Our Story

Love I've Found in You

"Some people search the whole world over just to find a love thats even half as true as the love I've found in you."

❤ ❤ ❤ 

The first time we met was at a church activity in the fall of 2011. At the activity I met Steven, his brother Derrick and his cousin Chase. The three of them played a game with me that they likely played with all of the new girls that they met: I was supposed to guess which two were the brothers and which one was the cousin. My answer was their typical response: Steven and Chase were the brothers and Derrick was the cousin (because Steven looks more like his cousin than his brother). 

After that we didn't see each other much. Steven was gone frequently doing summer sales, and we had different friends in general - even though we were neighbors. In the fall of 2012 I began to see Steven and his brother Derrick a lot more frequently, because they were assigned to be home teachers for my apartment. For those who are wondering... home teaching is a church program that allows LDS church members to be taught in their homes in addition to attending church on Sunday.

Steven and Derrick were wonderful home teachers; they came over regularly and even made us cookies (when they didn't eat cookies themselves because they were doing the paleo diet/ cross fit/ being healthy... whatever!) A home teaching assignment soon blossomed into friendship between the Williams brothers the girls in 1625 #1. And that friendship blossomed into more than friendship between Steven and my wonderful roommate. With Steven dating my roommate, he came over more and more frequently and we became better friends. At that time Steven and I did not have any romantic interest in one another. Instead I would make him (and occasionally Derrick when he was there) listen to my dating woes, or I would listen to their workout/ nutrition advice. On occasion I joined in to play Settlers of Catan (even though I hate that game and never figured out the strategy), and Steven even orchestrated a double date with my roommate, myself, himself and Derrick. Steven setting me up with his brother continues to be a fun joke today :)

Eventually Steven and my roommate decided to stop dating, and I Steven and I remained friends (which I owe to almond butter). Steven had introduced me to the art of making my own almond butter (because he once saw me eating spoonfuls of peanut butter out of the jar, and he convinced me that almond butter was a healthier alternative). I didn't have my own food processor to grind the almonds, so I would frequently bother him to use his whenever I ran out. 

One evening I told Steven that I would come by to make my almond butter, but one of my friends came into town, so I told him I would come by the next day. His response was that he was bored and home alone, so I invited him to come with me to visit my friend. Steven offered to pick me up, and he showed up both looking and smelling very nice. His car was also immaculate, and I remember thinking for the first time that I was attracted him. At the end of the evening Steven dropped me off and invited me to have dinner with him, Derrick and a lady friend of Derrick's that following Sunday. I thought, "Is he asking me out?... I don't want to upset my roommate". I told him that I would love to go, but in my head I decided to have a discussion with my roommate; if she wasn't comfortable with it, I wouldn't go. 

My roommate was very supportive of me going to this dinner. At this point in time I truly did not think anything serious would come of this dinner, but she told me that she would be more upset if I didn't go. So I went. In an attempt to shorten this story, we had a great time at dinner, and Steven asked me out on a "real date" shortly after. 

Our first real date was supposed to involve dinner and taking pictures of Steven's crossfit friends at their competition... but our date turned into a marathon date: we also ended up going geocaching and catching a movie (Oz The Great and Powerful). It was the longest and best date I had ever been on. We really had the most amazing time, and that date was the beginning of us spending nearly every day together for the rest of the spring. The fact that we were friends first made our transition to dating less awkward. We felt comfortable being ourselves right away, and we felt like we could talk about anything without hesitation. For me the whole thing felt like the most natural dating experience I had ever had: like I could spend every second with him or text and call him whenever I wanted to, and I didn't feel needy or like I had to play any hard to get dating games. He was immediately my best friend and every day was the very best day. 

Steven waited a LONG time to kiss me. From his perspective, he had kissed girls too quickly in previous relationships, and he didn't want anything physical to get in the way of us getting to know each other. I on the other hand got frustrated :) I couldn't tell if we had that spark beyond friendship, or if he saw our "hanging out" going in that direction. I was beginning to loose interest, and Steven could tell so he brought it up to me. Now Steven likes to joke that I made him kiss me; I won't say that it was forceful, but I did ask him to. He didn't do it right in the moment (maybe he didn't like the idea of being asked... and wanted to initiate a "move" on his own), but as I walked him out through the laundry room (which led to the garage... the most efficient way out for Steven to walk to his place just down the street) he stopped me there and it was magical. 

The rest of our courtship was brief and perfect, and we knew rather quickly that we wanted to make our relationship last forever. I never thought I would marry so quickly, but I guess that saying, "When you know you know" can be true. I've never been happier with a choice that I have made. Steven proposed to me in my laundry room (because it's where we had our first kiss, and because it represents when we decided to really pursue our relationship) and it was perfect. 

We married on September 21, 2013 in the Oakland LDS temple. Following our marriage we had an amazing reception and ring ceremony at the house where I grew up in Diablo, CA. We have been living in Utah for the last year, and we now we have 2 cats and one little monster. Someday we hope to have more little monsters. Eliza is beautiful and amazing, and we love her more and more every day.