Harkness Family

Rob is from Provo, Utah and I'm from Indio, California. We live in Utah. We met in 2007, when we attended the same congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We were just acquaintances.

In 2012, we both went on a Caribbean cruise with mutual single friends. We became fast friends and felt comfortable around each other. Memories from that cruise include shopping for an antique looking map together, playing with pet monkeys, standing on an outlet of land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, snorkeling, and eating lots of yummy food.

In every picture from the cruise, Rob stood next to me. Later he admitted that he did this on purpose because he was interested in me. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this and thought that he was interested in someone else. Fortunately, because I didn't notice, I was able to be myself around him.

After the cruise, Rob immediately called me for a date. I was surprised, but glad that he did because I missed his company. On our first date, Rob cooked dinner, we went to see Marvel's Avengers, and talked for a long time.

That summer we spent a lot of time together just talking and enjoying one another's company hiking Bridal Veil Falls, star gazing in the West Desert, swimming at Seven Peaks Waterpark, boating at Nebo Lake, and house boating with Rob's family at Lake Powell.

Before we started dating, Rob had decided to move to Hawaii for graduate school at the end of the summer. We knew that they wanted to be together and were talking about getting married, but Rob had already postponed graduate school once and couldn't postpone it again.

So, we began a long-distance relationship. We figured a long-distance relationship would be the ultimate test. Either it wouldn't last, or our relationship would become stronger. Luckily for is, our relationship became stronger as we talked for hours on the phone and I proofread all of Rob's papers for school.

When Rob returned for Christmas break, we were married in the Salt Lake City Latter-day Saint Temple. It was funny because Rob didn't tell his friends at school that he was getting married over the Christmas break. After the break, they wanted to know who I was and when he told them that I was his wife, they were all surprised!

We spent the next several years living in Hawaii on an extended honeymoon. While Rob went to school, I worked as a substitute teacher, a elementary school aid, and at the Girl Scouts of Hawai'i. In 2015, we moved back to Utah because Rob had finished school and we wanted to be closer to family. We loved our time in Hawaii and try to make it back every few years.

Over the years, we have had many highs and lows. Our biggest high has been purchasing our own home and traveling together. However, our biggest low has been failed pregnancies and failed IVF procedures. We both have siblings that we love so we have always imagined a family with several children. We hope to grow our family of 2 to a family of more through adoption!