Our First Date

Before I went on a date with Kenny I had a LONG conversation with my best friend Katey while sitting on the kitchen floor of our house. She really wanted me to make sure I took things slow with Kenny. For multiple reasons. 2 Main: 1. He was her co-worker so things would get awkward if we started dating then broke up. 2. While the boy from Idaho and I were on a little "break" to figure some things out, she didn't want me to push him aside completely yet... because honestly he was a great guy. I promised I wouldn't and so went on the date with little to no expectations of anything coming from it.

Kenny picked me up that night to head to the 51's game. He looked SO handsome and smelled AMAZING. His trick? Aqua Di Gio. It is heaven in a bottle ladies. Anyways... we had a great time at the baseball game. Katey and her boyfriend Paul came along which made it a little more comfortable. We had a blast!

 

 

After the game we headed to Margarita Ville with them for some Volcano Nachos. If you are ever in Vegas, it is a must while you're here. The plate of Nachos easily feeds 4 people... if not more. And they are DELICIOUS!

After dinner Kenny wanted to walk down to the Belagio fountains for a few shows. They are my favorite thing in Vegas and I thought it'd be nice to talk to him one on one, so we separated from Katey and Paul for the night. While we were standing at the fountains we carried on a GREAT conversation for over 2 hours.He listened, he joked, he could talk about deep things and didn't have to be all manly... he was/is awesome. We held hands while we talked and that was where my comfort level stood for the night. Then came the crossing of the comfort level...

Something you should know about Kenny when you meet him is he is absolutely not afraid to say what's on his mind (No matter how inappropriate it might be, haha). He is really great at making others feel at ease around him AND most importantly he has the best heart of anyone out there. He will tell you how he feels and you should know it is sincere. That was something that I didn't know about him yet though....  Before we started the walk back to the car he grabbed my other hand so he was facing me directly. He got REALLY close to my face... and started saying all these SUPER sweet things and how he felt like me and him had an amazing connection. For some reason I panicked. I thought he was sweet talking for a kiss. I liked him, but wasn't so sure about all these cute things he was saying. I did my best to casually change the topic and we started our walk back to the car. When I got home that night I wanted to make sure he knew I was interested in seeing him more because I thought I scared him off when I avoided his sweetness. Even though it came on a as a little much we had a great time! I text him to let him know how much fun I had and that we should do it again. He called me the next morning to set up date two.

When Kenny and I talk about that moment at the fountains now his response is usually the same. As he puts it, "I knew what I was doing. I always knew that I'd win you over. I mean look at me. You'd be crazy not to want me." Haha if you know Kenny that seems about right... if you don't... he's WAY confident... in the best kind of way. :) That night was the start of something that changed my world completely.

The Night We Met

When I moved to Vegas one of the first things I was introduced to was Stoney's Rocking Country. It is a line dancing bar here in town that all of the single Mormon kids would go to every Thurday night to dance and hang out. It was ALWAYS a blast. Stoney's is always packed with locals and the setting is really casual and fun. We would get there around 9pm and dance till 1am and then head to Buffalo Wild Wings for a late night snack... we did this every Thursday for like 4 or 5 months straight, haha. Some of my favorite memories from Vegas that year were there.

Katey, Dianna, and I were making our plans to meet up and get ready together when Katey mentioned she was inviting one of her co-workers. She had mentioned him before, but all I really knew about him is that he had just moved back to Vegas a month ago after a pretty awful divorce. I had just gone through something VERY similar so Katey thought him and I should meet... maybe we could "bond".  I have to admit. The last thing I wanted to do was to get hooked up with someone I could swap divorce stories with. I had moved on with my life and was happy. She really had the best intentions. I was just anti-discussion of divorce at the time, haha. I had been dating a boy from Idaho Falls off and on and so didn't really find interest in the whole idea.

We got to Stoney's and started dancing and hanging out with our friends. I remember sitting on some stairs with my friend D when I saw an EXTREMELY attractive guy approach Katey who was just a few feet away. I leaned over to Dianna to point him out when Katey started to walk towards us with him.  She introduced him, "This is Kenny, my coworker." Um WHAT?! She had failed to metion how attractive this guy was. All notions of not wanting to get to know this guy too well immediately went out the window. As we all walked out to show Kenny a line dance I leaned over to Dianna and said, "Seriously the greatest set of lips I've ever seen on a guy in my life." Haha. If you know Kenny  you'll know that his lips are one of his favorite things on himself. They are abnormally full, in a good way. He loves that it was the first thing I noticed about him. We hung out with our group of friends all night and I didn't really get to talk to Kenny much. At the end of the night he came and sat by me so we could chat for a few minutes, but got interrupted pretty quickly. It was getting late so we all decided to head out. Katey and I were in the car on the way home when she got a text from Kenny, "You're friend Emily... Wow. She is freakin' gorgeous!" (Which she never showed me until weeks later, haha)

                                                  
            Dianna and Brook hanging out at Stoney's

                   Our first Stoney's picture together.

