The Moment I Decided to Marry my Husband

This one is tricky for me. Have you ever tried to pinpoint a moment that gradually grew into being?

I remember a couple months after we went on our first date, we were at my cousin's house together. I was sitting on the couch and he was rolling around on the floor with my seven-year-old cousin, playing some sort of game with her. As I sat watching, I knew that Benjamin was the sort of guy I could marry, the sort of man I wanted as the father of my children. 

It wasn't until later that I decided Benjamin was the one for me. I think it happened before we were officially dating; I knew that Ben had all the qualities that I was looking for in a spouse. 

I remember after we were dating, I was so sure Benjamin and I would end up together. We were in love and I knew that, so I didn't foresee anything coming between us. I would pray to Heavenly Father at night and say, "Heavenly Father, Benjamin is the one I want. I want to marry him." I felt so good afterwards, every time, I was sure that meant that I just had to be patient because eventually, my wish would come true.

Then we broke up. 

That put a damper in all my plans. It was hard for me because it had been a done deal in my mind. I felt that I was giving up on Benjamin and that it wasn't right to fall in love with someone else when I had been so in love with Ben before. 

Luckily for me, Benjamin later decided that I was the one he wanted to marry. 

Luckily for him, I hadn't changed my mind. 

My New Black Friends!

I was just getting off the frontrunner from work on Saturday when a tall black man and a shorter black woman approached me.

"Can I borrow your cell phone to make a phone call?" The tall man asked me. Dang, I thought, I hate it when people ask me that and I don't have my phone.

"I would let you borrow it but I left it at my friends house," I replied. "My wife is coming to pick me up here soon though and you can use hers."

"That works," The tall one said again. The three of us started walking over the the frontrunner parking lot.

"What brings you two out here to West Jordan?" I asked.

"My mom's boyfriend is getting baptized today," The tall one responded again.

"That's awesome!" I exclaimed, "I love baptisms. They are always so cool."

"Yeah," He said. "I'm a convert to the church. I was baptized when I was 16 and I was the first one in my family to join the church."

"Wow!" I said. "That must have been hard. You were the pioneer of your family."

"Yup," He said.

About then Charly, her mom, and Luke pulled up in her mom's little white Honda Civic. Charly got out and I asked her if my new friends could use her phone. Of course she said yes and handed the phone to man.

"What are your names?" I asked.

The girl spoke, "My name is Mia," She said, "And this is Wallace." Wallace grinned at me. He was on the phone with his mom.

"My name is Benjamin and this is Charly," I said, introducing us.

After calling, Wallace and Mia found that they would have to wait a while in the parking lot for Wallace's mom to pick them up. We ended up offering them a ride.

"I don't know how well the four of us are going to fit in the back of this little Honda..." I said. "How tall are you Wallace?"

"I'm 6' 6''," He said grinning again.

We all squeezed in. Charly sat on my lap which work out pretty well for me. We were able to get them to the right place and as far as I know they made it to the baptism with their mom.

Both Charly and I love it when we get opportunities to serve other people. I know that we will be blessed for it even if the things we do are small sometimes. I always enjoy making new friends as well and it's not every day that I get to make new black friends! Unfortunately there just aren't as many in Utah as there are in Brazil.

6'6" Makes Any Car Seem Small.

Ben and I went down to West Jordan this weekend. While we were down there, my parents wanted to take us out to dinner for our birthdays on Saturday night. Since I had dance in the morning, I was already down there; Ben had to take the train from his work to meet up with us. We were going to pick him up from the station and then head straight to dinner.

We took my mom's car, since it's the nicest. Luckily, it's also the roomiest. My mom was driving with Luke in the front passenger seat. That left the back for Ben and I. 

When we pulled into the station, we found Ben right away, talking with a couple of people. I got out of the car, to signal Ben and get a we've-been-apart-all-day hug. He ran over to me to get my phone for the guy he was talking with to borrow. We waited while the guy, Wallace, talked to his mom. 

When he hung up, Ben asked him, "So you have someone coming?"

"Why?" Wallace answered. "You offering us a ride?"

Ben looked at the car, back at Wallace and Mia, then back at the car and laughed. "If we had room, I definitely would be. I don't think we have room." 

We said our goodbyes and climbed into the car. As my mom started driving out of the parking lot, we told her the story, laughing. 

"Well," my mom said, "where are they headed?" 

"West Jordan somewhere." 

"That's the way we're headed," she said. "If we could squeeze them in, I don't see why we couldn't drop them off on the way." We turned around and Ben ran after the couple. Ben opened the door for them, then walked around to the other side. He slid in, closed the door, then pulled me up on his lap. I bent over, leaning my head on the seat in front of me. Even still, we were squeezed in pretty tight. Poor Wallace still had to bend his head down to fit.

It was quite the adventure. It was nice to be able to help them out and Ben and I always love meeting new people.  

I did not burn the cake ...

Friday night, Ben and I planned a group date with some of our friends. We decided it would be fun to theme the evening around Disney. We listened to Disney music, played Disney board games, had Lady and the Tramp Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner, and I wanted a Mickey Mouse shaped cake for dessert. 

Ben and Jon and I made dinner and the cake right before everyone else arrived. I was therefore putting the cake into the oven right as the last couple arrived. To make the cake the correct shape, I put part of the batter into two cupcakes and the rest into a circular cake pan. I wasn't really paying attention, however, and set the timer for a cake made in a rectangular pan. 

We finished getting the dinner ready and everyone started dishing up. The cake had been in for almost fifteen minutes. I checked on it and both the cupcakes and the cake in the pan were looking very golden on top. There was still almost fifteen more minutes on the timer, however, so I let them be. In the middle of everyone dishing up, all of them gathered around the counter and stove, I realized my mistake and decided to pull the cake out of the oven. In the midst of the chaos, I didn't check it with a toothpick. 

After dinner, Ben and I were doing the dishes when he noticed that my cake did not look done, and mentioned it to me. There was nothing to be done except put it back in the oven and hope it cooked right. After we put it back in, we went downstairs with our group to play games. 

Not our smartest move, I'll admit. 

We played a game called the Name Game, Disney style. That's when Ben gave me a look. 

"Oh no, Charly," he said, his eyes a little wide. 

"What?" 

"The cake." Ben said. 

My stomach dropped. I felt like crying. How could I forget the stupid cake? I ran upstairs as fast as I could, Ben following me. 

We pulled it out and, miraculously, it wasn't burned. It was definitely well done, but not burned. We let it cool off with a sigh of relief and served it to everyone. They all said it was fine, but I could tell the extra cooking time had taken its toll. Plus, Ben said it looked more like Winnie the Pooh than Mickey Mouse. Meanie. 

But, after all, I didn't burn the cake.