Our Love Story

I always said I wanted to have a cool story to share of how I met my husband; and I have to say I think our story is a pretty great one.

How We Met

Logan is a good ole Alabama Boy. He was raised in the same area as his Dad and his Pawpaw (that's pronounced how it's spelled :)). So how did this Southern boy meet this Western girl? Well I served an 18 month mission in Alabama and Mississippi (which is another amazing story for a different time). I served in Logan's church branch for 6 weeks, while he was in Idaho about to be married. He ended up breaking off that engagement and his first Sunday home was my last Sunday in that area. We met while moving chairs from one Sunday activity to the next. Many people have asked us if it was love at first sight, and it definitely was not. He was not interested in any girl, especially not a sister missionary, and I just felt bad for him! So I left Locust Fork, AL thinking I would never see him nor many of the people there again. 

Fast forward to when I returned home from my mission 6 months later, I logged on to my Facebook account for the first time in a year and a half and I started adding anyone I could find from my mission. As I began to add the Huffstutlers, Logan's name popped up on my suggested friends. I never knew what would come of sending him a friend request. That happened on a Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon I got a FB message from the one and only Logan Huffstutler! I was surprised, nervous and a little excited. Once we shared that we both would be attending BYU in three weeks, we began to chat everyday. First we sent FB messages, then texts and then phone calls. By the time I got to Provo I couldn't wait to see him! My first night there we went out on a date and have been inseparable every since :)

Dating the Man of My Dreams (and how I knew Logan was that man)

That was the best and most unproductive semester of school! We were so enamored with each other that we barely focused on our school work. It took days for me to love him and just a few days more to know I wanted to marry him. Life was perfect...but I almost let him and our love go. After a few weeks of dating and hopeful plans for our future I began to have fear and anxiety. Now let me explain...for many people just a few weeks of knowing someone certainly does not constitute for talk of marriage, therefore there shouldn't have been any fear of that prospect. But from the beginning we were both very prayerful in our decision to date. I had had such a strong feeling that I had found the best man in the world for me. But I was so afraid it would not turn out. That is because I, like Logan had broken off an engagement in the past. I thought that man was someone I could spend a happy eternity with, and maybe we could have, but during our engagement I knew Heavenly Father had bigger plans for me. So I followed those answers to prayer and broke it off. So this time around, though there was a night and day difference in our relationship, I was so afraid I would be prompted to break off an engagement again. I couldn't do that to Logan or to myself. I wanted to know without a shadow of a doubt this man was the one for me, before we got engaged. 

Now again for anyone reading this who has never been in a similar situation or who hasn't been engaged or married, you might have a false understanding of what being engaged means. I thought it was nearly binding. Before I broke off that first engagement I kept rationalizing that I already agreed to marry him, but being engaged and being married is not the same thing. The time a couple is engaged is still a testing period before a marriage. And at the end of the day I was not, and still am not willing to make eternal promises with someone or about something that is not the BEST thing for me and my future. So why wouldn't I receive a clear, black and white answer to the man I should become engaged with? Faith. Heavenly Father had already been blessing me with good feelings. He was giving me everything I needed to make the next step. Sometimes you have to walk a little bit into the dark before you will be given more light. The anxiety and fear was not from Heavenly Father, that came from myself and was enhanced by the power of Satan. (I believe that Satan works hardest against those preparing for missions and marriage because both cases affect generations to come). But I also think Heavenly Father allowed me to have those feelings so, 1. I could better rely on Him, and 2. so that I could better understand those who struggle with feelings of anxiety. I now can empathize with them because I have felt it myself. 

Another thing I know to be true about our Father in heaven is that He wants to be apart of our lives and direct us for good, but He will not make every choice for us. That is such a blessing and part of our learning experience here on earth, but it can also be frustrating! I just wanted Him to tell me if I should marry Logan. Why couldn't He just give me that answer? But then again, why would I expect Heavenly Father to choose who I want to be with forever. So after much struggling, I came to the conclusion that I had to choose for myself. It only took me a moment to realize that I would never find someone else in the world more perfect for me. Sure I might meet a man who was smarter, or one who was taller, or one who was stronger, etc. But would I find a man who had ALL of Logan's amazing qualities and more? I don't think so! Logan is the perfect package! (Sorry ladies ;)). After I made that choice, our life together has been wonderful without a moment of doubt. 

