How we met
Preface:
We think we have a cool story about how we met. We thought it would be cool if we each wrote our own version. We didn't consult each other and we weren't allowed to read the other person's story until both were completed. So here they are in their original form:
Amanda's Story
How we met…That’s simple. We were in the same single’s ward. But, the details of our story are a little more complex.
I came home from my mission in May 2003 and immediately started attending our stake’s young single adult ward. I had a difficult time really getting into the ward, because I hadn’t found my niche. I finally figured out where I was comfortable and began to hang out with a group of friends. When the semester began, that group began gathering at Dave’s house to watch BYU football games together. I honestly don’t remember when I realized that Ryan was part of that group. I do remember, however, that Ryan was the guy who always brought salsa to the gatherings. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I didn’t pay much attention because I was actually dating someone else!
Toward the end of October, things began to fizzle out with the guy that I was dating. It was right around this time that our ward hosted a Halloween Dance. There are a lot of things that I remember about that night. Although Ryan says we talked about it before, that’s the first time I remember talking about getting a group together to go shooting. That night, as I was cleaning up with Dave and Elizabeth, I realized that Ryan might be interested in me. I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt, but I thought I just might be interested, too.
A little over two weeks later, (and, incidentally, one week after my boyfriend and I broke up for good), Ryan called to make good on the shooting conversation. Although he invited me to call a few people so a GROUP could go, I called one or two people and decided that was enough. I wanted to get to know Ryan better and I figured the fewer people, the more likely that was to happen! I didn’t want to look like I hadn’t tried to find anyone, so I took my younger brother, Jesse, along as well. I had a really great time when we went shooting! By the end of the trip, I made sure that Ryan knew I was available. That night, as we were hanging out with our friends group, Ryan and I—being the only two single people at the time—were paired up to play “The Farm Game.” I really enjoyed being his partner and I realized that we thought in similar ways.
The following Tuesday, our group planned to head out to the desert to watch a meteor shower. We all met up to drive out together. Dave made sure that Elizabeth and I were with he and Ryan in Ryan’s car. When we got there, we took out our blankets and got comfy—although Ryan and I weren’t anywhere near each other! After a while, Ryan began to comment that there was room for two under his blanket. I knew that his comment was directed at me. I thought about the fact that I was on the rocky ground, while he was on a foam pad; I was freezing with my thin, little blanket, while he was toasty warm under a thick blanket. I turned to my roommate, and said, (in Russian), “I’m not sure what I want yet!” And she replied, “You don’t have to know yet.” I agreed and went to share Ryan’s blanket. One thing that totally impressed me was that we were able to lay there watching the stars shoot past and just talk. He didn’t make any moves and he really seemed concerned about what I was doing in my life.
The next afternoon, the phone rang. I saw on the caller ID that it was Ryan and said to my little sister, “I’m getting a date this weekend!” Sure enough, after making small talk for about 30 minutes, Ryan invited me to get some dinner and play a little pool on Friday night. The next day, I got REALLY sick. I couldn’t be out of bed for more than two hours at a time! I decided to try to rest up as much as possible, so I could go on my date, but by that evening, I still wasn’t feeling much better. Finally, I asked my dad for a blessing so I could go out the next night. After that, I was determined to feel better. I shouldn’t have gone out that night because I was still pretty sick, but after Ryan had seen how I had handled turning down other guys, I didn’t want him to think I was turning him down too! I had a wonderful time and still wanted to get to know Ryan better.
Obviously, I got that opportunity to get to know him better. The more I knew, the more I wanted to know. I remember the morning of our third date…I told a friend of mine that I had never been so scared to get into a relationship in my entire life! I think, even at that point, I knew that Ryan and I were headed somewhere serious. About a month after Ryan and I started dating, he went home to Washington for Christmas. We talked on the phone every day for the 9 days that he was gone. One night, I said, “Ryan, I’m never doing this again!” And he replied, “I know. Next time, you’re coming with me.” He came home on Dec. 29 and Jan. 1 we went ring shopping for the first time.
Ryan officially proposed on Saturday, January 24, 2004 in the Salt Lake Temple…and, of course, I said yes!! I honestly can’t say that there was one moment when I suddenly knew that I would marry him. In fact, looking back now, it seems that I’ve always known that I would marry Ryan Segeberg. Every day, I love him a little more and I realize a little more how lucky I am to have found such an incredibly wonderful person. I can definitely say that I’m looking forward to spending the rest of forever with him!
