The Longest Blog Post Ever/ Sterling + Jessica Love Story

To Whomever Decides to Waste Their Life Reading This:

 I just want you all to know that I am writing this blog with no intention of anyone ever reading and/or caring about this blog. It is more of a way to document Sterling and I's life with out getting carpal tunnel. I also am writing this for the 3 of you out there who care about my life events and  I'm finding it difficult to explain and update everyone (all 3 of you) on our lives in an accurate and consistent way. Therefore I felt like a blog is a perfect resource to share my thoughts so maybe one day my kids, Sterling and anyone who cares that I wrote this can refer back and read about my crazy life/ crazy thoughts.

So lets rewind the clock for all the newcomers to the story of Sterling and I's relationship. It all began in the magical time of high school (key mystical chimes) 


Us in Highschool:

Courtney Clayton (Sorensen) one of my best friends started dating this guy named Austin Clayton.  He went to Mountain View (we won't hold that against him) and Courtney, my friends and I all attended Gilbert High. So Courtney always was hanging out with Austins Mountain View friends and she always would mention Austin's best friend Sterling. I was curious about who this kid was but I never had the opportunity to meet him before he left on a mission to Texas.


Let us fast forward 2 years later, I had returned home from a very very very short stint at BYU-Idaho (apparently I prefer to burn versus freeze to death), I had been working full time and going to school at Chandler- Gilbert Community College. I was freshly single and ready to mingle and I was eager to get back in the "single scene".  I felt like I just needed to get back to meeting new people and doing fun irresponsible things. Cue my best friend Trellany Udall, the undisputed Mormon socialite queen. She was stoked that I was single and that I could finally be her wing girl. To be honest with you, despite my disappointment that I was 20 years old and had no marriage prospects (which undoubtedly meant I was doomed to obtain 99 cats and be forever alone) I was excited to be single and just have fun with my friends. 

So back to Trellany, one late July evening  in 2011 she invited me to go long boarding at Tempe Town Lake. I had to work that night so I told her that I would show up after work. I got off work at CarMax, changed out of my jumpsuit (this isn't a joke I literally wore a grease monkey uniform and I #rockedit) 

rushed over to Tempe Town Lake and long boarded to the Fro-Yo place where everyone was meeting up over on Mill Avenue. So I show up to this activity and immediately I eye this hot piece of heiney (can I get a spell check on 'heiney'?)  riding around on his long board and I was like, "Trellany who is that?" And she was like, "oh thats Sterling,  you know Austin's best friend" and I was like "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Anyways so we didn't really talk but he almost touched my butt when I was riding a tandem bike and then we all went to a nearby QT because that's just how we rolled.

So I show up to QT and I'm quickly followed into the parking lot by this kid on a golden scooter. Low and behold the man dawning the golden scooter was Sterling. Now this was an interesting internal battle for me. Did I like the fact that he rode a scooter or not? I thought about it as I sipped on my Diet Coke and decided that I didn't  like the fact that he rode a scooter, I FREAKING LOVED IT! It was risky like a motorcycle but not too risky and it was really cute seeing him ride it. Needless to say I wanted Sterling to get my digits but, I did not want to initiate things. That next week I went to Oceanside with my best friends (Paige Skousen, Trellany Udall, Haley Skousen, and Whitney Dunn) and whilst were gone I got a call from Courtney (Austin's now wife/my best friend) asking if it would be okay if she gave Sterling my number. And in my mind I was like "'H'-yes please do!" but I didn't want to seem too eager so I responded with a cool "Sure".

Picture of us in Oceanside that same trip:

So right about now you're probably thinking that's a great story of how you began dating your husband! I wish this was the end of the story but unfortunately it is not.... so I will continue....

Sterling and I went on about 6 dates, he gave me the granola test and we rode all around town on Vernn, his scooter.

Side Note: The "Granola Test" Is a test Sterling gave potential future girlfriends, the test consisted of helping him make granola. This test would tell him if you were (1) good at cooking, (2) willing to clean (do the dirty dishes), (3) willing to try new things and (4) determine your level of  patience. Don't tell him I said this but this method to weed out girls was pretty ingenious.

