"I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS YOU."

Our Story. [the not-so-nutshell version]

Joshua and I met at the young age of 13, at a church dance in a little barn. His family had just moved into the ward-- and I was smitten. We were both extremely shy, and only communicated through letters. 

[which we still have and read occasionally for a good laugh!] 

We "went out" in 7th and 8th grade (still only passing notes), and by 9th grade we got a little more brave. We would actually hang out in groups, and sometimes even sit by each other and hold hands! [haha]  On my Sweet 16th birthday, my parents threw me a surprise birthday party, and I had all sorts of friends at my house. As the party was dying down a bit, Josh asked if we could talk out on the front porch. When we got out there he asked me to be his official girlfriend now that we were both 16, and also asked if he could KiSS me! I was a bit nervous, but accepted. [yes, I married my first kiss. :)] Josh asked me to homecoming, and during this picture I remember his heart was beating so fast. It was precious.

Homecoming 2005

Sadly, my family moved to Twin Falls after that year, right before our Junior year of high school. Josh and I ended up breaking up, because we knew long distance in high school would never work. During our junior year we each dated other people, but would end up breaking up with them around the same time. One of us would end up contacting the other, and we'd meet up and reconnect. Long story short- the same thing happened our Senior year, and basically Josh and I have [kissed] every year since we were sixteen. {minus his 2 year mission of course, but I'll get there.} After high school, I went to BYU-Idaho, and Josh went to Boise State. Again, we dated other people, but kept reconnecting for some strange reason! [not so strange now...] 
One day, Josh called me to tell me that he was going on a mission. I was so excited for him! We ended up reconnecting once again before he left on his mission, but kept it really casual. ["so, maybe send me a letter or two?"-Josh]

These "reconnecting" pictures all range from Junior year to right before he left on his mission.

 

I felt heartbroken when I drove away after saying goodbye to Josh for two years. I couldn't figure out why. I thought it was silly- seeing as we weren't dating...but I knew I already missed him. Minnesota didn't know what they were getting. After Josh had entered the MTC, I got a letter from him.
[I was so excited!] That was the first of MANY letters over those next two years.

  
Josh was the cutest...hottest missionary. :) I absolutely loved getting letters and pictures. He did so many amazing things. I could tell in every letter that he was growing so much. We decided that we were going to write each other questions each time in our letters to get to know each other better. It was a great idea, and we only grew closer. About six months into his mission, Josh wrote me a letter and basically "laid it all out for me" how he was feeling. I was so happy, because I had been feeling the same way, but was just too scared to tell him. I knew at that moment, that I was going to marry my high school sweetheart, Mr. Joshua Stewart. Two years was a long time, and I missed him a lot, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. He changed so many peoples lives, and it has blessed our family because of it. 

Josh got come from his mission August 18th, 2011. I was so nervous for this day! The whole day I was nervous/excited/happy because I knew it would only be a matter of time before I heard from him. He ended up messaging me on good ole Facebook [because he didn't have a phone] and told me that he'd be calling me later that night. When he called I was so nervous to answer, but we ended up having a great conversation. He asked if I was coming down to his homecoming talk, and I said of course. My family and I ended up going down the day before to do some shopping. I told my family to NOT let Stewarts know that we were in town...but of course that didn't happen. They ended up inviting us over for a small "party", and when we got there no one else was there but their family. haha I was really nervous to see him. Oh- and side note, I had a big ugly walking boot on my foot because I broke it. Someone stepped on it...wearing stilettos. Another story for another time. When we got to Stewarts Josh was downstairs. When he came upstairs he looked SO good. He looked so happy and clean cut and handsome. :) He gave me a tight squeeze and then we talked with our families for a bit.

This is a picture that our little sisters snuck of Josh and I sitting by each other that first night. They were obvi. pretty excited about it all.

 Everything from here on is pretty much history. Josh kissed me later that night after we had driven around for a few hours talking and catching up and getting some yummy frozen yogurt. I was ecstatic. A week later he asked me to be his "official girlfriend", and no surprise I accepted. He ended up coming on a family trip with me to Sun Valley that we had had planned for a while. It was so much fun, and everything was just so natural with us.

 

Some of our dates the following months:

November 23rd, 2011

Josh proposed!!!!

 It was the day before Thanksgiving, and he took me to Paradise, Utah to this quaint little spot called Porcupine Dam. He pretended that his car broke down, and he popped the hood of his jeep and asked me to grab his tool bag out of the back of his car. When I came back with the bag, he opened it up and there was sparkling cider and glasses in the bag. [I was clueless as to what was happening..because Josh is quite suave as it is..so I just thought he was pulling another "romantic stunt".] He then went into his car and turned on some music. The first song that came on was Sk8ter Boi by Avril Lavigne. [this was our song in 7th grade] I still at this point didn't get what he was doing. Instead, I made fun of him for having that song on his phone. We laughed and drank our yummy drinks and sang the song. The next song to come on was our song, Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, by Aerosmith. Again, I started laughing and asked him if he remembered that this song was our song growing up. He played it off really well and just replied, "oh yeah, that's right!" [Little did I know-he had made the playlist specifically for this event--haha] After we danced to our song, he asked if I wanted to go and take a picture down by the water. Obvi I wanted to. [if you know me, I'm all about documenting EVERYTHING with pictures.]

***Now- let me rewind to two days before this day. I was staying at my cousin Kari's house for a few days, and Josh was over visiting me. I have this Irish wedding ring called a "Claddagh" that I got when I visited Ireland in 2008. It is one of my most prized possessions. While we were hanging out, Josh was playing with that ring. He was flinging it between his fingers like a true pirate. Later that evening after Josh had left to drive back home, I realized that I wasn't wearing my ring! I hurried and called Josh and he told me he didn't have it. I told him it had to be in his pocket or something. He assured me that it wasn't. I tore apart my cousin's house looking for it--with no luck. I was devastated. 

-Okay, back to the proposal.-

Once we got down to the water Josh turned to me and said, "Oh Lex! I forgot to tell you....I found your ring!" I said, "I knew you had it! It was in your pocket...wasn't it!" He smiled and said, "yeah actually, it was!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. I said out loud, "that's not funny"...because I thought he was going to fake propose to me with my Irish ring! He then knelt down and opened up the box...and I saw a different ring than the Claddagh! I immediately realized what was happening and couldn't believe it. He said some precious things that are special to my heart so I wont spill....and asked me to marry him. I of course said, YES!

 Being engaged was a BLAST! Here are some of our SAVE THE DATE pictures:

 
Here are some of our ENGAGEMENT pictures:

Josh was such a champ taking all the pictures. Little did he know, we still had bridals, wedding day, and basically everyday since we've been married. :)

BRIDALS:

FIRST LOOK. <3

Yes people....we are completely in LOVE.

WEDDING DAY:

LOGAN, UTAH RECEPTION:

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Mother-Son Dance

First Dance as HUSBAND & WIFE

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO RECEPTION:

Popcorn Bar

3 Generations

"STEWART'S SODA"

T-dawgg

 Basically--It was the best day of my life.

and 

being married is the best thing EVER.

and

I love my hubby a whole lot.

Well friends-- that concludes this post. I know it was A LOT, but I just had to share all of the fun details of our story up til our wedding day. [plus- I wanted to include ALL of the nitty-gritty details and lots of pictures for journal purposes..so thanks for being patient through the long post].

All of this "catching up" stuff is wearing me out! [Note to self: start blogging as soon as events happen.]

I am calling it quits for the night, so until next time...when I will continue playing catch up on our year of marriage!

xoxo,

THE STEWARTS