Back to the Beginning

Happy Monday, everyone!! I’ve received a few emails wanting to hear more about Bryan and I from the beginning. I’ll take you back a decade today! I was twenty and was on vacation in Ocean City with my friends. I had just finished my second year of college and a friend of mine was texting me about my vacation plans.

He was at his friends house working on his racecar so we talked about that a little bit, too. I had pretty much given up on dating because guys at that point weren’t looking for relationships and I wasn’t looking to just hook up. If I was going to date, it was going to have to be something serious.

I hadn’t set out to date, I had actually decided that I could wait. I had never needed a boyfriend before that point. I had great friends and was excited to head into my junior year of college.

That’s when my friend had asked me if I would like to meet this ‘racecar driver’ friend of his. (Insert eye roll) haha because I thought that was so interesting. I was definitely intrigued. He sent me a picture of him and I thought he was super cute.

I remember so clearly, it was on Wednesday of our vacation that I told my friend that he could give this guy my number. We texted every day for the rest of the week and not surprisingly, I had agreed to a date on that Sunday which was the day I would get home.

When he came to pick me up, he was driving a big dodge truck. (Really specific, I know) but I have three brothers and they’re all obsessed with Dodge. He told me he was going to take me to the races and I was excited because I had never been before.

We drove about forty minutes to get there and we didn’t stop talking the entire way. I remember feeling so comfortable with him. Once we got there, he explained the basics and helped me understand what was going on around me. He also showed me the type of car he raced and we talked about that too.

I thought his hobby was exciting. I thought that he was extremely passionate about it and I really liked seeing how happy he was when he would talk about being on the track. It was about half way through, when the clouds opened up and it started to pour. We ran to his truck holding hands and laughed the entire way.

He helped me into the truck and then once he was around, he let me wipe my face on his t-shirt since we obviously didn’t plan on it raining. He was such a gentleman and it was so refreshing to be around someone who showed more interest in my needs than his own. That wasn’t something I was used to being twenty and in the dating world.

I knew right then (probably before then) that I wanted to see him again. From there, not a day went by that we didn’t talk. That was on June 8, 2008. By June 20th, he asked me to be his girlfriend. He had met my family and fit in perfectly with my brothers. I had even gotten to go to a couple of his races and I loved it.

Racing was so much easier to love then. Now that I’m older and we’re married and have the babes, it makes me SO nervous. Back then though? It was easy to fall in love. From there, we grew as a couple. It wasn’t all perfect but we grew from our differences and we grew together.

On September 17th, 2011, he asked me to marry him. He didn’t even make it into the restaurant. Right there in the parking lot, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was perfect. It was so him.

A year and a month later, October 20, 2012, we were married in a very intimate ceremony and reception of over 400 people. Haha. We moved into our house together the next day. We had been working on it since May and the house we bought was actually my grandmother’s. My dad grew up in our house and my Pappy had built it.

We’ve come a long way in the last six years, and now having the three little ones running around, I just know my grandparent’s would have loved it. We chose due to our belief’s not to live together until after we were married and I am so happy with the way we did everything! It just made it that much more special.

After we were married, I’m sure if you’ve read my other blogs, you know that we waited a year and then we started trying for a baby. It took three years but we are so blessed with these three beautiful blessings and looking back, I wouldn’t want my life to have gone any other way.

I am still so very much in love with my husband and we work every day to keep our love alive. He’s my rock and has stood by me through those rough times and I don’t know what I would do without him. He’s the reason I was able to write my first book! Mopar Man, is based off of his and my personalities. The events aren’t all real happenings but some of the funnier parts actually happened! Also just to preface in case you read it, I’m not a famous country singer. Ha Ha 😉 From there, the other books in the series are based off of our core group of friends’ personalities including my friend who introduced us and his now wife.

Bryan’s race was cancelled early Saturday morning so we were able to go to a cookout with friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great Monday!

Thanks for reading! Here’s a few pictures from the beginning until our Wagner Party of 5 status!