How it Began

Our story is a bit long, but for the sake of getting this written down- you know, for our posterity and such, I want to make sure I don't leave anything out!

Trefoil Ranch

I'll start at the very beginning, for as it has been said, "it's a very good place to start". It was about March of 2008 and I was finishing up my second year at BYU Idaho. I had just gotten out of two back-to-back bad,ridiculous,and super frustrating relationships that had left me sick of dating and pretty much hating guys. I was trying to decide what to do for the summer when my roomate Sarah came home and mentioned there was a career fair going on at the Hart. I really had no desire to go but when she showed me her bag of free goodies, I decided it was worth the trip across the street. At the career fair I browsed around and pretty much wrote my name down on all these summer job sign up sheets. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get any of them and even more sure I wouldn't go if I did get them. I figured I'd be spending another SUPER EXCITING summer living at home and working at Stokes grocery store in good old Preston, Idaho. Later that day I was called by one of the places I had written my name down for, The Girl Scouts of Utah. They interviewed me over the phone and offered me a job at a horse-riding summer camp up Provo Canyon- Trefoil Ranch. It sounded perfect! I have always loved horses but never really had the opportunity to spend much time with them or learning to ride. They even offered me a job as a horse-back counselor meaning I would get to ride horses every day, and they would train me! Plus, it was a GIRL scout camp meaning, I thought, an all girl summer without having to deal with dating. Just the break I was looking for! I called my best friend Loni, who was attending USU and convinced her to sign on with me and the deal was done. I was going to be working with my best friend all summer, riding horses, with no boys around!

Loni, Me, and Jon at camp.

Meanwhile, in Provo at BYU, Jon was looking for some sort of accounting job to do over the summer. Despite having great grades and references, he just wasn't finding much. Finally he decided that he had two more years when he'd be able to have a serious job and this summer he'd just try and find a fun summer job. So, googling "summer camp jobs in utah" he found a few and applied. He ended up being offered a job at a camp up in Salt Lake and was considering taking it when the Girl Scouts called about a job at Trefoil Ranch. He interviewed for the position of Assistant Camp Director. They told him that that position had already been filled but that the position of camp chef was available if he wanted it. Laughing a little bit, Jon told them he'd never cooked a day in his life, but they said it'd be just fine and they'd show him what to do. Thinking about it Jon thought, "Ok, this is a Girl Scout camp so that's a little weird but if they're hiring me, they obviously hire guys." Deciding he'd be able to find a way to make this job look good on a resume he took the job. (He admits now that he figured the odds would be in his favor and he'd be able to find some cute girls to date. Little did he know that he would be the ONLY GUY working there with about 36 single girl counselors!)

On the first day of camp training, Loni and I spotted Jon as we were walking into the Lodge. A little surprised and dismayed at seeing a boy at our "all-girl summer camp", we decided he was probably just dropping off his kid or something. When he stayed for the training we started getting really confused and concluded that he must be married to the camp director or something. When that also turned out to be false and we found out he was single and would be working there for the summer, I was SO MAD. This stinking guy was going to ruin my whole summer. All I wanted was an all-girl summer where I wouldn't have to think about or see any guys, and here one was, ruining everything! And WORST of all, I admit-I thought he was pretty cute so I just knew that even though I really didn't want to date this summer, I was going to end up liking this guy- and that just made me even more mad. I avoided Jon for the first few days of camp but when it became painfully obvious that he was a little miserable with his situation, I decided to be the bigger Girl Scout and befriend the poor guy. Turns out I was right. Jon had no idea he'd be the only guy at camp and that very few of the girls would be...well, normal. He was just on the verge of quitting when I came to his rescue. (Ok, so he made some other friends at the camp too that helped him decide it was worth staying, but just for the sake of the story, I'll pretend he stayed just for me :) Being the kind soul that I am, I decided I'd befriend him. I sat by him at a camp fire and we started talking and after that, as they say, is history.

Being the only guy at camp, Jon got roped into doing a lot of weird stuff....haha, He'll hate me for posting this picture!

We dated casually most of the summer. We had to keep it secret as we all lived at the camp and letting the other counselors know would cause massive amounts of drama. At the end of the summer, I headed back to BYU-Idaho and Jon stayed in Provo. We dated long-distance for two semesters and the next May we were married!

Jon and I at my parent's home, Thanksgiving 2008.