Getting A Dog Together

My Coworker got a dog off a Yard Sale page, a miniature schnauzer mix about 1 year old.

She brought him to work and we named him Wesley. I came up with the name because she always called him Weasel when he was bad. The name stuck and he would come sit up front and hang out with me when she brought him to work.

He was a very sweet, smart little dog and we became good friends.

One day she said that there was an incident with her 3 year old daughter. The girl had grabbed Wesley and bit him, and he had turned and bit her back, causing her to need 3 stitches in her face. The husband beat the shit out of Wesley, so bad he didn't walk for hours. And he told her that if the dog was there when he came home the next day he would kill it.

So she asked me if I could take care of him and keep him safe until they found him a new home.

I was not allowed to have another dog, as my childhood dog had just passed away several months ago and my parents said until I moved out I was not to get another one. 

So even though Michael and I were barely dating at this point, I asked him for the biggest favor ever...

To keep this dog at his place for a few days. 

He agreed- even though he was not much of a dog person. 

He kept Wesley and his things in his apartment and took care of him for me. Even though Wesley was scared of men after getting beat so bad- he trusted Michael and they became friends.

About a week later someone offered to adopt Wesley, and wanted to meet him at the pet store. I couldn't bare the thought of never seeing him again, he was my best little friend. So Michael told me we could keep him and he could live with him as long as I needed.

That is how we accidentally adopted a dog together.

And that dog became our child. We took him everywhere and we would trade off who took care of him. 

Puddle Jumping

When we were first dating there came a week or so of hard rain. The whole town filled up with water.
One of my favorite things is driving through puddles and mud. So I talked mike into going with me one night after work.
It was already dark, but the puddle was HUGE! We drove through it back and forth slow to make sure nothing was hiding under the deep water. And in the center of the puddle it came all the way up to the door of my little pickup.
When we drove through it fast and water shot up a good 10 feet on both sides!
It was a blast! And he got a good idea of how crazy I really am.
He asked "Are you sure this isn't going to hurt your truck? The water is up to the engine!"  To which I just laughed and assured him I had done worse to poor old Willis. 

Meeting Mikes Family

Michael is the 4th of 10 Children. He has a very large loving family.

We had to make a trip to the Salt Lake area for an appointment one day, so we arranged to meet his family. They were driving down to do some shopping, and we all planned to meet at his Oldest sisters place.

I had only met two of Michael's brothers at this point, and I was very nervous to meet up with everyone else. I wanted to make a good impression. We arrived earlier that the rest of them, he introduced me to his sister and her husband and children. And then we sat down and the rest of his family showed up. 

One by one as they came in the door they introduced themselves and hugged me. They were all very friendly. It was his parents, his grandma, 3 of his brothers, 3 of his sisters, and 3 of his nieces and nephews. We all talked and visited for an hour or so before we had to head back home.

Our first Date & first Kiss

The week after we got back from the church camp he asked me to go long boarding one night, but I canceled last minute because a family issue came up. He still insisted that he see me for just a minute that night because he 'had something for me'.

So we agreed to meet at a Sinclair Gas Station halfway between his house and mine. I told my parents I had to stop by a house I was pet sitting for a let the dog out again before bed, and they made me take my sisters with me. So I threatened to end them if they said a word to my parents about where we really went.
When I arrived he had a dozen peach roses for me. ♡♡♡ I almost melted. No guy, or anyone else really, had ever gotten me flowers before. It was the sweetest thing ever! I asked him why he got me flowers when we were having such an informal date as long boarding- but he said he wanted to make a good impression. Which he certainly did. My family was going camping that weekend and as I thanked him for the flowers I asked if he could come? He agreed.
 He hugged me goodbye and on the way home Samantha said "You have to marry him now, because that was so sweet!"
I told her to shut up and rolled my eyes because that would never happen. (lol)
We then stopped by the house I was watching and put the flowers in a vase on their counter, because if I went home with them my parents would certainly be suspicious.

We spent 4th of July weekend with my crazy family, and he didn't hate it. Actually my family loved him! He and my dad got along great. My mom thought he was sweet. My sisters were still impressed about the flowers. And my brothers thought he was the most amazing person alive. Lol not to mention my cousins both thought he was pretty awesome too.

I was amazed that he fit so well with everyone. I had never brought any guy around my family, so I expected the worst from my siblings and dad. But it's like they all liked him as much as I did. He helped my dad work on the sidebyside. And would run around the woods playing airlift wars with my little brothers. At one point he was on a team with my youngest brother Dylan, and they were hiding. Dylan turned around and shot him in the face from like 3 feet away. "Why would you do that? Im on your team!" Michael said. And he just said "I was bored and wanted to shoot somebody". haha

We spent a lot of that weekend riding 4wheelers and sidebysides through the woods. I let him drive and we would explore the trails and meadows. One time he hit a cow pie and it flew up and splattered my arm. I made him stop so I could wipe it off and we both laughed so hard we couldn't stand up. He took off his undershirt and used it to wipe the cow crap off of us, and then when we got back to the campsite he threw it in the fire. I said "Thats not how you do laundry" and he said it was how he does laundry.

The night of July 5th we went to see a special firework show put on by a small town in the mountains. (Picture Below)
We ran into my friends and I introduced them to my date. And then we went and lay a blanket out to watch the firework show. It was a great show. And we laughed about how I shake like a little dog every time they explode. I thought it was weird that he didn't try to kiss me during the fireworks, and thought maybe he didn't like me as much as I thought.

But when we got back to camp that night I walked him half way to his truck to say goodnight and he kissed me. It was the first time, and I was so ecstatic I could hardly sleep that night.

It rained for a whole day that trip and we were all stuck inside the camper playing card games. I said I was sorry he was trapped inside with us all on such a boring day and he said he was glad because he really liked spending time with me and my family. And that was the moment I knew that I really loved this guy. I didn't just like him, I was head over heals obsessed with him.

Thats us on the Red Blanket pointing at the stars