Day 5: Your spouse

Ryan Jared Sanders, also referred to as "The Greatest Husband There Ever Was. Ever," was born on August 31, 1983 at 3:29 P.M. to Milton and Kay Sanders in Fairborn, Ohio. His father was in the Air Force, and they lived on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at the time, therefore he was delivered at the USAF Medical Center on base. He was the youngest of five children: Mike, Jeremy, Amy, Chad, and then, little Ryan. Being a part of an Air Force family, he has lived in a couple different places. Ohio, Georgia, and then to Utah. In the summer of 1986, the Sanders family found themselves putting down roots in Orem, Utah.

Ryan and his mom <3

A video of Ryan on his 2nd birthday

He attended Vineyard Elementary School, Lakeridge Junior High School, and Mountain View High School. In 7th grade he began playing the trumpet in jazz band, wind symphony and  symphonic band. He was also a member of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. In ninth grade, he began to play in the marching band. Mountain View didn't have a marching band, therefore he played for Orem High School. Little did he know this was only the beginning of a long, love affair with all things musical. In his basement, he taught himself how to play guitar, and in 2001 he, along with some of his closest friends, began a band called Side Dish.  Side Dish was active until 2008, and then he joined the band Broke City.

(photo not taken by me)

Side Dish- 2006 at The Avalon (photo not taken by me)

Broke City (photo not taken by me)

 Despite going to all the same schools, from kindergarten through senior year of high school, and having lots of mutual friends, we never met from school or through mutual friends. Almost everyone that we went to school with just assumes we met through school...but that isn't the case. We actually met via MySpace. (I'll give you a minute to regain composure...) Now, before your minds begin to race, and you unknowingly begin to think of both Ryan and myself as creeps, let's pump the brakes ;) This was not the normal, "I like yo' face.... holla at me, guuuuuurl!" encounter. He came across my profile, and noticed that we had very similar music tastes. I had a few pictures from when I saw a band called the RX Bandits play here at Red Fest in 2007, and that was his favorite band. He was intrigued enough to send me a message, thank goodness! I was sitting at work alphebetizing contracts when I received the email telling me that "Ryan City" had sent me a message on MySpace. Under normal circumstances, I would have just deleted it and went about my business. However, this one struck me as unusual...

Now for a little backstory: a couple weeks prior to this particular day, a guy I worked with named Derek invited me to go to a show with him, and his girlfriend, to see a friend of his play in a band. The band was called Broke City. I wasn't able to attend the show, but asked Derek how it went the following Monday. He was so convinced that I would love their music, that he pulled up his buddy's MySpace page. His buddy was none other than Joel Pack, with the MySpace name "Joel City." I had known Joel for years, without really knowing him, if that makes sense. Back in the day I used to watch one of his old bands play all the time, I knew some of his friends, my friend (who shall remain nameless) had a HUGE crush on him and we used to walk the University Mall for hours at a time hoping to see him there, and I even worked with his wife (at the time) at Dennys a few years back.

Once I connected the dots and reached the realization it was the same Joel, I explained it all to Derek. Immediately, before I had a chance to protest, he sent him a friend request...from my account. I could have died! I was beyond embarrassed. I knew him, but I knew he didn't know me!? Since there was no way to un-request friends, I had to just suffer.

Now, back to the day I received the message from "Ryan City." I knew they had something to do with each other.  I had about 20 different thoughts run through my head at that very moment, but the most prominent was: Joel is pissed off, and sent this guy to tear me a new one!  So I took a deep breath, and opened up the message. Surprisingly enough, it was a nice message. He asked about RX Bandits and what other music I listened to, etc.. Words were spelled correctly. He used correct grammar even!  I decided the chances of him being a complete skeeze were slim to none, and I replied.The messages on MySpace became longer and more frequent, then after a day or two, they evolved into text messaging. After almost 2 weeks, we met in person, on January 22, 2010. (Recognize that date anyone?! Hehe) Broke City was playing a show at Velour in Provo, and Brandy and I decided to go check them out. To say it went perfectly would have been....well, it would have been a lie! But that's another story for another day :)

As more time went on, we kept figuring out more and more coincidences. It was nuts. When I think about it now, I am convinced that things happened they way they were supposed to, and I couldn't be happier about that. I couldn't ask for a better husband/father for Jaylinne. They really broke the mold when they made this one! We are so lucky :) I love you, Fryman!

July 2010

October 2010

January 2011- On our way to Vegas to get married!

January 22, 2011 (Photo by Ron Miller Photography)

January 23, 2011

March 2011- Puerta Vallarta

March 2011- Mazatlan

October 2011- Colorado

February 2012- family picture