12 Years

Happy Anniversary Pete!

Twelve years ago I made the BEST decision of my life. I said "I Do" in an 18 minute wedding ceremony before a small group of people in Denton, Texas. What has happened since then is the fairy tale story of my life with Pete. I say fairy tale because we are definitely living "happily" and working everyday on "ever after."

August 5, 1995

Pete and I met in January 1995 when he moved into the University Park apartments at ACU. He was my sister's next door neighbor so we saw each other often, but did not care for each other very much. We did not start off on the right foot, can't remember why, and so we did not talk much. One night I was staying at Kara's to get out of the dorm (she and her roommate were gone) when Pete knocked on the door. He was looking for a place to hang out to give his roommate and visiting girlfriend some privacy. I let him in and we ended up hanging out until the wee hours of the morning. We laughed and talked and realized that we enjoyed each other very much. After that we hung out together everyday. We did not have our official first date until Valentines Day (I had to skip Sing Song practice to go - sorry, Sara!)

Sing Song ACU Spring 1995

When Spring Break came along in March we were sitting around Abilene with nothing to do. Pete blurts out, "let's go get married." It sounded like a good idea, so I said Ok! Then I got cold feet. My family is close and they had not even met Pete yet. I decided that if I were to run off and get married they might be upset. So Pete says "ok, then let's go get tattoos!" I was still floating on his proposal, wondering how we could pull it off without getting in too much trouble. I DID want to marry him! So we decided to flip a coin. Heads we get married, tails we get tattoos. It was tails so we got in the car and headed over to the local tattoo parlor in Abilene. Just walking in the door is all it took for me to nix the idea of letting someone in that place touch me with a needle. Pete agreed, and we headed East to Dallas. It did not take long to find a respectable ;) tattoo parlor in Deep Elem and it took even less time to do the deed. About 30 minutes and $75 later we were tattooed. Elated from our success, we decided to walk around West End when we realized it was St. Patricks day. We hung around for a while and then headed back to Abilene.

We spent every minute outside of class (and sometimes instead of class) together for the rest of the semester. When summer neared, I was offered a job at home and dad said he would pay for summer school at UNT, so I could not pass those things up. We could see each other most weekends. Two weeks into it I was miserable. Kara and I made many trips to see the guys (Pete and Mat were roommates now!) but that was not enough to sustain me during the week. When it came time for our family vacation I asked if Pete could come with us and dad said no boyfriends this year. I NEEDED Pete to be there. I could not survive the vacation without him. How could I get him there? Well, boyfriends may not be able to come, but if he is my fiance then surely they will let me bring him along! Penniless, I borrowed $100.00 from Kara, went to the mall and bought a wedding band and drove to Abilene to propose to Pete. He said sure. I went back home and told my parents. They did not believe me. Once they were convinced that I was serious (Kara told them that she was with me when I bought the ring) they said Pete could come to Missouri with us. It was a great week. Mom and Dad got to know Pete better and started to relax about the idea of us getting married. I was 18 and Pete had just turned 20 and that was a concern. However, my parents married at 17 and 18 and have had an awesome marriage so they could not say too much about it.

vacationing in Missouri with the fam before we got married

The plan was to marry the NEXT august. (this was the end of June). When we got home and started thinking about it we did not know why we should wait a year. We would still be students, still be poor, why not get married now and eliminate one set of bills! Great idea, lets get married next month.

ALL of the parents were against this idea. My dad said that he would give us $2000 to elope and we thought that was a great idea. Then mom and Kara said, no, you need to have a wedding. I was working and going to school and did not have time to plan a wedding. No problem, mom and Kara will do it. Pete and I picked out our cakes and that was IT! All of the rest was put together for us and it was great. I am so glad we had a wedding so that my dad could walk me down the isle. I met Pete's dad and step mom the day before the wedding and luckily they approved of me because they were paying for the rehearsal dinner :) It all went off without a hitch and here we are 12 years later...

I would not advise anyone to meet and marry someone within a 6 month span, but it sure has worked out for me! God has protected us from ourselves and allowed us to grow and change together. There are so many ways it could have gone wrong, but our foundation is on Jesus and that has carried us all this way. I can truly say that there has not been one time in these 12 years when I have questioned our decision. I have questioned almost everything else I have done, but not my choice of a husband. For some reason God wanted to bless me in this way, and I am forever grateful to Him for Pete. Pete is the greatest husband and father that I know. I love him more and more everyday. I am so excited when I think that each year I will learn more ways to love him. We are blessed!

On our honey moon

taken just after we married

1998 cruise to celebrate graduation from ACU!

10 years together