It came down to the time where we needed to Define our Relationship or as it is clinically referred to "DTR".  Mind you, we never had kissed we had only ever held hands and cuddled at this point.  I was evaluating things with Sterling and I knew I liked him, he was cute, nice and funny but I didn't really want to be in a relationship I wanted to be single! (face palm)  So I slowly stopped being available to go out and he slowly stopped calling but we managed to remain friends.

 I continued to see Sterling around town and it really wasn't weird seeing him at social events, we always would acknowledge each other if we saw one another but really nothing more than that. So we stopped "dating" in August 2011, well I went on a whole slew of dates between August of 2011 and June of 2012 and even though I got asked out by boys who were really great people I just never felt like I found a good fit for me. I was enjoying hanging out with my friends and doing spontaneous trips and adventures but I was getting to the point where even though  I enjoyed being able to hang out with whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, I longed for something more and I was ready for a change of pace in my life.

This is when I really buckled down and prayed about what I should do in order to become happier and find purpose with my life. So I started to pray about it and I was already meeting with the Bishop regularly because I was in the Relief Society Presidency in my singles ward. Well after I consulted with Bishop Tinker, he told me to keep praying, and re-read my Patriarchal Blessing. From praying and reading my blessing I determined that I needed to start preparing for a mission.

Now for all of y'all who know me you know that when you imagine a "sister missionary"in your minds eye, a picture of my face is not what pops up. So the decision to serve a mission was kind of out of left field but I knew that if this is what I was supposed to do, and if I prepared properly I could become a good (maybe even a great) sister missionary.

So I prepared, I started reading my scriptures regularly, I faithfully and diligently fulfilled my calling, I was praying ALL OF THE TIME and I was trying to become more Christ-like. I went to the doctors  to gain medical clearance to serve and I was ready to submit my papers.  I met with Bishop, I told him what I had been doing and he said something I never thought I would hear from any Bishop, "No". I was confused, I thought I was ready but alas my wise Bishop told me that although he knew I would be successful in the mission field, he felt like I should wait a few more months to submit my papers. So I listened but I continued to live my life preparing for a mission. 

July 2012 rolled around I continued to date and continued to feel like I had not found who I was supposed to marry. Then one Saturday night in July 2012 I was frustrated and I felt like I was stuck in a rut, I was sitting on my couch in my living room determining what I should do that night, I was texting all of my friends and everyone seemed to be going to the same party. So I was making plans to pick up some of my friends when I heard a voice...

The voice was coming from my kitchen, and I recognized the voice....So I got up and sure enough that voice I had recognized belonged to none other than Sterling Smith. This guy I had briefly dated was sitting in my kitchen shooting the breeze and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why he was in my house. So I walked up to him I said Hi and I asked "what are you doing here?" (Subtlety is not my strong suit) He told me he came over because he and my brother Braxton were going to go play volleyball and then head to the party everyone else was going to.

Now I don't know if the word "Jealous" would accurately describe my feelings but needless to say I felt unsettled that Braxton swooped in and took MY friend. 

I left that night, I told Sterling and Braxton I was going to see them later at the party and went about my way. 
Later that night I was sitting with my friend Tyler Sharp and discussing who our dating potentials were in the sea of people standing around talking. 

Side Note: Tyler and I had an agreement that I would help him scope out and get to know eligible women at parties if he helped me do the same.

So anyways, Tyler and I were scanning the crowd and that is when Tyler asked me, "if you could date anyone at this party who would it be?" And as I surveyed my options my eyes landed on Sterling. He looked so cute that night wearing corduroy cutoffs and black t-shirt and I knew from experience he was a great guy who had a lot of the qualities I was looking for in someone I was going to date. I told Tyler that if I could date anyone I would date Sterling but that wasn't possible because I had already blew my chance. 

I'm not sure what Tyler said after that but I remember him convincing me that there may be a chance that Sterling would forgive me for blowing him off. So from that point I made it my mission to get Sterling to ask me out again. 

