Casey's going to hate this... :)

Three years ago, today, my life changed forever. On February 4, 2007, I met this guy:

And my life has never been the same. :)
It was the spring semester of my 1st year at Eastern Arizona College. During the month of January, I had heard about this mysterious Casey Heap who had just come home from his mission and was now at EA. I had heard some great things about him so, naturally, I wanted to meet him.
February 4th was my lucky day. I went down with my roommate, Valerie, to the girls' apartment that lived underneath us to see if they had something that I needed for some soup that I was making. And of course, we got talking, just like girls do. Then there was a knock at the door and in walked this WAY cute guy...who was introduced to us as Casey. He impressed me right off the bat. he was so nice. It seemed like he made sure to talk to each person that was there and made each person feel so good.
When Valerie and I got back to our apartment, I jokingly said, "Valerie, that's the boy that I'm going to marry!" And she just looked at me like "oh yeah? you're crazy..."
Come to find out, he was there to ask our friend out on a date! Bummer! But I was so excited for her. They went on a few dates, but nothing really happened with them, so he was up for the grabs! Haha, that's funny to hear myself say that because I am not a forward girl AT ALL! In fact, I had the hugest crush on him for the ENTIRE semester, and the only people that knew were 2 of my friends and my mom.
So, the semester went on like normal. Me having dates with other guys and Casey with other girls. But he was always the one that I had my eye on. A girl could dream, right?! :)
We had different groups of friends so we didn't ever really hang out, but with how small Thatcher is, you're bound to run into each other every so often. I would say "hi" to him as I passed him walking down the sidewalk and I got up the courage to talk to him, ever so briefly, in the library. Little did I know, he was starting to watch me too!
The semester was winding down and some boys in the library invited me and my friend Deb to go to some natural hot tubs that were close by the school. There was a big huge group that was going, so I didn't really think that it was considered a date. But now looking back i guess they meant for it to be, who knows, maybe not...So, Deb and I left the library to go home and change into our swimming suits and when I went into my apartment, guess who was there talking to my roommate! CASEY! I was so excited that I didn't really know what to do. We talked for a little bit and then Deb came over for us to go and I wasn't ready yet. Deb was one of the friends that knew I liked him, so she said, "Hey, how bout you come with us?" SO he did! I'm sure those boys that originally invited us were pretty surprised when they saw him coming up to the car with us! :)
So, that night was fun (I'll spare the details), but he did ask for my phone number! I was so giddy after we left him at the dorms where he lived and walked to our apartment. I was literally skipping down the road. I probably didn't even sleep that night.
So, like I said, that was at the end of the semester. We did hang out one more time before the semester ended, but it was in a big group and I tried to tell myself that he was just being nice and didn't even like me...I didn't want to get my hopes up since the summer was around the corner and we would both go home and not even be anywhere close to each other. But that's not what he was thinking! Which I'm so glad for...
A few days after school got out, he called me! And then he called a few days later and said that he was going back to Mexico to visit the areas that he served in during his mission, but that he would be flying out of Phoenix and wanted to know if I would want to go to a Diamondbacks game before he left. So that was our first official date...June 8
I'll spare you the details, but here is what the rest of that summer included:
1 long summer of dating long distance
1,208 hours on the phone (maybe it wasn't this much, but it seemed like it!)
1 night at the park that scared me to death (when he brought up marriage...)
2 failed attempts before I actually let him kiss me...Third time's the charm (I was scared!)
5 hour drives that Casey made back and forth from the ranch to Peoria to see me during the summer
1 fun-filled weekend in St. John's for the 24th
1 long drive back from St. John's that gave me lots of time to think and decide that I wanted to spend the rest of forever with this guy
1 awesome mom who listened to every little detail from her love-struck daughter
1 love-struck guy and 1 love-struck girl who couldn't wait for school to start that fall
Here are some fun pictures from that summer:
But luckily, summer ended and school started again. What a fun semester!

We were engaged on November 1 and married on December 27. So I guess this can count for an anniversary post too that I skipped doing last month... :)
Since being married we have done fun things like this:
Snowboarding on our honeymoon
And this:
Havasupai backpacking trip

Found out we were having a baby:
And realized we were the luckiest boy and girl in the world to have this little one:
It is crazy to think back on these three years - 1 year of dating (1 semester of that being "wishing") and 2 years of marriage - and think about all that has happened and all that we have learned. I sure have learned a lot! And I'm grateful for the ups and the downs because we have been through them together!
Casey is my best friend. He knows me like no other person does. And I love that. He is there for me always. And I need that. I am so blessed to call him mine.