Our story....

A couple of months ago my Mother-In-Law asked me to write up a little memory of when we met and got engaged. I thought as we are celebrating our anniversary that it would be appropriate for me to share this too. (I should include pictures - but that was before the days of digital cameras - so all of my pictures would have to be scanned. Plus then you'd see that I used to be skinny....maybe later):

Cory and Joanna Ellis' Courtship - 1998

Cory and Joanna met shortly after Cory returned to Idaho from his mission to Peru in May of 1998. It was just a few days after he was home. Trent - Cory's best friend - had dated Joanna's roommate for the summer Brenda Smith. Trent and Brenda were just friends now, but Trent spent time at their apartment and was always talking about his friend Cory who was coming home from his mission soon. Joanna had just gotten out of a relationship and was planning to go home to Utah in a couple of weeks after the summer term was up - so she wasn't looking to meet a new returned missionary, much less someone to date.

The first time Trent brought Cory over to the girl's apartment everyone sat and asked him about his mission and poor Cory looked uncomfortable. He was in clothes that were obviously not his own (they were his *little* brothers), he looked kind of afraid of the girls and almost like English was a second language to him. Joanna didn't pay too much attention, but her roommates had a lot of fun with him.

Well the boys started hanging around more and more, and Joanna started to be more interested. She would go running at the track across the street and Cory and his friends would come over to the apartment. Cory liked that Joanna was a 'runner' (a fact he later learned wasn't exactly true....). A few days later Cory took the girls to Island Park to his grandparents cabin and see sights around West Yellowstone, Mesa Falls, etc. Most of the girls hadn't been around to those areas yet after a year of school and Cory was excited to take them.

During that trip Joanna really started falling for Cory. Little problem though - so did her other roommates! So her roommate Brenda said, "I don't want any of us to end up fighting over silly boys - so let's make a deal that none of us will date Trent or Cory". Well - nothing like a challenge to make Joanna work harder.... Now Joanna started showing even more interest in Cory. (It really was genuine interest!)

That week they all decided to go to Lagoon on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. They all drove down to Lagoon, played like crazy that day (and flirted a fair share too!) During the drive down, and the time at Lagoon Joanna knew even more than ever that she had a thing for Cory. In fact, when she got home to Orem (where everyone stayed that night) she told her parents, "I REALLY like Cory...in fact, I think I could marry him!" Joanna's parent's had heard this before - and her dad laughed. However, her mom said totally seriously "Scott - I think she means it this time!"

Coming home from Orem to Rexburg Joanna and Cory drove in her car together (Joanna hadn't had a car at school, but would be going home for the summer at the end of the week and so she took her car to pack everything in.). They talked about everything under the sun and in order to prolong the idea of going home to her apartment - they even decided to take a trip to see the Idaho Falls temple on the way home. They walked around the green-belt, did everything they could to not hold hands or kiss each other - entirely too much flirting, tickling, wrestling - all the things people do to avoid kissing each other :) Everyone was worried about them because it was HOURS later when they finally came home. Joanna's roommates had even called her parents to warn them that it looked serious with Cory.

A day or two later Cory and Joanna did kiss for the first time at the Intermural Fields at Ricks College. One of the sweetest kisses ever - and Joanna knew she was hooked. Unfortunately she was leaving to go home in a matter of days. Joanna thought they'd see each other maybe a couple of times through the summer, and maybe date some in the fall, but at that time she didn't see how dating long distance would work out.

However - they ended up talking almost every night on the phone, Cory came to visit almost every weekend, and it was really only a matter of a couple of weeks when they started talking about getting married. They spent time with Cory's family at a family reunion, with Joanna's family, went on a trip to the Manti temple pageant with (their soon-to-be brother-in-law) Spencer, and decided that they were pretty serious about each other. It was during the trip to the Manti temple that Joanna had the confirmation that she and Cory were meant to be married for time and all eternity. Joanna changed her summer plans and moved back to Rexburg early just to spend time with Cory before they got officially engaged.

For the next month or so Cory and Joanna spent most of their time together. They would go rafting, swimming, mountain biking, and just hang out together. Lots of time in the outdoors, and a lot of time just being gooshy and in love. They decided that if they were serious about this getting married stuff - they better be sure it was right. The courtship was a whirlwind, but the quality of the time was more important than the quantity.

On August 19th, Cory proposed to Joanna. They were heading to Farmington, New Mexico to see Joanna's family's new house they had just moved into, and Cory proposed when they stopped at Arches National Park. August 19th was Joanna's parent's wedding anniversary and right before Cory's parent's wedding anniversary - so it was kind of special. When they got to Farmington Joanna's mom freaked out because they were engaged. She had asked Joanna just that morning if she was - but since it happened on the trip down Joanna had told her no. So that was a little funny when Joanna's mom saw the ring on her finger.

Along with help from family and friends - Cory and Joanna planned the wedding quickly, and got married in the middle of the semester on October 30th, 1998. They were married in the Mt Timpanogos temple, which was special to Joanna in many ways. Their wedding reception in Utah was beautiful, and so kindly put together by Joanna's friends and YW leaders. Shortly after they shared a joint-reception in Rexburg with Cory's sister Ashley and his mission friend Spencer.

Now looking back on these past 10 years it's crazy to think all of this happened in a few short months. Met in May, engaged in August, and married in October. But it's been an amazing 10 years, lots has happened and there is lots more in store for the rest of eternity!