Seven years and still in love

I started our blog after we got Dallin, so really the first six years of our life were skipped. Zane and I celebrated our 7th year anniversary on Saturday and so I wanted to post some pictures of the last six years before Dallin. Warning...there has been some weight gain from both of us since that memorable day when we met seven and a half years ago.

Zane and I met on June 8, 2001. We were both set up on a blind date but we weren't each other's date. The date took place in South Jordan with some of Zane's high school friends. My best friend from Houston married one of Zane's friends from high school, so through her, I was invited to this group date. Zane and I were both driving up from Provo, so our friends arranged for us to drive together to South Jordan. The first meeting was pretty awkward. Zane couldn't remember my name when he came to the door to pick me up. My very quiet, shy roommate answered the door and said nothing to Zane and he tried desperately to think of my name. I'm in my bedroom finishing getting ready and yell out something to him about being ready soon. I think his first impression of me was a loud, boisterous girl. On the drive up Zane told me he was thinking of being a seminary teacher, went to UVSC, and he went to Portland on his mission. I was not very humble at this stage in my life and I immediately wrote Zane off. I didn't like that he wanted to be a seminary teacher (doesn't every return missionary want to be that?), went state side on his mission, went to UVSC, and to top it off he will go bald one day. By the end of the night, I thought he was the funniest guy I had ever met. Both of us didn't hit if off with our real dates, but on the way back to Provo, we hit it off. We talked the whole time, stopped off at Village Inn and ate pie and continued talking till the wee hours of the morning. From that moment on we were together all the time, engaged 3 months later, and married three months after that.

This is Zane and I right before we got engaged at Lake Tahoe where Zane met my family at a Shurtliff family reunion.

One of our engagement pictures

Wedding day in front of the Houston Temple, December 27, 2001

Zane and I lived in Provo and Orem for the next three years. I finished up my degree at BYU and started teaching at South Jordan Middle School (ironically where Zane went to middle school) and taught there for 2 1/2 years. Zane graduated from UVSC in accounting (he did switch majors but not because of me) and looked for jobs in Utah and Houston. Obviously the job market is much better in Houston, and so to my excitement, we were moving back to my home. I left my teaching job in the middle of the year which was extremely hard to do, but it was time to start our new life in Houston.

We moved into our house in January of 2005 and we both started our new jobs.

For our 5th anniversary, we went on a cruise to the Caribbean. We had a wonderful time together. (November 2006)

Zane went to London on a business trip in November of 2007. Because he was gone two weeks, his company flew me out for the weekend to join him. I almost didn't go because I had to take off a couple days of work and I hated missing school (so silly). I'm so glad Zane convinced me to go. We had so much fun plus I got to see two musicals while we were there. This is us trying to take our own picture in front of Buckingham Palace.

Of course the six years before Dallin were filled up with a lot more fun times and even the sad times. Although I was a little prideful when I first met Zane, it didn't take me long to figure out I had the best catch in the world. We have had a wonderful seven years together and it just keeps getting better!