Dating Advice-Share yours!

My friend has a family member that is about to turn 16. She is thinking of ideas of stuff to give him in a Dating/driving kit. I gave her a bunch of ideas, but one that intrigued me was to put together a bunch of people's stories of their best and worst dates and compile them into a sort of dos and don'ts of dating thing using the stories. So, here is yet another chance to participate on my blog. Please, PLEASE share your best and worst dates here as a comment. Maybe if we get some good participation here, we can do a poll to vote on who had the worst date ever-that would be fun! I will think about this for a while and add my best and worst dates on the end of this post...check back soon for it!, and in the mean time-comment with your best and worst-feel free to write as long of comments as it takes!!!

Ok-a few bad dates (I actually have more bad kissing stories than bad date stories-and no, those bad kisses generally did not happen on dates...weird, but true).

1-My first date ever was to my school's Homecoming just a few days after I turned 16-my date was like 3 or so hours late picking me up and we hardly spent any time at the dance at all.

2-"The infamous 20-minute-date" I had a guy ask me out to go to the Manti pageant (pretty extensive date fyi-like a 2 hour drive or so to get there, then you watch a big pageant and drive 2-3 hour back.) I knew I didn't want to spend that much time alone with this guy as I had already been out with him a couple times, but he assured me that it wasn't just us-it was a whole group of our friends from the U going and it was more of a group date thing. So I agreed. He picked me up that night, said he had a great surprise for me, but wouldn't tell me. As we got just about 10 minutes from my house he tried to hold my hand which if you knew me, you know that was not a big deal, so I was ok with that, but I did make sure he knew it did not mean anything. He said "really, it doesn't? Cause if you don't like that, you won't like your surprise." I was like, "um...ok, what's this surprise?" He said "Well, it actually is just going to be the 2 of us, none of our friends are coming!" I was ticked and told him to take me home, and he did.

3-Once I had a guy trick me into going out with him by telling me it was a double date with my awesome friends Kirsten and Scot (who were married by then). I was ok with that, and would have gone out with the guy anyway if he had just asked, but the funny thing about this date is that he told me that Kirsten and Scot were just running late throughout the date and kept calling them and faking calls from them through the whole night, finally saying that he thought they would not make it altogether and that we should just go to the movies (after the dinner was over) without them. We did, the date was ok until the next day when I asked Kirsten and Scot what happened last night and they had no idea what I was talking about, they had never even talked to my date and they were at a wedding reception all night.

4-Once, actually ended up being the last date I went on before I started dating my Wesley, 2 guys from high school asked me out, one I had dated a lot before his mission and one I had never been out with. I said yes to the one I had never gone out with and told the other one I wasn't feeling well and rescheduled for later in the week. I was on my date, and the first half of the night went well, then we met up with some other people for a movie and the other guy was there alone. He ended up being the only one of the "other people" we were meeting that showed up, so I ended up in an awkward movie situation with my date, and the guy I had told I was too sick to go out with. Needless to say-the other date never happened...Yeah-does that story show karma slapping me in the face or what?!

One of my funniest dates was when Spencer tried to make me and Jon Woodbury (who were really just friends-I was already dating Wes at this point) kiss by holding our heads in his hands at the dinner table and yelling "Kiss boy and girl, Kiss" over and over again.

It is hard to pick a best date as I loved dating and count many many dates as great dates! I will say that I never have had a bad date with Wes and I think it is because we were both genuinely interested in each other and we are awesomely fun people anyway! I will type at least one specific great date after I go pick up Sol at the bus stop!

Blast From the Past...

Well, I just watched a movie of my past (well, the last half hour of it which frankly is all you need to watch). I saw...And now all I have to say about that is....

Oly Titans RULE!!!

My friend Anne posted these questions about high school and I thought I would answer them myself and put it on my blog. I don't have any awesome pics to put up from high school with it though as I have packed most of my non-digital pictures now...but enjoy my answers I guess...

