Chelsie Ann: Sisters at Heart & Now Forever

Chelsie, Chelsie, Chelsie.

I have promised this post for a long time now. It was definitely time!

Let's start at the beginning. 

For those of you who don't know, I have five sisters and one brother. Just one! This means that I will only get one more sister added to the family EVER. I've understood this for as long as I can remember. Because of this, I have also been super picky about any girl that my brother liked because it would be the only sister added to the family. 

In other words, this girl better be top notch, as Karen and Kathy would say.

I still remember the first day that I met Chelsie. I remember my brother asking my parents if he could take this girl named Chelsie on a date. My parents asked the normal questions about her, and they even asked if her dad was Perry. I didn't know Perry, but I had heard his name a lot, and I knew he was the mortician. 

Then, Sam brought her home after their date to watch a movie or something at our house. I was sitting at the table when they walked in. I still remember what she was wearing. She was in skinny jeans and ballet flats. Hahaha I have a crazy good memory if y'all haven't noticed already! 

Anyways, I loved this girl from the beginning The first impression I had with Chelsie was different than any other girl that Sam had introduced my to. She was adorable! 

It was the summer before my Freshmen year that I met her, and it was also the same year that I was playing volleyball for the Varsity team at my high school. My coach was awesome, and pulled some strings that allowed my team to play in a tournament in Logan, Utah. Sam asked if Chelsie could come, which she did!

My team ended up winning the entire tournament, which meant we played about 9 games throughout that Saturday from about 9 in the morning until 9 at night. INSANE. But Chelsie stayed! I got to sit by her in the car, and this is the first time that I really started to get to know Chels. I still loved her! From that point, she and Sam spent a lot of time together.

We even had a Halloween party that she and her littler sister, Madie, came to. The relationship between Chelsie and my family started to grow, and my relationship with her family did, too! I loved it!

Eventually, I started doing things with Sam and Chelsie, and also, her friends, too! It meant so much to me that Chelsie would include me all the time because I never had a group of friends that would do things together. In fact, I can even say that I graduated high school with one friend that stuck by my side the entire time. I rarely got invited to do things with anyone I went to high school with.

Basically, Chelsie was the social life that I had in high school. 

One of my favorite memories with Sam and Chelsie was a few weeks before Sam left on his mission. Me, Sam, Chelsie, Madie, Sarah, and their cousin Sadie all went to a haunted house in Shelley. We had such a blast! Sam was making all of us laugh so hard!! We all told scary stories and freaked everyone out, but I love that kind of stuff. 

However, the dynamic of the relationship that I had with Chelsie changed on November 1, 2011. That was the night that Sam got set apart. I distinctly remember watching Sam and Chels saying goodbye, and it ripped my heart out. That is when I lost it. They were standing just in front of the fireplace, shaking hands, looking at each other. Both silent, but with tears streaming down their faces. I couldn't handle it. I still can't handle it. That was so hard for me to watch! 

At this moment, Chelsie went from being my friend to my best friend, my wing lady, my sister. Even though Sam and Chelsie weren't married yet, I already felt like she was a sister. I talked with Chelsie all the time! We shared our experiences and excitement of missionary letters and everything! Those two years with Sam being gone gave Chelsie and I an opportunity to become really close!

We made random trips to Shelley for football games, Idaho Falls for shopping, Chelsie was my prom date two years in a row, too! We had random food trips, sleepovers, hang outs, blog stalking, crying while we watched wedding and missionary homecoming videos, laughs, and we even almost died one time in Idaho Falls when we hydroplaned! Hahaha!

I can honestly say that I love Chelsie with all my heart! I could not wait until Sam got home and these two got hitched. It was fun getting to watch Chelsie being the cutest missionary girlfriend EVER. In fact, you all can go check out her adorable blog right here. 

I would run into people that would bring up waiting for missionaries. Everyone seemed to say that it never works. I disagreed wholeheartedly. There was even one boy that I got into an argument with last June over it. Obviously, none of these people had met Chelsie. If every girl was like Chelsie, there would be a ton of success stories! There was never a doubt in my mind that they wouldn't get married.

Now, fast forward to Sam getting home last October. I loved watching Chelsie's excitement as he got home, and they were reunited. It was so special! I was so glad that I got to witness it!

We all knew they would get married, so before Sam had even come home, we all had bets on when they would get married. Emily and I bet that they would get married in December. We even went so far as creating a Facebook event for their wedding. Emily and I had picked December 11 for their wedding, so when Sam got home, it was only time that could tell who would win the bet. 

Sam's homecoming was a week and a half after he got home, so I came back to college for a week and a half before returning home for the homecoming. I arrived back home on the Friday before his homecoming, and Saturday morning, Sam and I went to the Tater Trot at Jensen's Grove. On our way over there, Sam told me that he had something he needed to talk to me about on the way home.



Anyways, on our drive home, Sam brought it up! He said, "So, how do you feel about me and Chels getting married?" I looked at him and said, "Sam, if you don't marry her, I will. I support this 100%!" Little did I know that they had already signed a housing contract AND gone ring shopping! I made him promise me that I would be the first person they told. Sam told me he was planning on proposing to Chelsie on her birthday, which was the following Sunday.

So, Saturday night, I got in bed and remembered that the next day I would be getting a call from the love birds announcing the engagement. I didn't expect a FaceTime call at about 12:30! Right after midnight, they called and announced they had just been engaged. Ahhh! I was so excited!

They announced their wedding was December 27th! Emily and I were right that they would get married in December, but we picked the wrong day. Their wedding was so awesome! I am so glad that Chelsie is now my sister forever! It was beautiful, and I fought back tears all day!

CHELSIE, I know it has been three months since you two got married, but WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!

Now, we get to have adventures FOREVER!!! :)