The Proposal

This part of our story is very indicative of both our personalities. Once I knew he was the one, I was anxious to hurry up and be engaged so we could hurry up and get married and start the rest of our lives together! We looked at rings in AZ for Valentines Day when we spent the weekend with my family (so Logan could ask my Dad if he could marry me). We decided on a couple we both liked, but ultimately I wanted Logan to choose it. So from that day I tried to forget about it (YA RIGHT!) and let things happen in their own timing. Poor Logan couldn't go buy the ring without me knowing because we spent every waking moment together when we weren't in school. So I knew the day he went and got it. That was a Thursday, and of course I was ready for him to pop the question that night. But he didn't. The next day I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to leave the house or go anywhere without that ring on my finger (funny how a silly ring seals the engagement deal). Logan noticed I was acting a little funny and I finally busted it and said I just wanted to be engaged already! He asked if I could be patient for just a little longer and promised I wouldn't have to wait for much more time. At that point I knew I was being ridiculous and I also suspected he would ask me the next day because we had plans to go the the Salt Lake Temple. So I decided to just wait, as best I could, and forget about it (again...YA RIGHT!). After work I picked Logan up from his job at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and we had plans that night to double with one of my friends and her boyfriend. As we were leaving the MTC Logan told me to pull into the Provo Temple parking lot (across the street) so we could hang out there for a few minutes before we were to meet up with my friend. He said he hadn't been there for years and wanted to walk around. So we got out and were enjoying the night, he pointed out how pretty the moon was (now I know it was all a distraction haha). I said "Ya that is pretty" and took a couple steps to keep walking and noticed he wasn't walking with me. I turned around and he was down on one knee with the ring...YES!!!! I was actually surprised and SO EXCITED! All he had to do was ask and I said yes, Yes, YES! Again it's so funny how a silly ring and the formal question (even though we both knew the answer) makes an engagement legitimate, but it felt wonderful :)  I was able to go on that double date as an engaged woman and we took some pictures the next day at the Salt Lake Temple where he originally had intended to pop the question (like I suspected) but he sped things up because he knew I didn't want to wait a moment longer. So there you have it, I am the inpatient one and Logan does everything he can to make me happy <3

The Wedding

We were engaged February 20th and were married May 30th, just over three months later. That was and still is one of the best days of my life. Our ceremony was simple, beautiful and eternal as we were sealed by my Grandpa for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple. I cried tears of joy and I felt more love for Logan than I ever had up to that point. 

Our reception was a big party as I hoped it would be. I spent the night dancing and laughing, I was SO happy!! It truly was everything I ever dreamed of and hoped for. Everyone warned me that something would go wrong that day, but not to let it worry me...honestly if anything went wrong I still do not know of it to this day. It was perfect!!

How We Moved to Alabama 

The next day we drove up to Sedona for our honeymoon and had a very enjoyable and relaxing couple of days. While we were there I was imagining our future together and I was feeling so much love (I never knew it was possible to love someone so much). At this point we had an apartment in AZ and had plans to live there for a while, if not forever. As I was day dreaming of our future I thought to myself, "I love this man so much, I would go anywhere to be with him!" And in that moment I had the inspired thought come to my mind that we should move to Alabama. I wrestled with that thought the entire day. I love Alabama, it is where I served my mission, but I didn't want to leave my family and everything familiar to me and move there! 

That night I was about to burst from the seams, I couldn't hold it in or deny it any longer. After being married only two days I broke down crying in our bed. I can only imagine what Logan must have been thinking as his new wife was sobbing on our honeymoon haha. He asked me what was wrong and I exclaimed, "We have to move to Alabama!" He was pleasantly surprised, though he didn't let it show at the time. And from then on I continued to be prayerful and came to the conclusion that that was where we were meant to be and all the plans to move across the country and live here fell into place. I am forever grateful for my loving, sensitive husband who desperately wanted to end up in AL but never forced it on me and let me come to that conclusion on my own. He knew and Heavenly Father knew I had to make that decision myself. And Heavenly Father knew I would be open to that inspiration after we were married and I would follow that man anywhere. 

Moving was the hardest thing I have ever had to do up to this point in my life. This past year has been filled with sadness and loneliness. There are so many things I miss about Arizona, my family being the largest one, and I will always have a special place in my heart for the west, the desert and even the dry heat. But Alabama has become my home. I love the trees, the green, the big clouds and I am starting to not mind the rain. I love the blossoms in the spring and the leaves in the fall. I love the people and their big hearts. I love the Huffstutler family, they are not just "in-laws" to me, they are my family. And most of all I love my husband, Logan Blake Huffstutler. 

Logan is sweet and strong, he is loving and kind. He is not perfect, but I love everything about him, including his imperfections. I love how even though he may get impatient with others or things in life, he is perfectly patient with me. I have never met, nor will I meet someone who treats me as wonderfully as he does. I am so glad I have forever with him because he is everything in the world to me.