1. If you could go back and tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be? Keep dating a lot and have fun. Oh-but make a bit more time for studying, just learn as much as you can-actually make time to read the assigned books in English, study math and science much more and for goodness sakes-keep an eye out for a hot guy named Wes Johnson in institute choir when you start college!!!

2. Did you do any extra curricular activities in high school? Um...yeah...lots and lots...I did drama club, Model UN, HUGS (Help Us Give Service), Choir (concert & Ladies ensemble), NAHS (National Art Honor Society), Spanish Club, Homecoming committee...and a few other things here and there.

3. Coolest thing you did as a teenager? Played Adelaide.

4. What did you do with your free time? Free time?! I guess that was when I was dating...

5. Did you have a boyfriend in high school? Yes-I had quite a few...

6. Bands that come to mind: Seriously, I don't know...

7. If you could change one thing what would it be? I would not have put up with so much crap from Vicki & I would have been more outgoing.

8. What did you think you would be when you grew up? Broadway star, & wife to incredibly handsome, sexy, and successful man (hey 1/2 ain't bad!!!)

9. Picture of self...
Currently unavailable-maybe someone reading this has one available-Andrea? Heidi? Anyone? If you have a HS pic of me-send it over and I'll post it!

10. Craziest thing you did in High School: Don't know-hung out at the theatre maybe...I wasn't nearly as crazy as people may have believed...

11. Other great memories were: Dances at the school, Being in musicals in school and in community, AP art history tour-awesome!!!, AP music theory. Late nights at Denny's, Hanging out with Rob, Matt, Willy...my awesome ward...lots of fun, fun activities.

Thoughts from a former dater...Freshman year of college examined...

So, as mentioned in the last blog I just posted, my friend Laura wrote about her embarrassing moments this week. One of her embarrassing moments was about a blind date, and it got me thinking of the blunders of my dating life. There were a number of funny dating stories that came to mind. I just thought I would share a few for those of you that might be interested (this might be one of those long blogs...)



First I would like to just start out by explaining that my dating philosophy was simple: Date a LOT! And I shamelessly flirted and schemed to get asked out a lot. Most of my dating life, from when I turned 16 until I married Wes was spent dating a LOT-at least 2 dates a week I would say-no joke. SO, this basically just means that I have a plethora of dating stories to pull from. Those of you that are reading this that were in my Young Women's group on Omaha are already aware of the extensive pool of dating stories I have as you heard about a different one each and every dating lesson...That being said, enjoy some of my favorite dating blunders & funny stories. And those of you that I dated, or that double dated with me, or that know any other stories, feel free to mention them in comment form (I know this is opening a can of worms for Heidi, Andrea, Kirsten, and probably many others, but oh well).



Blunder 1: Not recognizing excellence?!



As a freshman in college, I was clueless sometimes. I was a small fish in a big pond. Nonetheless, my crazy tactics seemed to get me attention. I was taking a lot of generals that year and had huge classes with people from lots of different majors! In one history class, I sat down one day and this huge tall guy sat right next to me (no one sits right next to someone they don't know in a huge lecture hall). I kinda looked at him funny, and moved over a seat. He followed me and said in a thickly accented voice, "Hi!" Again I looked at him funny and said in my most annoyed voice "Um...hi." and moved over again. Again he moved over and said, "I play basketball." I looked at him and said, "That is a sad line! Does that seriously work?" Then I stood up and walked to the next row. He again followed and said "Really I play basketball! It's not a line. DO you like basketball?" At this point I was dumbfounded at this guys persistence in trying to use this retarded, obvious line on me and I kinds lit into him about how bad that line was and how he was going to have to try it on dumber girls to get it to work, then I told him I was going to be moving and that he should not follow me. He looked shocked and dumbfounded as I left. The next time we had class the teacher had the guy come up so he could congratulate him on the great job he had done over the weekend in helping the Utes win the big game. Turns out the guy was Hanno Möttölä ( a huge star that year, google him if you wonder who he is!). This is particularly mortifying if you know what a HUGE Utes fan I am , and if you know that I actually attended and was a fan of the basketball team. Whoops...



