The Tenth Year

In Ten years, 

I have never 

laughed so much, 

cried so much, 

yelled so much, 

kissed so much, 

hugged so much, 

said I'm sorry so much, 

been right so much, 

cared so much. 

On this day Ten years ago. I walked out of the Mesa Arizona Temple a married lady for time and all eternity with man I chose. We still didn't know each other very much but we knew that we wanted to be together. To work out our problems, to see each other succeed, 

to encourage one another to be the best that they could be and most importantly love each other. 

I don't think we know everything there is to know about each other, now but I do know is that I love my husband and that he is the best man for me. 

I am excited that we can spend this day remembering that.

I came home last night from work to find a dozen red roses, 

a fantastic love note and an enlarge photo of our wedding day. 

Before we were sealed we took our pictures outside the Temple. I was late and Mike had been waiting with the video guy for 20 min. (right as I was getting ready to meet him I walked between to dirty cars and my dress got dirty, it took a moment to get it cleaned up.) He told me later he thought I was bailing on him. He looked so relieved when I showed up. 

We took photos at 6am (well, at 7am) and it was hot. 90 degrees already. 

The Temple was closing after that day for cleaning, 

there were 48 couples that day getting married. 

I remember being in the sealing room and looking at my soon to be sisters-in-law and they were crying. I didn't want to cry but when I saw them, the tears just started to come. My dress was so tight that it was hard to breath. When the sealer said that we could kiss. I didn't think about what he had said and I just shook my head. I wanted my first kiss with my husband to be special not in front of everyone. ( I have tried to redeem myself, asking Mike to kiss me over the alter, when we have done sealings later. But it is now a missed opportunity)

When we left the Temple it was 105 degrees with 15% humidity. The Utah family, was melting away. The Arizona family, was saying "oh it's not that bad" 

Mike was melting in his tuxedo and I was melting under all the tulle I was wearing. 

All the magical memories of getting married on 

the beautiful, summer morning in July will always be with us.

The Proposal {not the movie}

First comes love, then comes marriage. But wait you need to get in engage. In the spirit of celebrating my ten years of marriage to Mike, I must document the proposal.
Like any girl in love, she dreams of the perfect guy and of course the perfect ring. After Mike and I met we both felt this thing that we wanted was the right. Now to find the perfect ring. I wanted something simple but big and pretty. I also wanted a platinum band. At first I wanted white gold but was told that it wouldn't look white forever so I changed my mind and said platinum. If this was a ring I was going to wear for the rest of my life I wanted it to be AWESOME.
During Spring Break, Mike was able to come to Arizona to me the whole famdamily. I mean the whole family. We are like the mafia. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, Grandparents, sisters and parents. He also had to meet all my close friends. I sure it was pretty overwhelming but Mike took it in stride. Everyone wanted to met this man of mine. Well, at least I wanted them all to meet him so that they could have a chance to say something. It's a funny thing in my family. I'm the oldest grandchild and I have always brought any boy I had interest in to meet the family. I think that is why some of my relationships were not every long. I also showed him some sites of Arizona. Downtown Scottsdale and Mesa, Natural bridge, the Zoo, the Temple and Matta's.
We also went to look at rings. I hadn't seen any I liked. Mike had been sending me pictures of rings via Internet but none that I really liked. Plus I didn't know my ring size. So we went to Fiesta Mall to a jewelry store. There is was a little ring that was platinum and had a very simple design. The diamond was a circle and I really wanted a princess cut diamond. I left with hope that might be the ring but didn't think it would be since Mike was leaving soon and he hadn't asked my parents yet.
Wow talk about awkward. My parents knew why Mike was coming to visit but it made it none the less awkward to say it. Again Mike handle the situation great.
After we talked to my parents. I remember we took a walk around my neighborhood to discuss what we were going to do next. We both had school and I didn't know when were going to be able to see each other again. We talked about how I was going to come up to General Conference and see him again. My parents like this idea. My dad was going to Michigan for a job interview and so with my sisters, my mom and I we drove to Utah. I actually drove half away with a friend and my mom was with my sisters. We met up at Glen Canyon dam where my sisters and mom and spent the night. We finished driving and made it to Provo. While we were in Utah, we were also going to search for the perfect wedding dress. I couldn't find something modest in Arizona. Everything I found, was something I was going to have to add sleeves to. After trying on six dresses. I found the perfect one. We bought it and I was so excited. I called Mike to find out when he wanted to meet. He was working so we agreed to met there and then we would go to where my family was staying. When I met him at work he was really nervous. I tried to give him a hug and I remember it was a really awkward hug. I couldn't figure out why, he wasn't hugging like that before. He was dressed up in his nice Sunday clothes. The plan for the evening was to get ready, Go to dinner and head down to Provo for a Mission reunion
When I was done getting ready we headed off to what I thought was dinner. We drove up past the Capital Building. We went to this church that he had taken me to before. This Chapel sits high on the hill over looking the Valley. I was curious as to why were here. But just went with it. Mike wanted to open the door of the car for me so as I was waiting to get out of the car. This little old lady came driving in the parking lot. She was asking Mike are you proposing? Mike was a bit embarrassed. He told her to shut up and leave. He looked deflated since I did hear that. He walked me up to the stairs of the Chapel and said "Rhiannon Marie Patterson, will you marry me?" He showed me the ring and I couldn't believe it. It was the ring that we both liked from Arizona. But how did he get it to Utah with everything I wanted? I was shocked and I kept him guessing for moment. Actually, I wanted to try it on first but he said "you have to respond to get it." I said "yes" I put on the ring. It was a perfect fit. We drove back to the hotel because I wanted to show my mom and sisters. I later found out that while I was getting ready he had already show the ring to my sisters.
Then we went to his parents house to tell them. It was quick because we didn't want to be late for the mission reunion. Mike was excited to go because he had planned to meet up with some old buddies. But they didn't show. During the reunion, which felt more like a fireside, we had to stand up and introduce ourselves. Mike stood up and said that I was his fiance and we just got engage. After the reunion we went back up to Salt Lake. I think we stayed up way to late. I just remember General Conference was really hard to pay attention to the next day. We went to the morning session together with my family.
I was happy I had the man, the dress and the perfect ring. This time leaving Mike was really hard. Knowing that I wasn't going to see him for a few more weeks. Driving back to Mesa was really hard.

