Just because Jacob says we need a "joint blog"

Oh hey. Jacob and I have been married for nine months now, and despite the fact that I have my own blog on another site, Jacob was insistent that we get a blog for the both of us. You know, something for us to post pictures on and such.

Well, I haven't posted on my other blog in two months, and we haven't even taken most of the pictures off our camera since getting married, so we'll see if we ever update this thing. But I suppose miracles happen.

I also suppose that a fitting first post for our joint blog would be something about our "story." And since I haven't committed that to writing for the whole world to see as of yet, here goes:

Once upon a time, in July of 2009 to be precise, there was a girl named Jennifer who was living with some fabulous roommates in Provo.




(Yes, I realize that the last picture is from freshman year. But look at the hotness of Cari's eyebrows and our flattering facial expressions.)

Now, Jennifer was not expecting to find love anytime soon, despite one of her coworker's attempts to send her on flirting missions. Said missions included inviting an apartment of guys over for cookies and talking to three guys at ward prayer and things like that, but they didn't result in anything promising.

At the same time, there was a strapping man heading up to Utah for a mission reunion.
As it just so happens, this young man (hereafter referred to as "Jacob") needed a place to stay while in Utah. So he hit up one of his old mission buddies and arranged to sleep on the couch at his apartment complex.

Lo and behold, that was the very complex that Jennifer was living at!

It just so happens that Jennifer and her friend decided to throw a game night after ward prayer while Jacob was in town. They invited several apartments -- including the one where Jacob was staying. Jacob, who had decided early on that he was going to check out the BYU girls to see if they were really all that, figured he'd attend and see if there were any potential prospects.

Jacob strode into the apartment and Jennifer had a few thoughts run through her mind, not necessarily in this order: "He's really tall." "Is he new in the ward? I don't recognize him." And "He's really cute."

Throughout the game night, Jennifer and Jacob engaged in "lingering eye contact" and a bit of light flirting (nothing too over-the-top, though, as there were a good eight or nine other people there).

After they parted ways, Jennifer immediately went online to try to stalk Jacob on facebook. Unsuccessfully. She didn't know his last name, and when she tried to find him through a mutual friend, the profile pictures were all so small! Good news for her, though -- Jacob stalked her on facebook as well.

Friend requests were accepted, and the two chatted online for awhile. Finally, Jennifer had to retire to bed, as she worked custodial at BYU in the mornings, but she gave him her phone number and suggested they hang out during the week. Impressed by her boldness, Jacob agreed. And so the two made plans to hang out after she got off work the next day.

Well, Jennifer just had butterflies that whole night and had a hard time sleeping, because here was this very handsome guy expressing interest in her! What exciting news!

Jacob came over to her apartment Monday afternoon, and after he agreed to participate in a Disney sing-along, she decided that he was a pretty good guy. After that, they spent almost every free moment together.

They went to the temple:
They went hiking:

And then went on a tour of BYU campus and attempted to find an animatronic figure of Brigham Young like she'd heard rumors of, but they were unsuccessful.

And at the end of the week, Jacob had to go back home to Arizona. Jennifer was sad, but they decided to keep dating over the phone and see what happened.

After a few weeks of phone dating, Jennifer booked some plane tickets to visit Jacob in Arizona. She met his family, including his adorable nieces and nephews, and thought they were a pretty sweet bunch of people. She also thought that Arizona was ridiculously hot, but it wasn't so bad in Flagstaff, where they rode a ski lift:


Another month went by, and then the two decided to fly to California so Jacob could meet her family. And to, you know, ask a very important question to her father.

Despite claims that he was going to wait until at least October to pop the question, the day after talking to her father, Jacob surprised Jennifer by taking her sky diving! Jennifer suspected something was going on, but didn't want to spoil the moment, so she didn't say anything. Sure enough, after she had both feet firmly planted on earth again, Jacob got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. And of course, she said yes.

And so the two made preparations to get married in December after finals and before Christmas. They saw each other twice more before the wedding -- once in Utah when Jacob came up to celebrate Jennifer's birthday, and once in Arizona when Jennifer went down for Thanksgiving. But by the time they tied the knot, they had only seen each other in person for a total of about three weeks!

The wedding was beautiful, and everything ran smoothly. And now Jacob and Jennifer are together forever.
Life still has its ups and downs, but they're enjoying the ride . . . together. ::cue the cheesy music::

(Not) the end.