Blunder 2: Yet another Freshman moment...



SO, after the Hanno Möttölä incident, I took a LOT of harassment from my dad (if you know my dad, you can imagine...). Later in the basketball season, the Utes made it to the Final Four, and I got ticket to the games. My dad and I went to San Antonio to watch out Utes play, and had a blast. We were total nerd super fans and even went to the team hotel and hung out and went to the parties with the team and all that crazy fan stuff. We immersed ourselves in Utah Final Four madness and loved every minute. Fast forward about a week to me being back on campus. I was walking from a theatre class to my car. As I walked past the bookstore, I noticed this guy come out and he looked at me and I noticed he started following me in the parking lot. This freaked me out a bit as I was sure this was not someone I knew. About halfway across the parking lot, this guy kinda catches up with me and was like"Hey-didn't I see you in San Antonio?" I said snottily, "Um...no, I don't think so." He said, "I was sure I saw you there. Weren't you in San Antonio?" I said basically blew him off at that point. Then a friend of mine caught up with me and said "Wow, I had no idea you were friends with Andre Miller! That is awesome!" Yeah, Turns out that guy was, in fact, Andre Miller (THE superstar of the basketball team that year). Google him-he's still pretty famous...

Blunder 3: Missing the REAL Excellence

This is a true story! I have decided my life, in particular the story of me and Wes is a big romantic comedy of errors. It is one of those ones where the boy and girl keep almost meeting over and over until the end when they FINALLY bump into each other and eventually things work out ant they live happily ever after. Just a few near misses from our lives...

Miss one...Wes and I both lived in the University of Utah Village as small children, though we never crossed paths somehow. In my movie visions, I see us as toddlers, barely missing each other on the playground, I see his mom calling him in for lunch right as I walk out my door to play and things like that-I see me going to the same church house, but I am leaving as he is arriving...things like that.

Miss two...and this is the big one, Wes and I were in the SAME institute choir freshman year of college and never knew it. (Does anyone else notice that this blog makes me look like freshman year was a total bomb for dating?! No offense to Tim, Kevin, or anyone else I might have dated that year...) We went to practice at noon everyday together, hung out at the institute and performed together and NEVER noticed one another. I seriously did not believe Wes when he told me he was in choir with me, I thought i knew everyone. So, I pulled out my choir contact book, and sure enough, there he was...And another crazy part of that story was that at the end of the year, people did "last will and testaments" to leave to each other-usually funny little inside jokes and stuff. No joke, Wes and I are mentioned in the same sentence, our names right next to each other for dying our hair goofy colors that year...Evidently we had all the same friends and everything...NUTS!!

Miss three...meeting and not realizing the cosmic connection...OK, well, maybe we did notice the attraction, but it took us both a few months and a relationship each between meeting officially and our first date. I guess we just were distracted by other people momentarily, but thank goodness we fixed that!!

SO, this blog took a total turn, and ended up not getting in as many of my blunder of dating as I expected. It also only covers a small portion of my Freshman year and ignores all my other years of dating completely. It is also too long, so that being said, I will have to save this dating storied for a later segment. Feel free to comment and if there are anymore particular stories you feel should be aired on my blog in my next dating segment, feel free to comment and let me know...seriously, I could write a book about my dating life-it was fun, and crazy, and insane...

When I met a super star...

OK-Sarah Tomoser-this one is for you!

In a previous post I mentioned a story about meeting a famous person. As Wes has pointed out, this story cannot possibly live up now after mentioning it in that post, but here it is anyway.

