Meet the Fredricksons!... Meet the Mormons ?

In my first post I mentioned briefly that we are Mormon. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a part of our lives. There's no way to go around it because it's who we are!  We love God and Jesus. I'm not sure if I'll ever be writing about religious topics on my blog, but since it is a big part of our lives, it will be mentioned here and there, things like church, our ward/congregation, the missionaries, church callings, and so on. We love our ward here in Birmingham! It's so great to be a part of a church organization that teaches the same gospel anywhere you go and we were able to make friends really fast because of it. This is the most diverse ward I've ever been in! We love how diverse it is in Birmingham city in general. So many different races and cultures. :)

Did you know that Tanner and I were both missionaries once? That's actually how we met. We both served in the Alabama Birmingham Mission! He had already been there for about a year when I got there (a full-time mission for boys is 2 years. 18 months for girls). He remembers me my first day at the transfer meeting. Him and his companion had offered to help me with my bags and I slightly remember meeting him that day haha. I was so new to everything and very tired from the flight and just in shock that I was there, so my memory of that day is not so great. He, on the other hand, can remember what dress I was wearing! Isn't that cute?


***Get this!! The first day we met was May 14, 2014 (the day of my first transfer meeting.
We got married on May 14, 2016! Not planned. We didn't even realize it was the same day until closer to the wedding. It's an extra special day to us now.***

Every six weeks in the mission there is a chance of being transferred or getting a new companion. After my first transfer, neither me nor my companion were being transferred, but there was an Elder also serving in our ward that was. He was replaced by Tanner (Elder Fredrickson)! And we got to know each other then, for the 6 or so weeks of serving in the same ward. For those of you that aren't familiar with Mormon missionaries, missionaries don't date or have relationships while serving a mission. That is all put on hold for after the mission. 

Tanner returned home from his 2 year mission 7 months before it was my time to come home. And 3 months before I came home, Tanner had started emailing me. We wrote on and off for the rest of my time in Alabama. I had invited him to my homecoming talk and he wasn't able to make it, so he made it up by taking me on a date! Before going out with him I didn't really even think of dating him, but I did think he was pretty attractive and charming. I thought he was too good for me! I think I fell in love with him after that first date 😍

That first date led to a second date, and then a third, fourth...  we spent nearly every day together and here we are now!! almost a year later and we've been married 5 months.🎉

 I am so happy with where I am today. I'm so grateful to have a loving husband by my side, someone that I can share life's beautiful moments with. :) 

Thanks for reading and following... More to come!

This was the day before transfers. Tanner's companion was being transferred and so we had to take one last pic of the four of us.

We obviously took another one. This one was at the transfer meeting. Nice photo bomb by Elder Smith;) Also, don't mind the dates on the pictures... They are not accurate. This was in August, 2014. 

I happened to be at his last transfer meeting right before he went home. April 15, 2015. Isn't this so precious? This is seriously SO FUN to look back on. Who knew we would end up together? Notice how his ties are matching my outfits in each of these pictures. Meant to be, right?

This is where we had our first date:) Yay for no more first dates!