Anyways, the next morning while I was at work I got  a text from Katey saying that Kenny had asked for my number. I was SO excited and anxiously waited for his call later that day. When he called we talked for over an hour. He was SUCH a smooth talker and by the end of our conversation we had a date set up. I haven't been so nervous for a date in a long time.

Good Things DO Come!

Kenny and I received some great news a few days ago that we are both excited to share. We would like you to keep in mind however, that this is a big deal for us to talk openly about it. We've both been hesitant to let anyone in on a few things going on in our life with anybody except for close family and friends. As time has gone on, we've discovered through our trial that we are definitely not alone in this. We feel like sharing could only create positive things to come. SO... a little background (okay a lot, sorry) before the NEWS.

Most people do not know that my hubby Kenny has a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Myotonic Dystrophy (MMD). In Kenny's case the disease didn't show itself really until he was about 25. In short, Myotonic Dystrophy is muscle wasting in the extremities. There are two types and thankfully Kenny has the less severe of the two. While some can have heart problems, lose their ability to walk, write, etc., Kenny has only lost his ability to grip anything with his hands. Looking at Kenny, you would have no idea that he even has any issues. We met with a specialist a few months ago and found out that every case is completely different so there is no way to tell what other things Kenny will experience in the future. As for now though, Kenny is healthy and strong, and as long as we have regular check-up's there's not much for us to worry about. However, another common problem we learned that comes from MMD is infertility. Kenny and I have struggled to get pregnant for the last 2 years. While Kenny does have a son, because he didn't have symptoms until he was in his early 20's and MMD is a progressive disease, infertility did not become an issue until after Kason was born. As a result we have found that because of MMD and other issues with me that our best option to have a baby together is through In-Vetro Fertilization (IVF). We also learned that because MMD is a genetic disease that there is a 50/50 chance it would be passed onto our children. IVF would ensure that it would not be passed on.

                                        
               Is he not the most handsome thing ever?!

If you know anything about IVF, it is ridiculously expensive. When we met with a fertility specialist here in Vegas we were quoted over $28,000. Obviously, we don't have that kind of money lying around and so have been putting the idea of kids on hold. It has been a really difficult two years for us. In ways that I can't really explain. We both want to have children together so badly. Kenny is such an amazing Dad to Kason and I KNOW that we have children waiting for us up there in Heaven. I am supposed to be a Mom. I’ve always felt that and wanted that so much. It just hasn't been on our time table I guess. Infertility is something that I would never wish on anyone. It is a struggle that no one can really understand unless you've been there. We have been so blessed with amazing family members though that have supported us through this hard time. We could not be more grateful for the support. And thank goodness we have each other...

 

           ...couldn't be more grateful that I have someone to help me laugh in between the tears.

About a month and a half ago I came across an organization on Facebook, Pound the Pavement for Parenthood. (PPP) They are an organization that is creating awareness and support for infertility. Infertility is something that people rarely talk about or share with others because of its sensitivity. At least that has been our case. PPP also sponsors couples that are having difficulties with infertility to assist them in relieving some of the financial burden that comes with both IVF and/or adoption. While looking around on their website I found that they were accepting applications for couples to sponsor in 2013 and so I applied. A few days later I got an email from, Jill who started the organization with her husband in 2010. Jill set up a phone interview with me and we talked for over 20 minutes about what Kenny and I had experienced over the last two years. It was such a relief to talk to someone who actually understood what Kenny and I were experiencing. To feel like the person on the other end of the conversation could actually relate the pain and frustrations we had experienced. For the last few weeks, we have been waiting anxiously to hear from PPP and on Thursday, we finally received the call.

Kenny and I have been selected to be 1 of 5 families that PPP will be sponsoring in 2013! On September 14, 2013 they will be holding a 5K race in St. George Utah with another couple to raise awareness and funds to go towards infertility treatments/adoption! I can't even explain to you what a blessing this is for Kenny and I! We both had kind of given up and this blessing has just proven to us that Heavenly Father hears prayers and answers them.

Over the next few months we will be posting more of our story and the plans for the race in September. We hope you'll join us on our journey this next year. This is something that we found no one ever wants to talk about... and we understand why...We've been there for the last two years. But I really hope that through us sharing our story we will be able to create support for others going through similar trials. I know what relief we felt when we relalized we were not alone in this. Our true desire is to create the same feeling for others as well!