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We met on January 31, 2003.  Patrick emailed me after reading my personal ad on Match.com – we know a little untraditional, but it worked.  We went to the drive-in for our first date and then spent the rest of the weekend together and from then on we were inseparable.  We knew very soon that our relationship was meant to last forever.  Unfortunately, our relationship was not the easiest.  There were outside forces that didn’t agree with us being together.  By April I was given an ultimatum and had to make a choice between the life I knew and the man that I loved.  So, on April 16^th I moved out of my parents’ house and moved in with Patrick.  Times were tough at first, but we knew how much we wanted to be together and we were both willing to fight with all we had.  Everything ended up working out for the best.  We had been talking about marriage for a while and on May 27^th Patrick proposed to me.  (It’s an absolutely beautiful ring – I’m still totally amazed by it).   At the time he was working nights and I was getting ready to start working at summer school – it was a very busy time for us both.  We started planning a Hawaiian themed wedding for August with about 50 or so people.  The more we thought about the wedding the more we thought we wanted a small wedding where we could celebrate with one another.  So, we decided to get married on July 4^th.  It is one of my favorite holidays and with the military background in Patrick’s family, the 4^th was perfect.  We decided to just make it a casual affair with Patrick’s parents, Sherrie and Virgil, and his grandma, Virginia.  Patrick works with Rev. Gary Kirk, a wonderful man, who was more than happy to marry us.  We got out cake and flowers at Safeway and they did an amazing job.  Eric, the neighbor, and his family came to take pictures and celebrate the evening with us.  We got married about 4 o’clock out by the pool and then finished off the evening with a huge steak dinner Sherrie made for us.  We spent the night Radisson over looking A mountain so we could watch the fire works.  We got up really early and went down to Tombstone to look around and spend the day – it was so much fun!!! 

 So, now we’ve been married for a little over 2 months and we are so happy together.  As far as our future goes, we know we want kids, but not until I’m done with school.  We also know we want to move somewhere where the school systems are better; better teacher pay and better schools for the kids, right now we are looking at possibly a Chicago suburb – that’s a few years off, so we will see. 

 Thanks for taking the time too look at our page.  Patrick will try to keep it up to date with any of our news, so check in once in a while.  Please sign our guest book and let us know what you think!!!