Happy 7th Anniversary to us!

Okay, so I am two days late posting this, but better late than never right? I just wanted to wish my sweetie a Happy Anniversary! I love our story, so I am going to write it just so I can enjoy it!

In the Summer of 2000, my older sister went to Cuenca, Ecuador to do volunteer work in Orphanages. After seeing her pictures and hearing her experiences, I knew it was something I had to do! So over the next year, I learned Spanish and saved money and in June til October of 2001, I spent every day loving and caring for the beautiful children of Ecuador! Most of the volunteers were LDS and since there were about 20 volunteers and we had to go to the orphanages on Sunday, we were split up between a Ward and a Branch for Church meetings so one group could go to the orphanages in the morning and church in the afternoon and the other group could go to church in the morning and to the orphanages in the afternoon. I was assigned to the Branch, and we always walked to church. Well, as the group of us turned the last corner and the meeting house came into view, there was also something else that stuck out immediately! A tall, VERY tan, VERY blonde missionary that stuck out like a sore thumb compared to all of the short, dark haired natives! He had been in the branch for a couple of months before I got there, and got another companion (a greenie) right after we got there. The missionaries were told to avoid "the orphanage girls" like the plague! And Scott did a very good job of that! His companion, because he didn't speak much English, would say Hi to us and make small talk since he couldn't really talk to anyone else, but Scott would avoid us completely! And if he had to talk to us about Church business, it was very business like! I was very impressed with him as a missionary because you could see that he Loved the people and that he was a very good missionary...but there was NO attraction to him whatsoever! In fact, I had a "missionary" that I dated since our Senior year in High School and he only had about 6 months or so left on his mission...so I wasn't even the least bit interested in Scott!
A new group of volunteers came and left every 6 weeks, and so Missionaries would send packages home with a volunteer and have the volunteer mail it from the states since the mail system wasn't always the most reliable in Ecuador. Well, Scott was transfered a couple of weeks before my group came home, so he gave a package to his companion to send home with a volunteer. His companion just happened to ask me to bring it home. It just so happened that one of our last Sundays, we also took the video camera to church to video tape some of the sites on the way to church (Cuenca is a beautiful city nestled in the Andes Mountains) since it was so beautiful and we also wanted to get some of the Church members on tape too. Well, it just happened to be Scott's last Sunday before being transferred, so we had him on tape singing primary songs with the kids (all of our video taping was done outside after church....we didn't video tape inside the church!)
Well, I came home in October and brought the package home and another volunteer (she was from Centerville) noticed that he was from South Jordan and had the idea that we should go and hand deliver the package to his family instead of just mailing it because we had Scott on video that we could show them , and a whole bunch of pictures and things that could really give them a good idea of where he was serving. We decided we would do it because at the time, we both had "missionaries" that we were writing and we know that the families of the missionaries would have enjoyed it if someone were to do the same. So, I called Scott's mom...feeling really dumb as soon as she picked up the phone, but she was great and couldn't WAIT for us to come out! So, Brooke and I set up a time and out we went. We were at his parents house for HOURS. It was so weird because it felt really comfortable sitting there talking to complete strangers. They loved seeing our pictures and watching him on video (his mom even cried when she saw him on the tape singing with the primary kids). It was really weird hearing them refer to him as Scott since we only knew him as "Elder Lloyd". Anyway, time came and we left, but Scott's mom got our addresses so she could send us an invitation to his homecoming when he got home in 6 months. We gave her our addresses since we didn't want to be rude, but we both just laughed because we didn't even know him at all...since he never even talked to us because it was against mission rules!
Well, fast forward 6 months. The missionary that I had been writing had come home and he felt like for some reason we needed to date other people. Then, low and behold, a couple of weeks later, I get an invitation for Scott's homecoming. There was no way on earth that I was going to go since the other volunteer that went to his house with me had already gotten married to her missionary that had come home and I wasn't going to go by myself....besides, I didn't even know him! As time went on, I was feeling REALLY homesick for Ecuador. I would just look at my scrapbook, watch my videos, read e-mails from those still down there and I was just sick. I missed it so much...Absolutely everything about it. Well, the night before the homecoming, one of my friends came over to pick me up and was inside waiting for me. We were talking to my mom and my mom mentioned that I had gotten this invitation and she thought I should go. My friend said I should totally go! I said no, because I didn't even know him and that would just be weird, but then my friend just said that she would come with me and we could just go listen to him talk about Ecuador and leave. He wouldn't even know we were there! I said no again, but she said fine, I'll pick you up! I knew she would, so out we went. On the drive out there, I couldn't believe that they talked me into it! I felt so stupid. Then, we are pulling into the church parking lot my friend said "What the heck, that's Keith." She is from a very small town up in Idaho, and it just so happened that this "Keith" was from her home ward up in Idaho! Well, this Keith turned out to be Scott's cousin! So we walk into the church and Scott is standing right there! OH CRAP were my thoughts! He recognized me right off....he didn't know my name, only knew me as "an orphanage girl" but he knew I was an orphanage girl! I felt so dumb...but it was too late to turn back! Just then, his mom and sister see us....and recognized me! Not only that, they wanted us to come sit by them......and all the rest of the family! I just looked at my friend and about DIED! She was fine with things because she wanted to talk to Scott's aunt and uncle about everything back up in Idaho and so she dragged me and we sat by the family! Well, he did great on his talk and not soon enough, it was over! I got up to leave and Scott's mom asked if we were coming over to the house. My friend said we would love to since she still wanted to talk to his cousins! So, off we went to his house! It took him quite a while to come home from church, so we were almost ready to leave when he came through the doors! He came over and said thanks for coming and that his mom had told him about the video and that he'd like to see it sometime! So, he asked for my phone number! I gave it to him, not thinking anything of it and we left! Two days later, I get home from work and I had a message that he called! I called him back and we talked for like 3 hours and decided that he would come out on Thursday night. He didn't find out I lived in Bountiful til afterwards....he thought I lived in Sandy or somewhere closer, and he told me after that if he had known I lived in Bountiful, he never would have called! Anyway, he came out Thursday night, then again on Saturday night.....and well, the rest is history! I always said I would take things slow and I had to eat my words! Things happened really fast, but we both knew it was right! We got engaged exactly one month from the first night he called...we got married 2 1/2 months after that, and here we are 7 years later! I am so grateful for Elder Beazer, for giving me his package, for Brooke for making us take the package to his house, to Cathy for inviting us to his homecoming, and for Andrea for making me go to his homecoming! I am so grateful for Scott! He is such an amazing husband and father! He is so perfect for me and I have only loved him more and more over the last 7 years and am so grateful that we get to spend eternity together!