Later that same night I caught him sitting alone next to the pool watching people play watermelon football (THE MOST dangerous sport on the face of the earth, if you play you are guaranteed to almost drown anytime you even think about touching the watermelon) and decided this was a good opportunity to strike up a conversation with him. So I did, but after talking to him for a half an hour it seemed he still wasn't interested in me romantically and so I gathered my friends and decided it was time to go home. 

I went home frustrated and I knew I needed back up, I needed an inside source that could help me drop the hint to Sterling that I was interested, I needed Braxton. 

So I made the trek down to our basement, I found Braxton in his room and I proceeded to ask him if I thought Sterling would ever be interested in me again. Brax requested that I recap the story of what happened when we first dated,  and after I finished telling him the story he told me I was "dumb" for letting Sterling go and I couldn't help but agree. Braxton had no real advice for me but told me anything was possible so I hatched a plan....

I needed to start texting Sterling and invite him to all the single events I was going to.  This didn't seem to be working...every time I asked Sterling if he was going to an event he was always already busy and I took this as a hint to back off. 

I had a terrible feeling that all was lost and that I needed to move on. That is when one night I received a text during work. It was from Sterling! He was asking me if I was going to go to Derek Adam's cabin that weekend. I told him all my friends were going to go, and that I wanted to go but I had to work until late Saturday night so I wouldn't be able to. He seemed disappointed and I got the feeling that he thought I was blowing him off again. I knew right then that I NEEDED TO GET TO THAT CABIN, no matter what the cost or else I would never be able to date Sterling again. 

After determining my destiny depended on getting to the Adam's Cabin I had to find someone who would drive with me up there. I knew just the guy for the job, my good friend Sneed. I knew he wanted to go on the cabin trip as well but couldn't because he also had to work late that Saturday night. So I called him up told him if he would be willing to drive us up after work on Saturday I would stuff him full of as many energy drinks and as much Taco Bell as he could stomach. With the promise of caffeine and fake mexican food he was in. 

Sneed picked me up at my house after we both got out of work and we raced up to the Adam's cabin so I could see Sterling. As soon as we arrived and I burst through the doors (figuratively of course) I walked in and saw Sterling as he was standing up and putting on his jacket. He was just about to leave. He explained that he wasn't actually staying at the Adam's cabin but he was staying at the Steiner's cabin nearby. DJ Steiner was his ride back to that cabin and DJ was tired and wanted to head back. So Sterling left, and I plopped down on the floor that would be my makeshift bed for the night miserable and confused as to why I had just dropped close to 50 bucks on rockstars and crunchwrap supremes. And as I lay my head down on the cold hard cabin floor I couldn't help but feel like my efforts were all for not and fell asleep listening to my friends excitedly chatting about the days events. 

I woke up the next morning and started packing my things expecting that Sneed and I would be returning home that morning. As I packed the car I felt my phone buzz, it was Sterling calling to ask if Sneed and I would like to go over to the Steiner's cabin to eat lunch. I excitedly agreed for the both of us without consulting Sneed (Sorry Sneed) and we headed over to the Steiner's. 

When we got there we played basketball, road quads, shot guns and made hamburgers. I knew I had to make it overtly obvious that I was interested in dating Sterling. I layed it on real thick and I knew I had succeeded when after we shot guns Sterling walked up behind me and put both hands on my shoulders. (He's not the touchy feely type so this was a big deal). 

Immediately upon returning home from the Steiner's cabin I received a text message from Sterling asking if I wanted to come over to his house to watch a movie. For all of those who have dated in the 21st century you know when someone texts you to "come over and watch a movie" they are really asking you to "come over and cuddle". Right then I knew my $50 energy drink and Taco Bell investment had paid off.  I went over to his house that same night we returned home from the cabin trip and we saw each other whenever we could after that. 

We eventually kissed a few days after the cabin trip, a month later he told me he loved me and I told him I loved him and within two and a half months of that fateful cabin trip Sterling proposed to me right where we first saw each other at Tempe Town Lake. 

We were married and sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple by Sterling's Grandfather after a short two month engagement. 

Well that is the story folks, for those who persevered and read all the way through this I applaud you, you deserve a medal. 

Until Next Time


Jess