How We Got Together: April and Kenny

Basically, we were both working at Burger King at the time. I went on my 30 minute minor break, and had a bunch of guys come and sit next to me talking that would say inappropriate things to me. I saw Kenny cleaning the lobby, so I asked him to go on his break so he could sit next to me. Well he did, and he sat next to me the whole time until I went back from my break.

After that, I was constantly checking the schedule to see when we were both working together. One day, he gave me his number, and a few days later I had called because I was bored and I was just going through my phone list. His friend answered the phone and said he wasn't going to be back for a couple of hours.

Later on that evening, he called me back, and after that we basically talked on the phone till 3 in the morning. He would always tell me about how he grew up, and three weeks afterwards, we got together he said he loved me.

We went through a lot our first couple of months of being together, but in the end, it was all worth the hassles and tears. We had people telling us that we would never make it, and that had a lot had to do with our ages. I was 16 and he was 20. He also didn't particularly hang with people with good influences.

Kenny is basically a different person now than what he was 3 years ago, and I really respect that about him. He has come a long way. Now, why he changed himself for me, I don’t know. I do know that I’m glad he did because he makes me so happy.

A Blog From Mandy's Friend

Hi,

This is Mandy's friend, Katie. I have known Mandy since elementary school, and yes, she was a surfer girl even back then! In high school, Mandy and I became closer friends because we both joined the high school soccer team... well, for one year at least. Then came our group of friends, The BC, and our daily meetings. We really bonded during high-school, which is when Mandy started dating Josh.

They were the perfect couple, and we all loved Josh. He seemed to be the perfect match for Mandy, and I really respected that he stuck around even through his going to college. We had so much fun with him at homecomings and proms, and it never seemed like he felt he shouldn't be there. We all expected them to get married one day, so it was no surprise when Josh proposed.

How Jenn Won Jake's Heart

I'm sure everyone remembers from the Engaged and Underage episode but, yes, I stalked Jake in the 7th grade and finally won his heart in the 10th grade. I am so glad that I never gave up on him because, if I did, I wouldn't be his wife today. It was our sophomore year in high school and we ended up having weight-lifting class together and, since our last names are next to each other in the alphabet, we ended up being spot buddies. He always flirted with me and vice versa until one day I decided to date his best friend to see if he would get mad. Well, it worked! Jake and I started dating that year and have been together ever since!

How Mandy and Josh First Met

This is our little love story about how we ended up dating…

It was my last semester in 8th grade and high school was right around the corner. I ended up hanging out with my "older" friends who were already in high school. There was one specific guy I spent a good bit of time with. He would pick me up after school and we would head to the beach. Well, one day I was heading out to surf and a guy was leaving. I ended up stopping and talking to him, we exchanged names -- his was Josh -- and then we both went our separate ways.

About a week later, my friends invited me to go to a club and hang out. I didn’t have a date so I didn’t know who I was going to dance with but they had a plan. Josh was there and he ended up asking me to dance. We danced the whole night and had a great time. Ends up, he became the guy that I would call every morning during the summer to go surfing. We would hit the beach at about 7 a.m. and surf until about noon. Then he’d drop me off and we'd meet up the next day!
The end of summer was coming fast; Josh was going to be heading off to college soon. He ended up asking me on a date and I decided to go. It was amazing! We went to a seafood restaurant, saw Finding Nemo and finished it off by watching sea turtles lay eggs on the beach.
We dated about three months and then silly me decided to break up with him because I still had a crush on this other guy and I felt Josh was getting too serious about me. Well, that guy and I didn’t really work out and I decided I was finally ready for a serious relationship. I ended up calling Josh on December 8th and read him this letter I had been working on to apologize and ask him back out. He said he couldn’t really talk to me but he would think about everything I said and call me back later. The next day he called me, forgave me and said he would give me a second chance.

So here we are today, three and a half years later married and living in a little house on the beach!

Mandy and Josh Check In

What’s going on? Mandy here!

Tonight I tried to cook some fish. One kind out of the many kinds we have in the freezer. Yeah, Josh likes to do the whole offshore fishing thing so we don’t ever have to buy food for dinner! Ha! Well, I cooked some tonight thinking it was the tripletail; it wasn’t. Josh came home from work and the house was all smoked out and our fish was burnt. It was tuna I was trying to fry!!! Gee, I guess tuna is unfryable (if that’s even a word). I ended up throwing the fish away and just made a bunch of spaghetti. It was good, but I was looking forward to making Josh a nice fish dinner.

Married life is awesome! It is definitely the best step I have taken in my life. It’s so nice to go to sleep and have the one you love next to you. There is always someone to talk to and be there to have fun with. I finally have a workout partner that I can count on to meet me at the gym! It does get somewhat stressful, but you learn to work through your problems. One piece of advice I have to give to all the couples getting married is to never go to bed mad at each other. It sucks when you go to bed mad and then you wake up and you are still mad, so make up before you fall asleep!

Oh, and Josh is always there for me to lean on, as well. Last week my mom was in and out of the hospital. She went in for a treatment that was supposed to help her disease and we all thought she would come out walking normally. That didn’t happen! Ends up when the doctors started putting the medicine in her neck she had a reaction to it. She had a seizure and then coded! Luckily, the nurses in the room were on top of things. They threw on some oxygen and started doing compressions. Thank God she came back right before they were about to zap her. Through it all, Josh has been there for me and has been the only one I have really been talking to about it. It’s so nice to have him around me all the time. I love him so much!