It was 1997 and I had just graduated from high school. For my senior trip I went with my drama class and drama teacher to New York City. My drama teacher's good friend was our tour guide (basically he was our tour coordinator, but because he was friends with our teacher, he came into town for a couple days when we were there and hung out with us and showed us a bunch of the cool stuff you wouldn't get to see in a normal tour). So this guy was with us at a show one night, and we were supposed to go back to our hotel right after, but instead he was like, "Hey does anyone what to go eat the best dessert in Manhattan?" (He said the famous Lindy's cheesecake was good, but this place was supposed to be a non-tourist location. A place where the native New Yorkers would go for awesome dessert). So, of course, not being one to pass up an adventure (or a great dessert), I of course was the first to jump on that bandwagon. So, a small group of us jumped on the Subway and went to this great place called Mona Lisa. It rocked and the desserts lived up beautifully. After the dessert, our tour guru asked if we wanted to go for a walk around one of the nicest and most exclusive neighborhoods in New York (it was just a few blocks away). Again, I was the first to jump on this bandwagon, and a smaller group of us followed our guru to this great neighborhood.

So, there we were, late at night walking in this great neighborhood around this private gated park. I somehow got behind the group a little and also somehow thought I was still with them. I was still talking to my friends (who, as noted, were ahead of me and not listening anymore), when I turned a corner and literally ran into this over sized (huge) poodle. I looked up at the owner (for the first time noticing I was no longer with my friends) and said, "Sorry...cute dog..." The owner said "Thank you" and looked kind of strangely at me. I talked to this woman for a minute (just nothing/small talk) before she went on with her dog walk, and I saw my friends and went to catch up with them. They were all standing across the street and staring with gaping mouths (including the guru). I walked over and said "What?" They all stared for a minute, then someone said, "Did you realize that was Julia Roberts?" I was in disbelief. So, I turned back to the dog owner who was of course walking the other way, but she happened to have stopped to cross the street, and she turned and waved at me. I waved back as it struck me that it was in fact Julia Roberts...

Oly Titans Rule: A look back at the high school years.

I have seen this survey on a few blogs lately, and as I missed my 10-year reunion on Saturday, I thought I should at least think about high school enough to fill this out! I really loved high school and was very sad I couldn't make it to the reunion! But, that aside, Go Titans!!

Fill this out about your years in high school! The longer ago it was,the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Who were your best friends? I had a lot of different friends. Mainly, my ward group, and the groupies (me included) that hung out at the Gundersen home. But my best friends were Rob N, Matt D (he went to Bountiful), Jalaine B, Jenny K, & Heidi S.
2. What sports did you play? Not unless we are counting that one week a year of Powder Puff.
3. What kind of car did you drive? Nissan Sentra XE hatchback, it was light blue and I loved it!
4. On a Friday nights what were you doing? Either rehearsing or at the football games, or on dates/out with friends.
5. Were you a party animal? I LOVE parties (not the things that tend to go along with them), but I just love to go hang out with my friends and party, so I kinda was...
6. Were you considered a flirt? I was by some...maybe even most...
7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir
8. Were you a nerd? The funny thing here is that yes, I was a nerd, but I somehow thought I was popular back when it was happening...I realize now I was just delusional.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? NO!
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Yes, and I can sing most of the school hymn as well...though they have replaced the hymn with a new song since I graduated.
11. Who was your favorite teacher? I had great teachers-loved Mrs Baskin-Sophomore Honors English, Mrs McConkie-AP art history, Mrs Murdock (now Edwards)-Drama, and Jack Ashton-AP Music Theory.
12. Where did you sit during lunch? On the rare occasion I stayed for lunch I was usually in the cafeteria getting help on some homework assignment, or outside just messing around.
13. Name the school full name? Olympus High School
14. School mascot? Titan
15. School Colors? Green and Gray
16. Rival high school? Skyline (which is where I taught by the way...)
17. Did you go to Prom? Yes!
18. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I loved high school, but I have outgrown it and wouldn't want to do it again. Life is just bigger and better with marriage, kids, and all the fun stuff after high school!
19. What do you remember most about graduation? Parties for days, no, weeks after. Lots of time with my friends, and then leaving to BYU almost immediately.
20. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't remember-I think I went to the BBQ at the Seminary building...or was that yearbook day?!
21. Favorite memory? I have a lot of great memories from high school, but I think Guys and Dolls was probably my favorite.
22. Were you in any clubs? Yes, every year I wanted to optimize my chances of being in the yearbook, so I joined every club I could!
23. Where did you go most often for lunch? Wendy's (it took one "Hey Jude" to get there! If you get that, then you must be a good friend!!)
24. Have you gained some weight since then? YES! Not too much considering I have had 3 children, but I certainly have gained a few pounds...
25. Who was your Senior prom date? Shahene! We went in the drama club group.
26. Are you planning on going to your 10-year reunion? I just missed it...SAD!
27. Who was your home room teacher? Didn't have a home room teacher, but for some reason I thin they counted 1st period as the same thing, which means it was Vicki (I had Ladies Ensemble 1st period for 2 years.)
28. Who will re-post this after you? I don't know, but everyone should. And if you went to our reunion-post pictures and stories, please!
29. Who was your high school sweetheart? Ya know, I dated a lot of guys in high school, I loved to date, and was lucky enough to get asked out a lot. I had a few boyfriends in high school, and after high school went on dates with a lot of the boys I would have liked to date from my high school. But, I am not naming names here...maybe someday...
30. Do you still talk to people from high school? A few...I would like to keep in better contact with a lot of them! Amazingly-this blog thing seems to be helping with that!
31.Did you win prom queen or king? Heck no. I was never in that league.
32. Where did you work in high school? Nordstrom-Fashion and Lingerie departments, We R Ties, my dad's law office, and Dans Foods as a checker.
33. What were your grades? A's and B's.
34. What was your dress style? Dramatic. I wore a lot of different things depending on my mood-I was a drama nerd...but not nearly as creative as most of the other drama kids...
35. What year did you graduate? 1997