{the first spark}

This weekend has a lot of memories attached to it.

This weekend is the exact scenario of how the meeting all began.

I took a plane to from Sunny Arizona to wintery Utah to meet a boy, a guy, that I had met on the Internet ( I know, weird) We had been chatting for a month and found out that we actually knew someone in common.

We were both extremely nervous to meet each other. I was even more nervous when he had arranged for his mom and sister with her children to pick me up from the airport, since he was working. I remember his sister getting a call from him asking if I was cute and she trying to be coy about it. We went to Chili's, the same Chili's that I worked at later in life. We went Shopping at Jordan Landing, when there was just an Old Navy. I was so excited to go there since they hadn't built one in AZ. I went back to his house with his sister, her children, and his mom waiting for him to get off work. I'm pretty sure he broke ever speed limit to get home as fast as he could.

Finally he came to his house, me waiting, not even knowing if I would like the kid or not. Because you see both of us didn't really know what the other looked like. His profile picture was small and of him sitting on a seal lion statue. Mine was a picture taken in bad lighting that was a side view of my face. I was also wearing a heavy coat. That added some bulk to me.

We went to a photo booth at Crossroads mall.

We left his house to meet all of his friends with their wives. The weekend became a bit of blur but we did go to Temple Square holding hands and under a light post in front of the Conference Center. He told me he loved me. I was nervous so I said "thanks" (who does that? Oh me), Monday was President's Day. He worked at Brighton Ski resort at the time and that was the real reason I was there. To go snowboarding. Unfortunately I had let on that I was better than I was. So not really familiar with Brighton I was not happy, that there was a foot of new snow, ungroomed and lots of trees.( I was use to Sunrise and Snowbowl, in AZ)  I wasn't on my best behavior. It was really good that I was really skinny and hot. Or we might have ended it right there. After a full day of snowboarding, he had to go to work and I was left hanging out. I took his car and drove to the mall. (so trusting) The next day was the departure. I was really sad to have to go home. I really liked him.
My dad was right when he dropped me off at the airport at the beginning of the weekend. That this weekend would change my life. It certainly did.