5 years ago

5 Years ago today Peter and I were married in the Portland Oregon Temple. A lot has happened in the last 5 years. Inspired by my good friend Vanessa, I would like to write about our dating and engagement story. This is as written by me; Peter may have his own version or some details that he may want to add--or at least a diffrent version of some of the events.

In the summer of 2002 I moved back to Portland from New York where I had been a nanny for a year and a half for my aunt. The second Sunday that I was home I attended the Mt Hood singles ward in Gresham with my cousin Aaron. While sitting in the very small congregation trying to listen (my cousin would not leave me alone and he kept messing around) they introduced the speakers. One was a tall and handsome guy, but his last name was Grossnickle! And if you didn't already know, my maiden name is Ruitenbeek, so dating--let alone marrying--someone with the last name Grossnickle was not part of my plan.

As fate would have it this Grossnickle guy was in the same FHE group as the guy I was interested in. And, lucky for Peter (for I did finally learn his first name) this other guy was not interested in me. There were many occasions when Peter and I were at the same place, before I knew him name. There was a pool party, where in order to impress me (though I didn't know it was for me) he did a back flip off of a plastic chair on a deck into an above ground pool and a hiking trip where he continually climbed trees.

Then came the first move. One night when I got home there was a message from him to see if I wanted to go hiking with him and his sister. It didn't happen, I think because of his work schedule.

Later there was an FHE activity at his house. I called to get directions and I left early because I hate to be late to anything. I followed his direction and got lost but eventually found my way, and was still really early. Peter will say that it was on purpose; it wasn't. That night we were pared up as partners in Frisbee Golf by none other than the guy I liked. That put an end to that and proved the beginning of something great. After FHE Peter had to take a car he had detailed to Beaverton and asked (not thinking I would say yes) if I wanted to go with him. I said yes. So we went on our first car ride. Guess what--for the second time that night I found myself lost because of this guy. This time it was ok though. When we finally got back to his house, he asked me to go out with him that weekend.

So that weekend on July 26th we had our first date (pictured above). We went hiking at Mt. Hood. Then to a wedding reception, for which I had to changed into a dress while concealing myself in the woods. The wedding reception was for a friend of his and the only person I knew at the reception was my Orthodontist, who happened to be Peter's Orthodontist too. After the reception we went back to his house, where I met his parents who had just (like an hour before) gotten back from like 3 weeks in Europe.

That same weekend Peter had dates with two other girls, one of which he had recently decided to be more serious about. But buy the next evening we were off to our second date--dinner with my family and a trip to his uncle's garden (this is not just any garden, I will tell you about it some time).

And that was that. We had one month together before he had to head back to BYU. I will leave out all the mushy details. But we knew that this was it.

Peter drove home a few times from Provo to see me. Once was on November 2nd when he proposed at Trilliam Lake on Mt. Hood after dancing to the song "A Moment Like This". And then a very long 6 months later we were married. We had to wait for Peter to be done at school that year. But, as it turned out, we could have gotten married earlier. Peter dropped all his classes and moved home to do home study so that he could be with me.

So we have now been married for 5 years. -Beware, it gets mushy here- I could not have asked for a more loving and wonderful husband. I know how lucky I am to have Peter as my husband and companion. He is my strength and my everything. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for this man and how good he is to me and our children. I love you Peter!