OK-now it's your turn-I wanna hear your take on high school (especially if you went to high school with me!) This is fun for all ages-so blog about high school! Come on, it'll be fun...

The Castaway!

Skipping right along...

I am going to skip right past the engagement and Wedding part and just skip straight to the Honeymoon! Nice, huh?! Well, here's a few things about those things...

So, we got engaged on Feb 4th, but I didn't have a ring until a few weeks later. Wes took me to regional conference at the LDS Conference Center in downtown SLC and after it was over took me for a walk around Temple Square. He proposed to me officially with the ring there at the fountain looking at the Temple. It was really sweet and romantic!

We were married on May 17, 2001. It was a great wedding and a fun filled day of activities after the ceremony. We had a great time.

On May 18, 2001 at like 4 am we went to the airport to fly out to Florida for our Honeymoon. We had done this thing for our honeymoon where we got the trip really cheap by attending a presentation one morning for time shares. So, the company we did this through arranged for all the hotels and stuff. Our first 3 nights were in Orlando and that hotel was alright. THe next coupl nights were supposed to be at a hotel in Daytona Beach. Wes was really excited about this part as the hotel was guaranteed to be right on the beach.

So, we drove away from Orlando to Daytona Beach, and started to look for the address. At first we could not find it in the plethora of awseome beachfront hotel along the street where the hotel was located, so we stopped at one of the hotels to ask where our hotel, "The Castaway" was located. THe guy explained that is was about 5 miles down the road because the street is split by east and west addresses and this was a west address...

As we got back on the road and started down toward the address, the neighborhood got progressively worse and worse, until we saw this run down shop on the left side of the street. It had towels in the windows with naked women printed on them, and a huge blinking neon sign that said "Exotic tobacco pipes" and had a neon sign style picture of a bong...lovely! As we were just getting over the shock on the shop, we noticed that our equally worn down hotel was actually right across the street. It looked like something out of a horror movie-looked abandoned, run dow , rusty...scarry! But we thought we would go in anyway and see how it was inside-besides, it was the only place we had to stay.

The one-toothed man behind the counter took 20 minutes to get our information in the computer, then said "oops, I messed up," and because he had evidently never known about a backspace key, he started the whole process all over again. When he finally got us checked in, we got into the elevator and pushed the floor number, and stood there in the shakey elevator of a few minutes before the doors opened up and another family got in with us. Then we all sat in the elevator for a few more minutes. Then decided it hadn't moved, pushed the open door button, and sure enough, we were still in the lobby. So we all relocated to the other elevator which slowly but surely got us to our respective floors. As the door on our floor opened, I was overwhelmed by the stench of fish guts and mold-gross, then when we turned the corner to our hallway, it looked exactly like the hallway in "The Shining". So, we sent into our hole of a room, and realized that there was not a door on the sliding door part, and that the balcony was just open and all the people around could come in and out of our room as they pleased.

