On January 31, 2006, a handsome young man was on his way to Institute in Mission Viejo, CA. He had been home from his mission for only 6 days and was looking forward to seeing his friends again.
Catching a ride from Laguna Hills with her good friend, Jackie, Marie was on her way to Institute also.
Little did these 2 people know their lives were going to change forever that very night. Joey watched Marie talk to her friends until the Institute teacher, Brother Greiner, began teaching.
Brother Greiner liked to pick on the returned missionaries and encourage them to share their testimonies in the language they spoke on their missions. So, when Joey got picked on, Marie admired him while he shared his testimony with the class.
After class, something gave very shy Marie courage to go up front and introduce Jackie and herself to Joey and welcome him home. To Marie's relief, Joey was very polite and sweet ( thanks to his sweet parents who raised him VERY well). In a few minutes, the 3 new friends were talking as if they've known each other for a long time.
When Jackie and Marie left that night, Marie talked Jackie's ears off, talking about Joey and how happy she was to have been able to get the courage to approach someone she didn't know and introduce herself first instead of waiting and hoping the other person would do it first.
A heart full of thanks to Heavenly Father and Jackie, Marie met her husband that night. :)
1 month and 14 days later(March 14th)... Joey and Marie are on their first date. It started at about 9:00am (too early for Marie, but definitely worth waking up early for). Marie's sweet new roommate and good friend, Allisan (pron. Allison), braided Marie's hair that morning and the day before the date, gave Marie a small bottle of perfume for her to wear on her first date with Joey.
After spending a few fun hours at the beach, they headed off to the Irvine Spectrum. They used the 2 free movie tickets that they won playing Bingo at Institute on Nothin' Night (game night) and were the only 2 people in the entire room during the whole movie! They rode on the ferris wheel and Joey took more pictures of them.
As 7:00pm drew nearer, Joey and Marie headed off to Institute. Once there, Joey realized he left his camera in the movie theater so, after class they went back to the Irvine Spectrum to get it. Thankfully, his camera was still there and had not been stolen! Joey took Marie back home and even though it was after 11:00pm, Marie cooked Joey dinner. After dinner, Joey headed back home, both of them really happy.
The next day, Joey was chatting with Marie online and asked her out again. So, March 16th was the 2nd date at another beach and dinner at his home. March 17th, Joey picked Marie up from work and in the parking lot, their relationship became official and Joey gave Marie a framed picture of the 2 of them from the day before, and a little stuffed animal (a bunny) as a gift. After that, they drove off to visit Marie's mom and step-dad. Marie's mom had been wanting to meet this young man. The visit went very well.
Three very fun and happy months went by and on June 20th Joey took Marie back to the San Clemente Beach where they had their first date and proposed to her at the end of the pierre over the ocean. It was a long walk along the beach to get to the pierre and Joey kept stopping Marie to take pictures of her.
At the beginning of July, Joey's family went to Utah for a few family reunions, and Joey and Marie followed them. Marie stayed and lived with Joey's sister for a month in South Jordan and at the end of August, when Joey's family moved to Orem, Marie moved in with them. This whole time, Joey had been living in Orem with his aunt and the drive to South Jordan was kind of long so, Marie moving to Orem and living just down the street from each other made it easier for them to see each other more often.
On December 21, 2006, Joey and Marie were married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, a romantic Christmas wedding :) What a joy it is to be married for time and all eternity!!!!!!!
