Two Years

David and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday. It was a perfect day and it's been a perfect two years.

{ First photo we ever took together. March/April 2005}

We met on St. Patrick's Day in 2005. We were the only two people on the UTA bus leaving BYU's campus. I sat towards the front (my usual spot, but David likes to tell people that I sat there so I could be across from him) and started a conversation with him. He didn't say anything at first, so in my head I was thinking he was either really cute and shy or a big huge jerk because he didn't even say hi or smile.

{ Refinishing an old hutch that I bought at a garage sale. David helped me with it, but I'm sure he secretly knew that someday it would be "ours." The shelf part that goes on top is not pictured. It's a gorgeous piece and is so special to us. After a couple days of working on it in our apartment complex parking lot, we finished it. We had only been dating about a month. I remember being so impressed with how "handy" he was. }

We saw each other a couple times on campus and at the bus stop, exchanged hello's, I "stalked" him at the library a couple times (really, I did. I noticed he was there at a certain time on a Monday and went to the same spot the following Monday), and finally he got my number and called me a couple days later. The first time we hung out was at my apartment on a Sunday afternoon. It was April conference and I had just gone to the conference center for the afternoon session. I had been thinking about going on a mission and meeting with my bishop to get my papers, but at conference that day I started feeling like a mission wasn't really the thing for me to do at that point. It's crazy to think back on since that is the day David and I first started spending time together. After he left my apartment I thought he was way too confident and full of himself and that he would not be interested in me at all. The next day we studied anatomy together, went to his ward FHE together, exchanged music on our iPods together, and then watched a movie together (Everything is Illuminated. A really good movie). This night he wasn't too confident and I had a feeling he kind of liked me. :)

{At the California State Fair in August 2005. I met David's family for the first time this day.}

David asked me on our first official date the next day. He took me to Demai to get sushi and then we saw The Chronicles of Narnia at the dollar theatre. This was one of our most memorable nights together. It was perfect and I remember the tiniest of details from what I wore to what he wore to what snacks we got and what we talked about (both realized that we wrote in our journals on our computer on a regular basis for years, 24 hour gym passes and how I wanted to cancel mine, etc).

{San Francisco}

For the next few months we spent every waking moment together. I had been planning on going back to AZ for the spring and summer semesters to work and David was staying in Utah for school, so that was part of the reason why we were so inseperable.

My entire family came to Utah for a vacation. David met everyone and seemed to fit in just perfectly. My cute sister-in-law loved him so much that she even cried when he and I had to say goodbye to each other for the spring and summer. :)

Over the summer David came to visit me three times. We said "I Love You" for the first time in my parents' basement. That August I went to Sacramento to meet his family. The fall and winter semesters we dated more seriously. We talked about getting married and talked about our future.

{David proposing at the Murray Art Center on Valentine's Night after a night of ballroom dancing with a group of friends.}

We got engaged in February of 2006.

{Wedding Day April 25, 2007}

We were sealed in the Salt Lake temple on the last day of finals (I even had to take an online final in the hotel!). Our wonderful family and close friends were there to share the day with us. We stayed at Little America and still have the engraved golden key to prove it. It says Shalynna and David April 25, 2007 Honeymoon. I cherish that key.

{Honeymoon in Mexico}

We had the main wedding reception in Lindon, Utah and then left for our honeymoon the next day.

We had the Sacramento reception in David's mother's backyard the day we returned from our honeymoon and the Mesa reception in my neighbor's backyard a couple weeks later. Both were low-key receptions, but still very memorable (especially when Dr. Cooper and his family showed up at my parents' house about an hour after the reception and entertained my entire family with his hilarious stories and hugged every single person before he left).

{Del Sol, Grand Cayman. Internship.}

We moved to Grand Cayman for what we thought would be three months to do a business internship.

{Branch Talent Show}

We ended up staying for two more years and have grown to love the culture, people, and lifestyle.

{Christmas 2008}

We've spent a total of four birthdays here, two Christmases, two anniversaries, and some of the best days of our lives out here.

We celebrated our evening by going to Copper Falls for the Steak Dianne followed by a quiet evening at home (with the cats :).

I bought David the classic Ray Ban glasses and he loves them (he had been wearing my white imitation ones from Forever 21, so these are a huge step up!) and he surprised me with a hammock (with the most gorgeous woven fabric. The traditional anniversary gift for the 2nd year of marriage is cotton. I LOVE that he is sticking with this traditional gift thing) and delicate little diamond heart earrings to match my necklace that I wear daily. They were a huge surprise and it's hard to surprise me since I always try to guess and figure out what he is getting me.

But the best gift is that he is the perfect husband for me. He loves me so much and that is something I need. I need him to love me no matter what, and he does. I think that is one way in which we are similar. We both can love so much.

I don't want to sound like I'm bragging or showing off, but I honestly thought marriage would be harder than it is! I know things might be easy for us because we don't have kids yet, we live in paradise, yadda yadda, but I really did not expect for our first two years to be this easy. We practically never fight. Yes, we get annoyed and frustrated, but David never actually gets mad at me! I have seen him mad before (with other people, such as when we are driving and he gets road rage :), so it IS possible for him to get mad. But, he shows so much love and respect for me that I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world.

I'm so thankful for my David and so thankful for anniversaries to be able to celebrate our marriage and love.

Sleepless in Seattle was just on TV. Will I ever get sick of that movie?