7th Wedding Anniversary with my Soul Mate

As a little girl I enjoyed watching Disney movies.  When I was really young I would watch Cinderella at my Grandma Seaver's house.  She said when the movie ended I would sit and cry while she rewound it back to the beginning and once she hit play I would immediately stop.  So ya, I really liked a good princess flick.  The only problem with these stories is the notion of a "one true love".  I remember reading this quote from President Kimball:

… “Soul mates” are fiction and an illusion; and while every young man and young woman will seek with all diligence and prayerfulness to find a mate with whom life can be most compatible and beautiful, yet it is certain that almost any good man and any good woman can have happiness and a successful marriage if both are willing to pay the price. … (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball, (2006), Chapter 18: Honorable, Happy, Successful Marriage)

I didn't like this at all.  I was mad.  I can just marry anyone?  All I had ever wanted was my prince charming.  My one true love.  My eternal "soul mate".  Now the prophet was telling me that goal wasn't real?!?  It really bothered me.  Finally I decided that I needed to study this out and really gain my own testimony of what the prophet was telling me.  Through my study and pondering it finally clicked.  He was emphasizing that true love requires agency, not fate.  We choose who we want to marry then, when we kneel across the altar to be sealed for eternity, we choose to become each other's one and only soul mate.  That magical love does exist, but it's our choice to create it.

When I started dating Jake that I knew I wanted to be with him forever.  I remember he invited me to FHE with all his family on a Sunday night.  We hadn't kissed - we weren't even officially dating!  I found out later that his family was SHOCKED that he was bringing a girl with him especially cause he had never told them about me (completely opposite of me, who shared every single detail of our "dating" with my family).  But it was that evening when I saw Jake with his family, saw their great sense of humor, saw how he was with his nieces/nephews, saw his relationships with his siblings, saw how genuine and valiant his parents were - that's when I knew that I could really marry this cute boy from my Heat Transfer class.  Don't worry, I didn't tell him that I felt that way for months.  Didn't want to scare him off! 

Fast-forward 7 years and Jake and I found ourselves at Kroger after a dinner date on a Friday evening.  The bagger asked if we wanted our 2 milks in a bag.  I looked at Jake - you would have thought that she just asked us if we wanted to donate a kidney.  He likes the milk in a bag "so much easier to carry."  I think it's a waste of resources and "it's only like 10 steps from the car to the counter."  I quickly explained to the bagger that we were divided on the issue, but she should just go ahead and bag them this time.  Then I told her that after 7 years of marriage, these are the important issues we fight over.  She chuckled (probably thought we were psycho) and she put one milk in the bag and left the other one out.  haha!  Smart girl!  Later Jake brought in the grocery bags while I started putting away the food.  He came into the kitchen and was hunched over all weird.  He told me he must have twisted wrong and he pulled something in his back.  I helped him over to the couch and got him comfortable.  He said I would have to finish bringing in the groceries cause he was hurting too bad.  Of course, not a problem.  I went out to the trunk and guess what I found: a single gallon of milk - without a bag.  JAKEY!  What a little tease!  He sure put on a convincing show just so he didn't have to carry in one gallon of bagless milk!

Our actual anniversary, Jan 18, landed on a Sunday this year.  Since we couldn't go out that night I made a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting and I don't know what happened, but the dessert stars aligned and oh. my. goodness. it was so magical!  Jami, Jake and I ate like 3 pieces each while we watch OUAT!  Yum yum!  

Look at these cute little girls!  And it all started with Heat Transfer.... ;-)

Too bad the lighting was dim so these didn't turn out as crisp as I wanted.  But I'm mostly impressed that we got smiles after 3 hours of church and skipping naps!  I had to merge these two photos to get everyone smiling together (and I added some length on my skirt before sharing with everyone on Facebook):

I dug up a few photos from our rehearsal dinner before we got married.  Luckily we still owned the tie, skirt and earrings!  I think we actually have the other pieces too ... but they don't exactly what you may call "fit" these days.  Don't we look so young?!  I can't believe our parents let us get married!  haha!

We went out to dinner the next day.  Thank goodness Jami was still here cause it was a breeze getting out of the door!  She put all 3 girls to bed on her own too!  She really spoiled us (Jami: come back to Michigan!!!!!!)  Jake took me to the Melting Pot.  I'd never been before.  It was so fun!  The food was great, plus it was entertainment too!  We spent a good part of our meal discussing the magnetic heating method they use for the burner (induction cooking) .  I guess we payed attention to our Heat Transfer teacher after all - at least when we weren't busy shamelessly, and awkwardly, flirting.  Random side note: we found out that we got married on our Heat Transfer professor's birthday!  haha!

That night we swapped cards.  The best part was we both chose cards with lots of text and we both "edited" the text (added words, rephrased things, embellished, etc).  We just thought it was funny that we did the same thing!

Jake told me that he was talking with an Indian coworker at work. He grew up in a different culture and so they were talking about their lives. Jake told him that he got married relatively young. The coworker asked "was it a love marriage?" as opposed to an arranged marriage, I suppose. Then Jake looked at me and said "For the record, yes it was (and is) a love marriage!" Only in a love marriage do you get a dual leg-popping kiss:

Jake hates when I wear lip gloss - cause he ends up wearing it too!

 Scarlett helped pick out these pink flowers then Jami helped her make the other ones (hence the Gatorade vase).

When I was in YW I remember reading an article by President Hinckley that has really stayed with me.  He said that choosing who you will marry will be the "most important decision of your life":

...Marry the right person in the right place at the right time. ...Choose a companion of your own faith. You are much more likely to be happy. Choose a companion you can always honor, you can always respect, one who will complement you in your own life, one to whom you can give your entire heart, your entire love, your entire allegiance, your entire loyalty. Determine that there will never be anything that will come between you that will disrupt your marriage. Make it work. Resolve to make it work. ...Be fiercely loyal one to another. ...All of this can come to pass if you make this most important decision, one guided by prayer as well as instinct, of choosing a dear companion who will be yours through thick and thin forever, throughout all eternity. (Life's Obligations, Ensign Feb 1999)

I can tell you all with confidence that, in this aspect of my life, I chose wisely.  Marrying Jake really is the best decision I've made.  I thank Heavenly Father every day that he's my dear companion who is mine through thick and thin forever, throughout all eternity.  He's my soul mate.