the first moment I realized...

This picture is not significant, until I tell the story behind it.  This is when we were in Utah at a friends, he was studying and fell asleep.   I remember thinking "Aw.  He's so tired...I love him."  then thinking, "Oh my gosh...I DO love him!"  This is when I first realized I was in love with Connel!  He had been taking time to travel a 4 hour drive from Idaho to Utah almost every other weekend and taking time out of his schooling to see me.  We would stay up late talking on the phone a lot too.  It's good to remember the sacrifice that we went through to see and talk to each other...that must have been part of the reason I fell in love with him!

I have always been into preserving memories.  I like to journal and scrapbook and I love to reminisce about good times past.  I feel like pictures and journals give me a reminder of how far I have come, the blessings I have had, and reminds me of all the wonderful people that have been a part of my life.

I used to write in my journal almost every day.  For some reason, after I met Connel, I only wrote in it a handful of times.  It kills me that I didn't have those raw emotions down in writing! 

It may not be perfect, but what I treasure is that I DO have it recorded!  A few years ago, I wrote our love story in a photo book.  It's the shortened version...but it's something.

Also, about a year ago, I found a journaled tape that I had made about him sometime during the first few months that we spent together.  It's cute, it's hilarious, it makes me cry...I treasure it!  (I do need to get it updated from a tape to something else so it can be preserved for future generations though.)