can’t even express how grateful I am for my family’s help, Erin, Kayla, Kasi, and Cassie’s help…or my photographers Katie and Dalene…there aren’t words) in the Gila Valley Temple.

I love him so much and he has been the BEST thing in my life. 

Anyway, that is the short synopsis of us. 

Oh, and I finished Graduate school only 3 weeks ago!  Life could not be better.

Well…it could be.  I need a job.  Then it will be complete…for now.

Shout out to The HOUSE

Some of you may be wondering who or what the House is. I will tell you. The one and only House is Officer Jordan Boltinghouse (unless you are Christy Dobbs, in which case it is Householder).

Jordan has been my friend since I student taught in the Thatcher Middle School Library, where he often though, "Who is this odd person who is in charge of Mrs. Simmons's classes and who is ruling my library?" Well, it didn't take him long to find out who Ms. Elliott really is. And it didn't take me long to find out that this ridiculously mature librarian was really a couple years younger than I am.

Well, as you can see, the library became our playground of sorts. It is where we really got to talk and know each other. We also had a little bit of fun.

However, the fun didn't stop in the library. Jordan was also a security officer at Eastern Arizona College, where we often met for walks at night or just visited while locking up campus. Sometimes my friends and I would make him do a scavenger hunt just to keep things entertaining. And a couple times Jordan even helped me prepare pranks on our friends. Such as, setting up a set of "beer" and "drugs" and getting arrested. Or having my friends do delinquent activities to see how fellow security officer trainee would handle the situation. In every situation we had a good time.

And then there was the time I made the tragic mistake of telling Jordan and Justin that there was a really creepy abandoned house that I wanted to explore. Why was this a mistake? They proceeded to tell this BULLCRAP story about how there was a murder there called the "Fishstring Murder". Not only did they tell me this story, but when they knew I wasn't buying it, they called Jordan's dad! Jordan's dad is also an officer, so of course I kind of believed him. But not all the way. And a few days later when they knew I was starting to even doubt that, they brought me a file...with a police report...and pictures! Well, I still checked out the house...and the story ended up being complete and utter CRUD! Stupid prank, but they did a great job at trying to convince me. (And to be fair...I did believe them for a bit).

And one of the best and most entertaining things we did was the Haunted Hallway, where we transformed the middle school into a haunted house for people to walk through. It was gory and took so much work...and we were EXHAUSTED by the end. But have you ever seen such a good looking group of psychos?

.

And then there were a couple nights of random picture taking around town. Or the time we kidnapped Jordan (which I can't find pictures of). The only complaint he made the whole time we had him cuffed and blindfolded was that we were about to drive away without putting his seatbelt on him. Of course he would complain about that!

.

This is when we went to Relay for Life together and some of my old students paid to have me jailed...which cost 4x as much to get out. What did Jordan do? He laughed and left me! What a jerk!

Jordan is also one of many talents. He was not only a librarian by day and security guard by night, but he also dabbles in the art of plumbing. Our toilet was leaking and flooding our bathroom, so he quickly researched possible solutions and showed up at our door looking like this...ready for a flood.

And without me, Jordan would have never known the meaning of green M&Ms. That New Year's Eve was entertaining...and lasted far too early into the morning.

And we can't forget about the times we had while coaching Middle School Track and Field. Or the summer where Jordan and I taught a Drama class for College for Kids...where we did such a fun play! Or when I kicked his trash during racquetball. Or that I called him Papicasa and he thought he could pimp out Erin and I after that. Or that this blog would not be updated without Jordan reminding me that I am a slacker when it comes to blogging.

Now Jordan has graduated from the Police Academy and has signed on with Sierra Vista Police Department and we don't see each other...ever. However, if ever I get pulled over in that area I can only hope that Officer Boltinghouse is the one to do it. Perhaps I should take a trip to Sierra Vista and drive as fast as I can around town. Just warning you, it might happen.

So Jordan...don't cry because it is over, but smile because it happened.