Meet-a-versary

Today marks a very special day in the Tanner Family- 3 years exactly since Grant & I met! Thus, I decided to tell the story of the brilliant occasion.

It was the beginning of Spring Term 2007 at BYU and I had just moved into Liberty Square Apartments. I had just finished my freshman year, a year full of crazy adventures and amazing friendships. There were 12 of us that were all best friends: 6 girls and 6 guys, and I was the only one staying for Spring Term. Needless to say, it wasn't an easy transition. I moved into an apartment with three other girls. They were all in their mid-twenties and very nice (although very odd...). For the first week or two I ventured out for various church activities, but spent most evenings in my room, calling my freshman family.

Normally, I don't have a problem talking to strangers. I have always made friends pretty easily. However, in this instance, I didn't feel quite ready to move on. Luckily I knew a few people before I moved in. One of these people was Matt Bingham, a friend from back in Idaho. Matt is a great leader and organizer and as such, decided to organize a hike to Timpanogos Caves for anyone who wanted to come. Me and my nice, but odd roommate, decided to go.

Me and Matt at the mouth of the caves

Fifteen or so people met out in the courtyard on the day of the hike, May 12th, 2007. Matt realized some people were missing and went to find them as the group got acquainted. We were standing in a sort of circle when Matt came back, followed by two other guys. For unknown reasons, I was instantly attracted to the taller of the two (unknown reasons meaning the tall, dark, and handsome factor also known as TDH). When TDH & his friend asked who wanted to ride with them my heart flew and stomach dropped but the raising mechanism of my arm didn't seem to be working... We were on opposite sides of the circle and I didn't want my insta-crush to be obvious (Yes, I was still in 4th grade.)

Of course, TDH didn't even notice me (yet) :). As (self?)punishment for my lack of initiative, I ended up in the car with 3 boys who talked about computers and video games the whole ride. I remembered why I missed my friends so much...

It wasn't until halfway through the hike that I managed to get close to TDH. We had just taken a picture overlooking the mountains with the whole group of hikers. As everyone kept hiking, I made sure to slow down just enough to get close to him. As luck would have it, TDH was not only dashing but also friendly, and introduced himself!

TDH took this picture just a few minutes after we met. I was weak sauce compared to the guns he was sporting that summer..

His name was Grant-- a perfect distinguished name for a TDH. We asked the normal questions: Where are you from? What are you studying? What do you like to do? Somehow, we realized that we both had taken Physical Science the semester before, albeit from different professors. Being the nerd that I was (and am), we looked at the different rocks on the trail to determine whether they were igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary. I remember "inclusions" being a particularly intriguing part of our conversation. (Wow, and he was still talking to me?)

At some point, I even recall mentioning that Onyx was not only a black stone, but that it was also a Pokemon... a rock Pokemon to be exact. He must not remember that detail or we wouldn't be married...

We talked for probably 20 minutes or so and then ended up getting separated somewhere in the cave. I climbed down the mountain with my roommate and headed back to Lib Square in the car full of nerds (as if I wasn't a nerd, talking about Pokemon...). I didn't forget about Grant the TDH and as time would tell, he didn't forget about me either. Maybe it was the camo shorts that hooked him? Or maybe the Pokemon? All I know is that we were both sporting the double thumbs up that day.

Yay for three years! I mean... double thumbs up for three years!