Joe and Amberly had a seminary class together in high school, and that’s where she first saw him. She thought he was attractive but he was dating someone else, so they never officially met or talked. She was however, really good at staring every once and a while! 😉
Joe lived up the street from one of Amberly’s close friends so she had to walk or scooter past his house often and would see his little red truck sitting outside with the Joe’s Lawn Care magnet on the side. Joe also mowed the lawn of a family that Amberly babysat for and the kids loved to “watch the lawn guys” so she’d see him there as well.
Joe likes to tell people that Amberly “stalked him”, and he says that when he saw her at institute years later, his first thought was, “I think her name is Amber and she used to want me.” Sometimes Joe is a little full of himself. 😉
Joe had been home from his mission for three weeks, and had been on a few dates but was very single and available. He had posted this status on Facebook earlier that day:
Amberly had just hit three years of being single, was sick of the dating game and had recently decided to just enjoy life to the fullest and have a lot of fun. Little did she know what was in store for her. She wrote this in her journal that night after institute:
Institute was great tonight. There were so many return missionaries there, it’s nice to have fresh faces. I got paired up with Joey for a class project. It was really entertaining because we’d been seated in threes and he sat down next to Ryan and I, but then they decided that Ryan should go in a group with a bunch of other return missionaries, so Joey decided that we would choose the topic of being offended because he was offended that he wasn’t put in that same group. He’s been home just the same amount they have, just none of them have come to class yet, and he has. Joey got my number after class and talked to me for a bit and he’s going to come watch movies with us on Saturday. I used to think he was cute in seminary junior year so this could be fun.
If you ask Joe, he’ll claim that Amberly forced her number on him that night, but she doesn’t agree. Joe just kept telling her that he was always bored because he didn’t have any friends around to hang out with, and was waiting on a background check so that he could start working. What was a girl supposed to do? Invite the attractive man to hang out and watch scary movies with her friends that coming weekend of course! And Joe would need Amberly’s number in order to do that.
Read more about how Amberly and Joe met here.
Over the weekend, they got to know each other better at the movie night Amberly hosted, where Joe insisted on sitting on the floor even though she offered him a spot on the couch and then at a youth activity where he finally sat on the couch next to her but only if there was a throw pillow between the two of them. (Did we mention that Joe had just returned from serving an LDS mission and had been avoiding girls for two years?)
After the weekend, Joe made it known that he really wanted to get to know Amberly better one on one, and thanks to some plan changes that were out of their control, they got that opportunity on what Amberly refers to as their first “date”. Joe came over on Tuesday night and watched The Blindside while she did homework, and he once again sat far away from her, on the other side of the couch. (Amberly’s a very scary, crazy person, haven’t you heard?) The night ended with a long walk around town and some great chats on the swings at the park.
Most nights from then on out were spent together like that, watching TV shows while Amberly did homework, followed by a long walk to the park, time on the swings, and lots of laughs.
They held hands, it was exciting. It took Joe until halfway through their second movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) to finally go for it, but he did it and then asked Amberly out on what he considers their first “official” date.
Read about Amberly and Joe’s different views of what their first date really was.
And then they kissed!!!! After spending the whole weekend hanging out, Amberly and Joe spent a few days apart and it was brutal. Amberly’s journal says:
Joey wanted to come over after I got home from work because we haven’t done anything since Sunday. I really missed him, I feel so stupid! We decided to watch Harry Potter, the second one and just cuddle. After the movie was over, we were just talking and laughing and he kept putting his face close to mine and acted like he was going to kiss me and yet he didn’t for like half an hour. It was really fun to sit there and talk and be anticipating it, I don’t know. I really, really like this boy. Five years ago, watching him in seminary, I never would’ve thought I’d be kissing him down the road.
The next morning, Joe’s Facebook status looked like this:
This was the day that Amberly applied and got the job as Joe’s girl! Remember the Facebook status Joe posted on the day they “met” about how he was accepting applications for girlfriend? Well, that status prompted this:
While Joey and I were chatting last night, he was joking around about how I hadn’t filled out an application to be his girlfriend like one of his Facebook status’ had said he was accepting before we started hanging out. So this afternoon, just to be stupid, I found an application to date an RM online and edited it to fit his mission and had a lot of fun with it. Everyone in the family contributed and it was really funny!
I gave him the application when I picked him up for a fireside, and I wasn’t quite sure what he thought about it. After the fireside we watched all of the pictures from his mission with his parents and his brother. He was so funny to watch while he was telling us stories. We sat and cuddled and talked and laughed more about my ridiculous application and then I needed to go. We talked in his driveway a lot longer and Joey told me that he liked me a lot and then he said something about how he couldn’t just keep saying he liked me. Then he said, “Amberly, because I love you, can I claim you as mine?!” I was kind of surprised that he was putting the I love you out there so soon, but it didn’t bother me. We are officially dating now and I really think I love that boy.
Read more about how Amberly applied to date Joe.
After a few months of dating, a lot of talk about marriage, and what seemed like an eternity of waiting for her ring, Amberly was getting antsy for Joe to propose. She even told him that she didn’t care how cliche it was, at this point, she wanted to be engaged to him so badly that she wouldn’t care if he proposed on Valentine’s Day. (Amberly is a very impatient person, especially after being sick and glued to the couch with mono for a month and a half.)
From Amberly:
I loved our first Valentine’s date! Joe took me to The Spaghetti Factory and then we went back to his parent’s house and watched the movie Knight and Day.
I’d never been to The Spaghetti Factory before and Joe was always talking about how yummy their food was, so I was excited when I realized that’s where he was taking me on our date. I gave Joe his present before we got to the restaurant, and I wasn’t expecting anything from him because I knew that he would be buying my ring soon, so when he told me, “I have something for you too, but I’m still trying to decide whether to give it to you tonight or not.” my heart skipped a beat and my palms got sweaty. Dinner was delicious and I had a lot of fun, but I remember that through the whole thing, my brain was going back and forth between wanting to ask Joe if what he had for me was a ring, and wanting to be a good, patient girlfriend.
After we watched our movie, and Joe continued to torture me with the random things he said that made me think he had my ring already, my impatience got the best of me! I think I said something like, “If you really have my ring, you should just stop teasing me and put it on my finger!!!” Yeah, I’m really kind of rude and bratty sometimes, poor Joe. He told me to hold on for a minute and then left the room. When he got back, he had a clear, strawberry flavored Ring Pop for me. Joe’s mom had suggested he give it to me as a joke, and it was really funny, I loved it and I even wore it to work the next day. I still have it in my box of memories and I think that moment just goes to show that even when I’m grumpy, impatient and rude, Joe knows how to handle the situation and lighten the mood. I love him for that!
Amberly and Joe took a road trip to visit his grandma and came home ENGAGED!!!
Read the proposal story in this post, The Proposal -How I Ruin Everything written the weekend after the engagement.
Amberly and Joe were sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful Utah Temple!
You can read more about the wedding, luncheon and reception using the following links:
Pictures and details from the Temple.
Everything you’d want to know about the Wedding Luncheon.
The awesome Reception in Amberly’s parent’s backyard.
Funny moments, bloopers, and random pictures from the Wedding Day.
Videos from the Wedding Luncheon and Cutting the Cake.
Also, Engagements and Bridals in case you’re looking for quick links to those!
After a crazy few months, Amberly and Joe enjoyed a few days relaxing in Park City before resuming normal life as man and wife. You can read all about the Honeymoon here.