We decided to just go on a walk on the beach and at least take advantage of the fact that the hotel really was right on the beach at least. We planned on a 1-2 hour walk at most. When we got out to the beach, Wesley saw a dock a wasy off and wanted to walk to that, so we walked. We walked, and walked and walked. And it got darker and darker and darker...And later and later and later...after who-knows-how-long walking, it was pitch black and the dock was not any closer. So, we decided for our safety, we would go ahead and walk up to the street where there was light and find our way back to the hotel. Wes was carrying his walet and we were both just in our swimsuits. I managed to get hit on a number of times (that was back before I had 3 kids), we saw 2-3 drug deals happening, 3-4 arrests going on, a police chase, and had a cop tell us we wer enot in a safe place and that we should find our way back to whereever we were supposed to be...it was CRAZY!!

I never thought I could be glad to see that disgusting hole of a hotel, but I was ecstatic! Gotta love the Castaway...

Engagement...

Now, I could go through this date by date, but that would take a while. I will jst mention that there were a few other notable dates, the third was a whole event-went to a matinee movie with Stefanie (Wes's sister) and Jesse Heaton (after I got rear ended in a hit and run on the way to the theater), ate ice cream at Snelgroves (where I met Ashley-another sister), stopped by the Fairbourn's house to visit (that's my aunt/cousins), then went to a Utes Basketball game with Cathy, mom, dad, Mel, Spence, then of course, he kissed me the first time that night. That was also the night he realized he was going to marry me (I knew I was a good kisser, but I didn't realize I was that good!!) :)

Then there was the date where Wes tricked me into meeting his whole family, complete with grandparents and all (well, not all as Steve, Wes's dad was in Canada working on the temple). He told me he was going to cook Filipino food for me for dinner, abd we would eat hat his house. But when I got there, it was a full Thanksgiving-style dinner with the whole fam instead...scarry!!

We packed in a lot of dating in those few short weeks...I have always said it was 3 1/2 weeks before we were engaged, but I just looked at a calendar, adn it looks like it was actually about 4 weeks before we got engaged, sorry about that gross inaccuracy! But, that said, let's fast forward to Feb 4, 2001...

Just a few days before, we had talked about how we were definately dating exclusively and had been for a while actually without talking about it. By this time we were seeing each other basically every day. But, we were not going to see each other on this Sunday, Feb 4th for some reason. It was a Fast Sunday (in the LDS church, once a month, we have what is called a fast Sunday where we fast, or do not eat or drink for 2 meals basically. We are supposed to fast with a purpose in mind, and we are supposed to pray to begin our fast and to dedicate our fast to that purpose.). I had decided to fast that day to determine whether I should marry Wes, as the thought of marrying him had been on my mind a lot.

I went to church, and for some reason my family wasn't there that week, so I sat next to my x-boyfriend's mom, who also happened to be the stake president's wife. As I sat there next to her, and she was telling me all about her son (the x-boyfriend) and how he was doing on his mission and how he would love to hear from me and stuff, I was praying to have a big confirmation that I should marry Wes. I was afraid that if it wasn't a big confirmation, I might miss it completely. I got an answer that I should marry Wes while I sat there in church.

Like I said before, Wes and I were not supposed to see each other that day. For some reason I didn't think we were even going to talk-it seems he had something that was supposed to keep him busy all day. Needless to say, I was surprised when my phone rang in the afternoon and it was Wes calling to tell me that he had gotten a bad haircut. Evidently, he had made Jessice (his youngest sister) buzz his hair, adn she had never cut anyone's hair before, so it hadn's turned out quite as expected, and he just wanted to call and warn me. Then as we talked he mentioned that he would like to go do something fun tonight, so maybe we could go to his cousin Mickey's house and play games with Mickey and Natalie (his wife) in Provo. So, he called Mickey and arranged for that.

