Growing up, I loved soccer. I played in high school & ran a few half marathons with my mom. My siblings also did soccer, tennis, football, volleyball, etc :) But one thing separates me from my siblings. They all did Jr. Jazz. JJ is a city league basketball program that runs up through high school. For whatever reason I didn't play basketball growing up but I definitely grew up watching it. My family has season tickets to BYU basketball and football games. I loved going to those events & all of my siblings games as well. My high school had one of the best basketball student sections to exist. I claimed to live for high school basketball. Payson High has a tradition where anytime a player on the home team makes a "3", the student section all falls back then gets up and chants "bananas" three times. I lived for the B-A-N-A-N-A-S chants. I could be found wearing a gorilla suit to most games and standing by a friend in a banana suit. I thought student section life couldn't get better.
Fast forward to Utah State. The HURD, our student section is one of the best in the nation. Rumor has it, Utah State and Duke student sections both broke a sound meter used to measure the loudest student section. I thrived at USU. Being 18,000 strong in the stands was one of the highlights of my college career. I remember as a freshman in 2018 doing the "Bean chant" anytime Justin Bean did something notable in the game - which was a lot. Most people have celebrity crushes or think the college athletes are cute. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would talk to a student athlete so I never had any crushes.
I was home for about three weeks during Thanksgiving & Christmas because school was online due to COVID-19. During those weeks I got an Instagram DM from Justin Bean. He was so tender and asked me out on a date, mentioning that I knew his cousin Rylan through soccer and ambassadors. Because I was home on break we didn't go out until 9 days later!! Crazy! I remember sitting at home on the couch watching the BYU vs. USU game and saying to my dad, "See the number 34 for USU? I'm going on a date with him next week." It was surreal & I was excited to meet Justin but I also had some reservations. I had been on plenty of first dates and wasn't looking forward to the basic questions. All of that changed the second I began talking to Justin. I will always claim that date as "the best first date I have ever been on". The rest is history!
Dating Justin meant a lot of long distance as he was away for basketball games and tournaments. That carried over into our married life & it's something that we've had to learn how to do. We're still learning. It's hard to be alone & have a fluid changing schedule. Like I said in earlier posts, we're planners. I like to have it written in pen so nothing can be changed! But the last year and a half has been nothing but white-erase marker plans, always changing, usually for the best. I've learned to communicate with Justin & Heavenly Father better and better as I've learned to change and grow through our ever-changing plans.
Being married to one of Logan's favorite athletes has given us so many opportunities to connect & give of our time. We've felt support from the community as we've visited high schools, spoken to different youth groups, put on a fall camp, & created relationships with people we love.
We couldn't have done this without the support of our family, friends, & old roommates! We had family members at almost every single home game. We were able to give away tickets to local families during Justin's away games & I got to enjoy those games from my apartment with friends & cousins as I put together watch parties. 
College basketball brought us to Indiana (March Madness!), Boise, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, & even Payson High School for a recruiting visit I was doing. Because of the lifestyle that we're creating now together, I tell people that one of my new favorite sports is watching basketball because I love watching Justin. He works so hard & I know it's for us. He's an incredible basketball player & an even more incredible person.
#gwaggies forever!
I love you forever JB #34!!! xoxo