Once upon a time...

So I was trying to think of something to blog about this week. I wasn't sure what you all wanted to hear from me... so I'll tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was this girl...Well, actually she was more like a young woman. Now this girl was very young for her grade. She didn't turn 16 until the summer after her sophomore year of high school. So that year, she had to sit by and watch everyone else go on date and dances and have fun. Well, the summer she turned 16 she started to like Mr. Redhead. Because of that, she decided to throw a pit of a birthday party at her house and invite Mr. Redhead and some of his friends. And so she did just that. Unfortuantely Mr. Redhead had to work. But she put on a good face for her guests. There was one guest in particular that she talked to a lot. He was Mr. Redhead's best friend at the time. His name.... Hudson. OK, ok.... so maybe this is my story. So what?!?! I just thought some of you might enjoy hearing how my whole situation came to be... put no worries. This isn't going to be a novel. It's going to be more of a.... um.... picture book! So, that night at my house we watched "Hitch." Kinda ironic now that you think about it. Hudson and I ended up sitting by each other and talking almost the whole way through the movie. When it was over, everyone else left, but Hudson stayed to help clean up a little. I ended up walking out to his car with him. Apparently I said something along the lines of "OH, I wouldn't mind going out on a date with a soccer player." or something like that.... but he heard, "Hudson, I really like you and want to go on a date with you!" :) And so the magic began. Right after that, my family and I drove my oldest brother out to Virginia. it was like a 2 and a half week trip. And my parents claim that I texted Hudson THE WHOLE time.

When we got back, he took me on my very first date. We went to the "Voice Male" concert at Thanksgiving Point. It was rather funny because his mom and his little brother came with us. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Sweet little Hudson, during the concert, turned and ASKED to hold my hand. I had never had someone ask before and was completely shocked. I wasn't sure that I wanted to hold his hand on the first date and so I told him "no." Looking back, I don't even know why it was such a big deal to me, but it was. Anyways, he seemed ok, but i knew that he wa dying inside. By the end of the night I had reasoned with myself and when we were in the car on the ride home, I reached over and grabbed his hand. He said, "Beth it's ok if you don't want to. I'm not mad. And I don't want you to do this out of pity or something." I told him that i wanted to, but I don't know that I had him completely convinced.

Our relationship only got stronger after that. It's funny because I had been praying for a long time for Heavenly Father to send me a friend.... someone I could talk to that would listen to me. Someone who loved me for me and just wanted to always be with me. I, personally, was thinking that someone would be a girl, but turns out the Lord had different plans for me. That someone was Hudson. We have shared so many good times and have had such great experiences together, I can't wait to see what it's like when he gets back.Hudson took me to the homecoming dance our Junior year. We look so little in this picture! I used to have a really big problem with the fact that I am ALMOST the same height as him. It never bothered him and so I got past it. Plus, now-a-days you can see tons of girls that are taller than their husbands. (Although, Hud has claimed that he's grown another inch on his mission... we'll see if that's just wishful thinking)We've been all over the country together..... From choir tour in california....To cleaning churches in Hawaii, we were ALWAYS together in high school. Here some more good pictures of dances and hanging out with friends.... these are some of my most favorite memories!

This is Prom of our Junior year. We had so much fun and I LOVED that dress. My mom and I made it.

Football games.... need I say more?

Yet another choir tour in California. This one was fun because both of our moms came... and they actually got to be roomies!

I feel so blessed to have been able to graduate with my best friend! He means so much to me!

This one is more the REAL us... This is actually at a Jon Schmidt concert (OUR FAV!!!) the summer before he left.