We played games over there and they even let me win some. It was fun. Evidently, everytime I turned my back, Mickey would harass Wes about how he needed to ask me to marry him. On our drive home (it's about an hour drive), Wes was talking about wanting to go to medical school. I asked where he hoped to go, and he said "I don't know, where do you want to live?" I kinda ignored that, but then he kept bringing up, "we" and connecting me to him future plans. So, by the time we got back to my apartment, I was wondering what he was trying to say, if he was trying to ask me to marry him. He walked me into my apartment and kissed me in the kitchen, and I said, "Do you really thing we are going to get married?" (He grabbed me by both shoulders and pushed me arms length away at that point) I said, "Have you prayed about it?" (he continued to stare at arms length with a horrified look, then without a word walked over to the couch and sat down. Then after an unbearably long silence he said, "come over here and let me tell you a story."

This is what he told me: He said that after our 3rd date, he had gone into his house, and knelt down and prayed to know if he should marry me. He laid in bed listening for an answer, and eventually got an answer that he should marry me. Then he asked me if I had prayed about it, and I told him I had and told him my experience of earlier in the day. Then he said "So, We're getting married?" And I said, "Yeah, I guess we are." Then he said he loved me, and I said, "you do?" He said "I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I didn't love you." I said "Oh...I love you too."

And that is how we got engaged!!

Schemes and Second Dates

Do I blog too much? Yeah, probably. Do I care? Not really. Wes and I thought it would be good to get some of our life recorded and figured this was a good way to do it. So I can just record it here, print it all out and put it in a book to keep. So, I thought I would go on with the dating stories...

So, After our first date, I waited like 2 days for him to call me, but he didn't. I didn't really want to ask him out for the 2nd date, I just wanted him to ask me. So, I called him on the evening of the second day without a phone call (this is step 1 in getting a boy to ask you out). We talked about nothing for a really long time and I kept trying to give him chances to ask me out again and tried to clue him in to the fact I wanted him to ask me out. While I was on the phone with him talking about nothing, I came up with a scheme about a date night that weekend. (The schemeing in my head was a lot like JD on Scrubs...) I decided I would tell him that my friends and I had a date night set up that coming Friday and that I didn't have a date yet. So, would he maybe want to be my date?! He of course said yes. I told him I would get back to him with the details...because of course, there were no details because there was no date night...

Step 2 in my plan to get Wes to go out with me without actually asking him out explicitly...Arrange a date night...
At that time, I was in a performing choir at the LDS Institute called Encore. We met EARLY every morning to practice and/or do morningsides (like firesides, but in the morning). So, when I went to Encore early the morning after the phone call, I talked to my friends about this date night that we needed to have on Friday. No one wanted to spend a lot of money, so we decided I would make Lasagna for dinner (I was famous for this lasagna and it was something I used to bribe my friends into doing stuff for me-like going on imaginary date nights and making them a reality...), other poeple would bring bread, salad and pies. We were also able to arrange cheap tickets to a comedy troupe show that night. So, the date night plan quickly came together, and my imaginary date night became a reality...

That Friday Wes and I went on our second date. We ate good food, saw a funny show and ate some great Marie Calender's pie. The only hitch was that one of the girls that came to the date night was one Wes evidently had a little thing for because he couldn't stop talking to or about her all night...oh well, he got over that eventually...

Blow up Toys, Bowling, and Butt Pinching...

So, I know you must be asking yourself what happened after the first meeting...I will tell you, Nothin! After Wes and I met early July of 2000, Wes started to date someone else, and by the time he broke up with her, I was dating someone. So, it wasn't until January 2001 that we even saw each other again.

