With the holiday o' love quickly approaching and with the fact that Tom and I have never written "our story" down I thought now would be a fitting time to do so. I've been tagged several times and have slacked on following through with them (sorry friends). So I'm going to count this cute tag from Marisa about dating my husband as my tag reply for all of them. It's really long, but I want to have this for my "journal" too.
1.Where did you meet your spouse?
We met at BYU in the Harold B. Lee Library Computer Lab. We were actually in the same ward, but I hadn't been paying attention to any of the guys because I was dating someone else at the beginning of the school year. Tom claims he noticed me the very first week in church. He says I acted kind of stand-offish though and could tell I had a boyfriend and that's why he didn't attempt to talk to me. I say that's a lie, but it sounds good at least. :) A couple months later I was single again and the first day I actually noticed him was in the library sitting across from me. It was October 25th (I remember because I had to leave to go to Jacob's birthday party). I kind of stalked him for the next several weeks making excuses to go to the computer lab, but it took me a while to get the courage to talk to him.
2. What was the first thing you said to your spouse?
I strategically placed myself at a computer that he HAD to pass by in order to leave. It was 11:00 at night (crazy college students) and I knew they'd blast that annoying "When the Saints Go Marching In" song to get everybody to leave at 11:45 and he would have to pass me and I would talk to him then. The song came on and he didn't get up. Turns out he saw me and was too nervous to walk by. So I ended up going up to him and said "Hey, you're in my ward right? Wait, what's your name again?" Ahhhh, I'm such a dork. I of course knew his name but didn't want to appear too stalkerish. He quickly replied, "Tom. You're Rachel right?" We then walked out and up the stairs together talking about whatever and as soon as we got to the top of the stairs we were in mid sentence and without even a goodbye we both abruptly parted. It was SOOOO awkward and I felt so dumb!
3. Where was your first date?
I have to start with how the date got set up because it's a great story of how modern day technology played a role in getting us together. My roommates decided to do a group date and they wanted me to ask Tom out. I'm not a shy girl but that kind of freaked me out. I told them that I'd go to the library and if he was there I'd ask him out but wouldn't if he wasn't. So I headed to the library and was super sad when I saw that he wasn't there. Not even 2 minutes later I got a text message from Heidi's phone that said, "He's here!" I literally RAN out of the library and to my car and sped home as fast as I could. I of course walked in so super casually and acted completely surprised to see him there. Turns out he had gone over to my apartment to ask me out for the same night. But I still beat him to the asking.
(Not actually our first date)
Our actual date (this is kind of a repeat from a different post): December 2nd, 2002. This date was a marathon date that lasted 8 hours! We went to my roommate's parent's house up in SLC area for dinner where Tom spilled red punch all over their light colored carpet. Then we went to a comedy improv show. I think that was it, but with all the driving and everything it lasted forever. Tom and I didn't care though. We literally talked the entire time. Even throughout the comedy show. He dropped me off on my doorstep and asked me out for the very next weekend. I remember going in and telling my roommates that that was the absolute BEST date I had ever been on.
4. Where was your first kiss?
In his apartment. It was the night before Christmas break. The timing was strategic on his part and turned out to be a huge blessing. That probably sounds silly, but I for some reason had issues with freaking out after a first kiss and questioning whether I really liked the guy. I did the same thing with him, but luckily had a 3 week break of not seeing him after that. We talked on the phone pretty much every other night during those few weeks. Over the phone is honestly where I really started to fall in love with him. One funny thing is that during those few weeks my family went to Disneyworld and I thought my cell phone minutes were regular minutes but they turned out to be long distance. I think we racked up about a $200 dollar phone bill and I was on a family plan with my mom. My dad's only comment was, "You better marry this guy!" So my dad. :)
5. Who said “I love you” first?
He did. We were out on a Valentines Day date. We were supposed to eat at this nice restaurant but they were dumb and kept running out of food (how does that happen?) so we left and ended up eating at Wendy's. So romantic. :) After that we drove to this far away golf course where he set up a table with dessert. We sat there for a little bit then there was an awkward silence because he was trying to build up the courage. Then out of nowhere he said, "I don't know how else to say this, but...I'm in love with you." I still melt thinking of his tone and how he said it. So cute! Being retarded like I am I sat there for about 10 minutes before I said it back.
Attacked with kisses
6. Did you have a long or short courtship/engagement?
In BYU terms we had a long courtship and an average engagement. We dated from December to the end of May. We were engaged from May 31st until the end of August. So 6 months of dating and almost 3 months of engagement. If it would have been up to me our courtship would have been a lot shorter. I knew by February that I wanted to marry him. I didn't even have to think about it. Nothing had ever felt so easy and it just made sense. Tom's a lot more methodical than me though and really had to take his time (in comparison to me).
7. Where did you get engaged?
I've always been a girl who knows what I want and our engagement was no different. I had picked out the ring and knew he had it and was insistent that he propose before Sunday because we were both leaving. (I was moving to Vegas and he was moving to Denver for his internship). I wanted our ward to know that we actually did get engaged and to be able to show the ring. So Saturday May 31st he took me up to a place called Cascade Springs. We got out of the car and walked around for a little bit. I was really confused because there were a bazillion people around and I knew he wouldn't propose in front of an audience. After a little while we went back to the car and I was kind of disappointed until he blind-folded me and drove down the road a little ways. Earlier that day he had gone there and set up a table in this huge open field right by this pretty stream of water. On the table he had laid out dessert and candles and 50 roses that each had a little piece of paper attached to the bottom with a memory from the last 6 months. He of course got down on one knee and said his adorable shpeel, I of course said yes then we hugged and kissed. Now, every romantic story with Tom and me seems to have something funny that goes along with it. We were standing there hugging and obviously sharing a tender moment and out of nowhere walks by this family with fishing rods who decided to start fishing right next to us. Hello?! Tender moment here! Who does that? Pretty funny though...now.
8. Where were you married?
August 23rd, 2003 in the Las Vegas Temple. The whole week before it had been flooding like crazy (when it rains it POURS in Vegas), but on that day the sun came out and it was seriously BEAUTIFUL. HOT, but beautiful! The ceremony was sweet and simple. But like I said earlier, there always seem to be funny moments during special moments for us. When we first went into the sealing room and the sealer started talking to everybody he completely forgot my name. He said, "Tom and what's her face." I think it was actually "what's her name" but "face" sounds funnier. :) Everybody laughed and it of course made for a funny memory.
Our New Era moment :) This can be you too kids.
9. How did your reception go?
I loved it! We had it in my parent's backyard. By that time at night it had cooled down and felt perfect. My flowers and all the decorations were beautiful. There were lots of people and the food was super yummy. We only did the line for 30 minutes because I wanted to mingle during the reception instead.
I think my cake looks slightly 80's, but was still cute.
The handsome little greeters/present takers
10. Where was the Honeymoon?
We went on a cruise down the Mexican Riviera. It was a week long. We had fun but were both ready to get back onto land by the end and start our new "normal" married life.
Notice Tom's reading material...apparently he was missing the states.
11. If you could have changed anything about your day what would it have been?
This is tricky because there are lots of little things that I wish I would have done now that I've seen some other weddings, but I really can't complain. I distinctly remember looking at Tom at the end of our reception and saying how absolutely PERFECT the day had been. So I won't even dwell on any changes I would make.
It's all so fun to think back on. Now we sometimes have funny moments when we realize, "Hey, you're that guy/girl I saw in the computer lab and now we're married and have a baby." Weird! But wonderful!
If anybody else wants to write their story, consider yourself tagged. I would LOVE to read it.
