happy anniversary.

today is our anniversary.  brenner and i have been married for 9 years.  yes, that's right...9.  i cannot believe that it has been that long!  wow was i a baby when i got married!  so in honor of our anniversary, i thought that i would recount (quickly) how we met, our engagement and our wedding day.




how we met:
it was my first real day at baylor in august of 1999 and the first day of freshman orientation known as welcome week.  brenner had been roped into helping out by a friend even though he could only be there about half the time since he was on the football team.  the leaders were telling the freshman about some of the different churches in the area and brenner thought that i raised my hand to go to the catholic church (not a lot of catholics go to baylor) and so he said, in his usual sensitive and charming way, "you catholic girl, i'll go to church with you".  so that was the first thing he said to me....needless to say it was not love at first sight.  we became friends after i began hanging out with his roommates and we started dating in november after he wooed me with lots of cherry vanilla dr. peppers from sonic.  this love story won't be made into a movie any time soon.


our engagement:
it was our 1 year anniversary since we had started dating. it was also homecoming weekend at baylor and i was not only in pigskin (baylor's singing/dancing competition for greek clubs) but i was also float chair for the homecoming parade for pi phi.  so it goes without saying that the weekend was insane.  brenner wanted to take me out for our anniversary saturday after the last pigskin performance so we went for a nice dinner.  then he said we were going to meet up with some of his fraternity brothers at damon's grill, which happens to be across from the brazos river and waco's famous suspension bridge.  while we were waiting for the guys to get there (or so i thought) brenner wanted to walk down below the suspension bridge along the river.  when we got down there, there was an alcove full of lit candles and a card.  while i was reading the card, he got on his knee and proposed.  after i said yes and cried, he told me that his frat brothers were on the suspension bridge videotaping us.  we went up and met them and then they all serenaded me with a well-rehearsed version of 'i get carried away' by george straight.  pretty sweet.


our wedding day:

just a few highlights from this day nine years ago....it was 105 degrees in dallas texas.  that is hot even by texas standards.  we temporarily could not find the marriage license.  we left two bridesmaids at the hotel...ashley and laura.  the reception sight threw out the rest of our wedding cake without asking anybody while brenner and i were being sent off.....it was the best cake i had ever had and my mom and i still discuss this with bitterness.  our first dance was to 'i get carried away' by george straight.  ashley caught her dress on fire with sparklers.  all the flowers were amazing (and we had a lot of them!)  brenner threw granny panties into the crowd instead of a garter (long story...call me if you want to hear it). i spilled wax on my hand while lighting the unity candle.  brenner and i saw each other before the wedding while alone....it was really special.  it was a great wedding and one of the best (and craziest) days of my life.