Ryan's Story
I came home from serving a mission in Oakland California in May 2002. I didn't really date for the first 9 months or so due to lack of opportunity and desire. Then in the spring of 2003 I started taking dance classes and entered the dating scene once again. It was around this same time that Amanda and one of her former mission companions started attending the ward. I don't really remember when I first noticed Amanda. There was a group at church that I hung out with regularly that I affectionately called "the clique". It wasn't really a clique though because we invited anyone who wanted to come, it just always was the same people for some reason. Anyway, Amanda and her roommate Elizabeth started coming to some of the clique activities, but I didn't really take notice of her, and I was busy dating varous girls throughout the summer. When fall semester began college football season also started. If nothing else good came of BYU's football seaon that year (and I don't think much did) it was the fact that I started to take notice of Amanda. There were a number of girls who would attend the games on occasion, but what impressed me what that Amanda knew what was going on and was interested in the game. Most of the other girls were just there cuz the guys were (sorry girls, but it's true). In time I noticed her more and more, she just seemed like a fun, easy going, awesome girl. There was one slight problem however, she was already dating someone. So I decided to just be friendly and get to know her better. I had a feeling things wouldn't work out with this other guy, so all I had to do was wait. I intentionally lingered at activities that were at her house so I could hangout and talk. The more I learned the more impressed I was. I knew one thing was certain, she was a rare girl and whoever married her would be a very lucky man.
At one of the football games I mentioned I liked to go shotgun shooting. She quickly volunteered to come with me sometime. I was very surprised because none of the guys in the room showed any interest, only her. A few weeks later I organized a shooting trip and invted her to come. I told her to spread the word and find more people, but oddly enough she didn't try very hard. In the end it was her, her brother Jesse, and me. We had a good time and she not so subtly mentioned that she and her boyfriend had broken up. Shortly thereafter there was a group of people who went to see a meteor shower at 2:00 a.m. I went and Amanda did too (I admit that my main motivation for going was because I knew she would be there). It was a rather cold night and I somehow scored a foam pad and a warm blanket. I rather loudly made the announcement that there was room for two on the nice soft foam, hoping of course that only a certain someone would take me up on the offer. Eventually Amanda gave in and we layed there and watch the stars and talked. I had a great time talking to her and just finding out more about her. I decided that I definately wanted to date her, and that I better act fast before someone else did.
Less than 24 hours after the meteor shower I called her and asked her out. That was a Wednesday, by Thursday I was deathly ill. I think there had been only one other time in my life that I had ever been that sick before. I still had to go to school and such, so I didn't even have much time to rest. Yet I was still determined to go on that date. On Thursday night I heard that Amanda was also very sick, so I hoped we both would feel well enough to go. By Friday I hadn't improved much, and we were supposed to go out that night. That morning I had to do a Physics assignment. Matt, a former AP who served with me in Oakland, was also in my Physics class so we worked on the lab together. After we finished I asked him for a blessing. I skipped my classes for the day and went to work early, took care of a few things then went home. I slept for awhile, hoping I would feel better, but I still felt very ill when I woke up. I hadn't talked to Amanda much since Wednesday, I wasn't sure if I was well enough to go, and I wasn't sure how she felt either. I was still determined to go on the date, but I decided that she would be the determining factor. When I called she still wasn't feeling well, but we decided to go out anyway. I loaded up on medication and brought a handful of cough drops.
We went to Ozz in Provo (a burger place) and had dinner and played pool. It must have been funny to watch us because each time one of us would say something funny we'd both start laughing, and then start coughing. After dinner we went to my work (it was my night to do the backup on the servers) and met up with some other couples to play some games. I felt remarkably good, at one point I even thought I had completely recovered. We had a good time playing games. Because I had to stay and finish the backup Amanda went home with one of the other couples. As soon as she left I felt deathly sick again. I had chills, and starting coughing uncontrollably. It was a cold winter night, and the roads were very icy. At about 2 am as I was driving home after the backup completed I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and started spinning out of control. Several times as I fought to regain control of the car I found myself heading straight for a concrete barrier. At one point the rear driver's side hit a barrier pretty hard. The car finally came to a stop, facing the wrong way. I was glad Amanda hadn't waited around for me to take her home, if she had she may never have wanted to go out on another date again! Fortunately I was driving a BMW, it is built like a tank and you can barely tell I hit anything.
From there we hit it off, we started dating a lot and had a really good time together. We got engaged on January 24, 2004, while we were in Salt Lake City. Since then a day doesn't go by that we don't see each other at some point.