Ryne and I met on January 10, 2005 at a bowling alley to play $1 bowling. Bobby introduced us but this was not intentional. He even told me that his cousin had a girlfriend, which he didn't. During the bowling game Ryne and I flirted but not in the traditional sense. We kept changing each others names on the bowling screen to things that created a whole flirting dialogue. After bowling we went to the diner across the street. At that point I figured Ryne didn't like me because he didn't sit next to me. Turns out though that he did like me and gave me his screen name after we ate. The next day Bobby and Ryne came over to watch "Anchorman". We ended up hanging out and Ryne and I had our first kiss. We decided to keep things somewhat casual for a while but made everything official and went on our first date on Valentines Day 2005. He took me to see "Hitch" after a delicious meal at Uno's.
We dated for 2 years. During that time we did a lot of things together. We wen to Dorney Park, Six Flags, Wildwood, and our first vacation together to Williamsburg, VA. He saw me graduate from college and I got to be there with him as he turned 21. He treated me better than any guy I had ever been with and I considered myself so lucky. We started talking about marriage and decided a little after Christmas in 2006 to start looking at engagement rings. Ryne asked me to marry him on Valentine's Day 2006.
We were engaged for 2 years and 2 months before we got married. We had a traditional wedding in a church. We got married at the church that belongs to the school where I teach at so my students were our altar servers and our choir. It was a unique touch to our wedding. The wedding reception was awesome! We went on a Carribbean cruise for our honeymoon and then we came home and started our lives together.
The July after we got married we welcomed our first addition, Hershey Bear Nestle L. She is a mixed beagle terrier and we rescued her from a high kill shelter. She is a great dog! She is the right size to wrestle with and she has a lot of energey. She loves to cuddle and she protects us when she thinks there is danger. It's like they said in Marley & Me, "our family had already begun." That's so true about Hershey. She is our furbaby and we love her so much!
And then about two weeks short of our two year anniversary we welcomed Emily Grace, our precious baby girl. Whenever we look at her we can't believe that she is OUR baby, we made her. She is such a happy baby and precious in every way. We can't believe we could love something so much!
And our story continues with the hopes of more children in the future. But for now we are cherishing our love, laughter and lullabies.
