Our History

We met the summer of 2006 when Derek was selling Dish Network in Shelby's hometown of Salem, Oregon. After our first date at a Volcanoes' baseball game, Sunday games at Shelby's house and a bagel sandwich after a tennis game, he was hooked :) We dated the last half of the summer with fun trips to the beach, Salvadoranean meals (where Derek served his mission), and other activities where we took advantage of the time we had together.

Soon Derek left for Uraguay for the Fall semester and Shelby began her first semester at BYU in Provo. Through emails, creative powerpoint presentations, webcam phone calls, and small packages we stayed in touch. When Christmas break came around Shelby went home for Christmas and Derek came back to the Northern hemisphere. Then in January, Shelby flew to Idaho and saw Derek again for the first time in four months. It was wonderful - just like it was in the summer! Meeting his family was also wonderful and we both decided to continue this long distance relationship.

Spring semester was full of 3 hours drives to Provo and Pocatello, where Derek continued school at Idaho State University. Nightly phone calls were a must and creative measures were again taken to communicate and to let each other know that we were falling in love.

The summer of 2006 Derek sold Dish Network again, this time managing an office in Springfield, Missouri. Shelby worked a few jobs in Salem and enjoyed spending time with her family. Then in August, Derek flew Shelby out to Missouri and proposed on August 2nd - Shelby's parents anniversary. Now with only one more semester apart we are planning the wedding for December 28th and ready to end this long distance thing! We hope through these posts that family and friends that we are seperated from, can learn and enjoy about our adventures. Thanks for all your love and support!