"in the beginning"

IT'S OUR FOUR MONTH ANNIVERSARY!

i always think about our wedding and how perfect it was. but something i don't think about that often is how we got to that particular step in our relationship. so for the sake of my posterity and my self-diagnosis of memory loss, let us take a stroll down memory lane and document exactly how scotty and i came from being complete strangers to an engaged couple in just 4 short months.

scotty got home from his mission in Brazil about the first week of June 2010. we grew up on opposite sides of las vegas, but his parents conveniently moved into my neighborhood while he was gone.  the first week ron and kim moved into the canyon gate ward, ron stood up in priesthood and said something along the lines of "every time we move, one of our children finds a spouse. so i guess i'm here for my son to get married." ... funny. our parents grew to be acquaintances, which led to kim reading a funny blog post or two of mine via my mom's blog.

scotty comes home. his girlfriend who had been writing him the whole two years dumps him, to which kim responds to with "okay then i have someone you need to ask out! her name is ashley barnes. i read her blog." so scotty goes to singles ward and asks someone to point me out. he sees me across the chapel and thinks "... maybe."
MEANWHILE,
my dad tells me one beautiful summer morning "hey there's a fresh RM moving into the neighborhood! get on that." whatever. doesn't phase me. then the next week in church, this insanely good looking guy gets up to the pulpit and says "my name is scotty marx... i recently returned home from my mission. like... thursday." i was smitten. so cute. so handsome. funny. witty. strong testimony. hot body. challenge accepted. after constant facebook stalking, rehearsing how i would introduce myself to him, and going running in the neighborhood just to run past his house, i started to grow a little creep crush. kami was the only person i told because i knew it was irrational and ridiculous.

fast forward: it's ward temple night. he's in the font, baptizing people. i switch places with a few girls to ensure i get him. i walk into the font, excited to finally be close to him, and get in the proper baptism stance. he starts "sister barnes, by the- wait, are you ashley barnes?" heart stops. ridiculous responses start to flow. "you know my name...? haha yes..." "oh i'm scotty marx" "yeah we live in the same neighborhood!" mind you, all the witnesses, towel holders, and old man at the computer are all standing there awkwardly waiting for this inconveniently-timed conversation to end. i'm like "hey, why don't we just talk after" ... "yeah"
nice.
he proceeds to baptize me and -strike me down for saying this- the whole time i was so distracted by his arms and his cologne and that adorable face. suddenly we're finished and right before i walk up the steps to dry off, i turn to him and say the magical line that started it all:
"you're, like, REALLY strong..."
googley eyed and eyelashes batting.
something actually very similar to this

boom. i was hooked.
he laughed and that was that.

a week or so later, this little treasure plops in my facebook inbox:

HA! so embarrassing and so corny and so precious. 

i don't know if it was the absence of proper punctuation or the misspelling of "neighborhood" that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. but we texted away that entire night and next day until about 5:00 when he picked me up for our first date. 

to quote our wedding announcement, we "both agreed this one date was the absolute best date of [our] lives." we rode the new york, new york roller coaster. had a fancy dinner on the strip at texas de brazil. finished off the night with some romantic fountain-gazing at the bellagio. 

approximately 5 days later, i had myself an official boyfriend. 

and the rest, my friends, is history. 

every day it just gets better and better. 

i am so lucky.