Once upon a time...(Our love story!)

Once upon a time, long ago, in a nearby land... two kids got married!

This is (part of) our love story...

One Saturday, March 2, 1996, my sweet boyfriend Joshua surprised me...

Our engagement photo, taken by Joshua's dad
 a few weeks later, on Easter 1996.

I was in college, living in a house with two Heathers nearby the college. (Really, there were two different girls named Heather that I lived with!) I had a study date on that Saturday morning from about 10:30-12. At about noon, the doorbell rang and there was a note on the porch. My friend Melanie encouraged me to go, and she left quickly after she saw the note! :-D

So the first note gave me a clue to go to our favorite coffee house on 7th street. (It's not there anymore, but it is the same gal that owns the coffee shack on 7th and North!)  I had to go there, show them my note and they gave me a free cup of coffee of my choice. They thought it was great fun and were VERY excited!

The 2nd note sent me back to our "old stomping grounds" of Mesa State College, where we met. He reminded me of the night we met and something funny that happened. There was a drunk guy that was running and hitting his head on a metal sign there near the dorms. So that's where my note was...on the metal sign! :-D

The 3rd note was near Joshua's favorite barber shop (I can't remember the name...). He didn't make me wander in there with a bunch of men and not him, so it was cleverly taped to the barber pole! Schwoo!

The 4th note was at a park on the playground equipment... I had to fill in the blank... "Who was our 16th President?" So off I went to the rocket in the top of the playground area at Lincoln Park. It was close to the college and we had walked down there on a few evenings and played on the playground like kids! It was a salute to my being a teacher and a child at heart!

The 5th note was a fill in the blank related to our bank on Main Street. The blanks when filled in were...

"BUFFALO NOSE"! His note talked about liking to walk with me downtown and wander around looking at the sculptures on Main Street. One of those sculptures is a big buffalo, made of chrome bumpers. Well, there is a ring in his nose, and that's where this note was! :-D

The 6th note was at his work, when he worked at Envision making and selling calendar planners. He wrote about how "time sure flies" and it had been 8 months since we began dating, and thanks for supporting him in his work...

The next note led me to our church, to the house on the church campus where we had a wonderful college/ career Sunday School group called, "Real Life 101." The note was taped to the door there, I just had to figure out which one! We're so glad God brought us to Redlands Community Church, and brought us together! (The Pastor there, Joe Gross later married us! :-D)

The last note told me to go "back to the beginning", like Vicini tells Inigo and Fezig in "The Princess Bride". This was the only note that stumped me. I went back home, since that is where I began the day. There was no note there, and my roommate Heather talked to me about it, and suggested I go back to where we began dating. So I went back to the Lake across from his apartment complex where Joshua lived. That is where we had a walk and talk 8 months before, and he asked me to go out with him. This time, he was sitting on a blanket in the sunshine, reading.

We walked around the lake again, and I told him about how much fun that was, and how the last note confused me. When we got to a bench, he had me sit down and got down on one knee and proposed! What a wonderful memory that is for both of us.

(Can you believe I still have and fit into that outfit?!
Good thing it has an elastic waist!)

Apparently Joshua couldn't sleep that night before, he was nervous & excited. He woke up early and had the idea to send me on a scavenger hunt. So he planned it all out and placed all the notes in reverse order.
 He had gotten the ring a few weeks before, and was trying to figure out a special time, place and way to surprise me.

 I'm so glad I said yes, it's been a wonderful adventure together! I love you, Joshua!

 Can't believe it's been 15 years already?! The time has flown by, and I still feel like a kid!