End of December 2000, I was pissed and a bit depressed because my boyfriend had broken up with me right before Christmas. This was a very new experience for me, as no one had ever broken up with me before. So, I reacted as any logical adult would, and stayed in my apartment, eating chocolates and watching old holiday movies. Then I got a call from Penni telling me to get off my butt, stop whining and get back in the game (the dating game of course). In order to get me back in the game, she said she would set me up with her hot friend I had liked, Wes. So, the set up plans began. I did not want to go into this date cold (it was set up for Jan 6th), so the week preceeding the big date, I went out with a different boy every night until the 6th.

Eventually the night came. To make me a bit more comfortable (usually I refused to go on set-ups) Penni and Tyson (Wes's brother) were going to go with us, so it was a double date instead of a single. Our first activity took us to a place called Some Dude's Playground. It was a place with a bunch of big blow up toys (nothing dirty...things like the blow up jumpers, sumo things, racing mats, etc). Wes and Ty thought we should go ahead and get the longest pass-the 3 hour pass. After about the first hour we had done everything, and were pretty much finished with this place. However, if you know Wes and Ty, you probably already know that if they paid for 3 hours, then dogonnit, we were using 3 hours!! So, Wes and I basically sat around and talked for the next 2 hours in Some Dude's Playground, and had a really fun conversation.

Our next fun activity was laser bowling-it was a blast, adn the really notable thing there was that Wes pinched my butt once while I was going up to throw the ball. That kid will do anything to assure a win! Actually, this butt pinch has been a greatly debated moment...Wes always claimed it was Tyson, Tyson denied the accusation, and I was SURE it was Wes. However, Tyson has recently admitted that it was in fact him...I still blame Wes... :)

That date was fun and I really liked Wes by the end, even though he pinched my butt...I think I liked him more than he liked me though as I had to totally trick him into taking me on a second date, but that my friends, sounds like another blog...

Rock Hard Abs and Cold Stone...

Wes and I were talking about how we should put up some of the old school stories about us and our little family. So, what better place to start than with how I met that stud of a man that I married, so here it goes...

In the summer of 2000, my roommate Penni and I were talking about boys, as was our usual conversation. She told me about these two great guys she knew that were cousins, Mickey, who she had dated a little, and Wes, who she considered to be one of her best friends. She wanted to go out with both of them when they got back from their missions. Mickey got engaged too quick for anyone but Natalie to go out with him (way to reel him in quick by the way Nat!), so Penni decided she would call Wes as soon as he was supposed to get home for a date, so as not to miss that chance too. I was similarly wanting to go out with a friend of mine from high school when he got home, Anthony, and as it turned out, Anthony and Wes got home the same week.

So, Penni and I set up this date night with the two guys. On the night of the big date, I picked up Anthony and we were to meet Penni and Wes at the Murray amphitheater where Penni had arranged for us to have free tickets to see "Lil Abner." Anthony and I were running a bit late, and ran in right before the show started. I somehow ended up sitting between the two guys. I thought Wes was totally hot, but I was on a date with Anthony, who was one of my best friends and did not want to ignore him. As it turned out, I was a crappy date for Anthony anyway! Sorry Anthony!

For those that don't know the musical, there is a part in the show when all the wimpy guys come out and they are suddenly super muscly. When they came out, I said, "Oh My!" I believe I said it very shocked and a bit grossed out by the overly muscly actors, but Wes thought I said it like I was totally attracted to these mega body builders, and spent the rest of the night (well, lets face it, the rest of my life) teasing me about it! So, we flirted a little bit...

After the musical, we went to Cold Stone for ice cream. It was a really long line, with no open tables to sit when we arrived. After waiting in the line for a few minutes, a table opened up and we tried to send the boys over to save the table while we bought the ice cream (we DID ask them on the dates...) Wes said "OK," and walked right over to the table. Anthony refused to go because he insisted he was going to buy the ice cream even though I asked him out, and he and Penni sent me over to wait with Wes at the table. We talked and flirted a little while we waited. Then they came back and we all ate our ice cream together...here's the kicker about the ice cream-Anthony paid for it all cause he thought that was the gentlemanly thing to do...funny!!

And that my friends is how we met...I will tell more in another blog.