Other than that, my days are spent being a housewife. I have gone out and looked for jobs and whatnot, but I really haven’t tried hard enough to find one. Yesterday, I think I used up a whole tank of gas just driving around to places that looked OK to work. I'm only going to be here for about 28 more days, so that’s how long I would be working at a new job; it's not worth it. I’m going to be moving very soon to where Josh will be going to school. Josh will move with me when the lease is up on the house. It stinks. I'm not looking forward to living by myself! Although I will have Jade with me, it’s just not going to be the same without my husband. Oh, and I will no longer be near the beach, which is where Josh and I first met like five or six years ago. Eventually we will come back to it but with Josh’s school it just doesn’t work out like that right now.

If you would like, you can check out our MySpace page at www.myspace.com/joshnmandymiller.

Later,Mandy

P.S. Oh, and an update on Kyle. I haven’t talked to him for about three weeks or so. Not sure where he has been, but the relationship between Josh and him hasn’t gotten any better or worse. It’s basically at a standstill for now. He lives five hours away from us, which makes it difficult to get together and go out whenever we feel like it. The last I heard was that his girlfriend's purse got stolen and their cell phones were in there. I’ve tried to get in touch with him through one of his friends but that isn’t so easy! He is always on the go; you can never get a hold of him. Hopefully he will come down here soon and we can get together and go four-wheeling or whatnot!

Update From Christian's Friend

My name is Tony Cianciolo. I am 18 and currently enrolled at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. Christian and I have been friends since our sophomore year in high school, where we played golf for three years. I can honestly say he is one of my best friends.

I actually met Angel through Chad (who was Christian's best man at the wedding) and the two of us dated for about a month when we were in high school. Needless to say, the relationship didn't work out between the two of us and soon Christian took over her life in full force. I remember that by our senior year the two of them were inseparable.

When I first heard that Angel was pregnant, I was hesitant about whether she and Christian were ready for such a major commitment. But I made it apparent to Christian that Chad and I would be there through the struggle. Then, with the birth of Christian and Angel's son, Tanner Mason Bartonico, came the idea of marriage, which, in all honesty, I was completely against.

I felt that by getting married at a young age Christian was sacrificing his future and putting everything -- including school, friends and family -- on hold. I remember sitting on the couch the night before the wedding thinking that it would be the last time Christian would be able to let loose and just be himself. Seeing him constantly struggle to pay rent scared me so much that I vowed not to get married before I owned my own place.

The wedding itself was one of the most stressful days of my life. I think we took 10,000 pictures, and the bride's mother kept yelling at the kids for not smiling. Seeing Christian shaking up until the minute they said "I do" just made me hope that my girlfriend didn't get any ideas. In the end, I think it worked out for the best. Although Angel and Rose (Christian's mom) still don't see eye to eye, I think that eventually time will heal all of the broken bonds.

Angel and Christian's Love Story

Hey you guys!

For those who want to know how Christian and I fell madly in love with each other -- LOL -- here's our story.

I am super close to my grandparents, so during the summer I used to hang out at their house everyday with my brother Jeremy and cousin Ashleigh -- it was a blast! Well, one day a cute guy moved in across the street and I was so excited because there weren't any kids that hung out in the neighborhood.

The cute kid that moved in wasn't Christian, it was Chad -- lol! But we ended up hanging out a lot. I was starting to like Chad until one day he brought over someone who had just moved in down the street. That someone was Christian, and we fell in love instantly! We dated a few times in junior high school but it wasn't until my junior year in high school that we started getting serious. We were so funny -- we would date other people but never hang out with our boyfriend/girlfriend because we were always with each other!

I remember he used to always give me little kisses on my forehead when he hugged me. He was so good to me! The day he asked me out he brought huge balloons to school that said "I Love You" on them, a dozen roses and my favorite candy. The card said, "12 roses: 11 real, one fake," and then inside it said, "I'll love you till the last one dies"! I looked at my bouquet and in the middle of the red roses there was one white rose that was fake! It was the cutest thing ever! Of course, I said, YES! I asked him why he would always kiss me on the forehead and he said, "It's the closet I ever got to actually kissing you!"
Well, that's our love story!
Angel

Angel's Advice for the Big Day

Hey you guys!
I love, love, love being married! I am so happy with the way the wedding turned out! Everything was perfect! And even more importantly ... I didn't fall down the stairs! It's really funny to think back on all the months of planning and how it all went by in a day. It was totally worth it, though! My advice to anyone planning a wedding: Don't stress it. Enjoy how much fun it is! Let everyone else worry about the small details. During the actual day you won't notice a thing that goes wrong because everyone else will be helping out and making sure your day is perfect! So smile and enjoy the whole experience!
Angel

Christian: Being a Dad Is the Best
Hi.
Everything's been awesome since the wedding! Angel and I have been stress-free now that the wedding is over. But being a young dad is a lot of work and responsibility! I'm only 18 and all the attention shifts to the baby; it's never about you anymore. It's tough to not be able to do whatever I want to do anymore, but being a dad is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I wouldn't change it for the world. Some advice for other young dads or soon-to-be dads: Listen to the mother of your child -- lol!
Later,Christian

A Few Words From Christian

Hi.
For me, being married is the same as when we were boyfriend/girlfriend since we already lived together and had a kid. The only thing that's different is it's legal now. I love it!
Christian