Two Tags

I was catching up on some of my friends' and family's blogs today and found two "tags", one from Kory and one from Megan. Kory's was to fill out the following questionnaire, and Megan's was to write about how my spouse and I met, got engaged, etc. So, being the good sport that I am ;) I will respond:


Two Names You Go By: Mom & Sarah

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: favorite dark wash jeans & a grey t-shirt

Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: shop and surf the Internet

Two Things You Want To Do Very Badly At This Moment: wake up Aaron from his 5 hour nap and figure out a way to cheer myself up (I'm cranky)

Two Favorite Pets: Katie the squirrel and Titus the husky

Two People Who Will Fill This Out: Jennifer & Beth (I hope)

Two Things You Did Last Night: got home after spending 12 hours in the car; ate at McDonald's

Two Things You Ate Today: Slim Jims and bagel crisps

Two Last People You Talked To: Pyper & Hakan (only it was more like barking than talking)

Two Longest Car Rides: Lumberton, NC to Rexburg, ID & Rexburg, ID to Mora, NM (although Caldwell to Madera, CA is pretty close to the longest!)

Two Favorite Holidays: Christmas and Christmas

Two Favorite Vacations: Anywhere that takes me to see family

Two Favorite Drinks: Dr. Pepper or A&W root beer

I tag Jennifer, Beth, Amy and Megan to fill this out, too!

Our Story

Waaaaaay back in 1999 when BYU-Idaho was still called Ricks College, I was living with my cousin Chelsey and having a good 'ole time as a new college student. She had gotten a job down at the new Chili's restaurant in Idaho Falls and had made a friend there- Nick. She wanted me to meet him, so one night she took me over to his apartment. He just lived in the guys' housing complex that was kiddy-corner to our complex. Anyway, I walked in and there sat this super hot guy wearing those cool black-frame glasses, playing some video game with some chick. I instantly recognized him.

Flash back: My roommates and I went swimming at this very same complex with our FHE brothers and said Hot Guy walked through the pool area wearing a very tight yellow t-shirt, black Adidas workout pants and those cool black frame glasses. At that time he had bleached blond hair. He was going to the weight room on the other side of the pool, and I even pointed him out to one of my roommates so we could drool over him together.

Flash forward again: So Chelsey introduced me to everyone, which is how I learned the Hot Guy's name was actually Aaron and was a roommate and old mission buddy of Nick's. Because Chelsey and Nick were such good friends, I began to see more and more of Aaron as our group hung out together. We flirted a lot but tried not to let on that we were "interested". To be quite honest, I was convinced that he was way out of my league, so I didn't dare entertain the hope that he could possibly like me. FINALLY, we stopped acting like 3rd graders and became boyfriend and girlfriend. This lasted for about 2 months.

We are now in April 2000. Aaron and I had decided that we'd play a practical joke on my roommates and pretend that we were getting engaged. We even went down to the mall to pick out a fake engagement ring. We were going to stage this whole proposal scenario with a banner or something, but we were going to do it over Conference weekend and what do my roommates go and do? They all left!! I was bummed that we couldn't do our joke, but Aaron and I decided to spend the day (April 1st) having a picnic in my apartment. We went to the grocery store and picked up some of our favorite picnic foods- hogies, salt and vinegar chips, Snapple. We laid out the whole spread and after we'd eaten, Aaron pulled a rolled up piece of paper out of his backpack and handed it to me. It had the fake ring I'd picked out around it. On the paper he'd written:

April Fools!! The ring may be fake but the proposal isn't. Love, Aaron

It took me a minute to figure it out, but I'm sure it felt like forever to him. I started to cry and hugged him, and suddenly realized that I hadn't actually answered. Of course I was going to say yes to such a sweet proposal- he'd intended all along for the whole "roommate gag" to be a cover for actually proposing!!

Flash forward: Aaron and I set our wedding date for August 4, I think. After school let out I spent a few days at his house in Seattle then flew home to NC. 3 days later we changed our wedding date to June 17th. It was torture being so far apart and I think I cried every night for the first couple of weeks. My poor parents were probably at their wits' end with this moody teen aged bride-to-be (I was 19) who then goes and changes her wedding date to nearly 2 months earlier. But the wedding turned out beautiful. It was small and simple, with all of the decorating and cooking being done ourselves. Many things went wrong that day, and any other day they would've bugged me- but I was determined not to let anything ruin my day. It was wonderful.

Just a note about the photos, digital cameras weren't yet mainstream when we got married, so none of our wedding photos are digital. I literally had to take pictures of these pictures to post them here, hence the glare and bad quality. No scanner so, sorry. :)

First date to a school dance.

Newly engaged, surrounded by our picnic.

Official engagement photo

June 17, 2000