Sweetheart Tag

A week or so ago I told Dan that all I wanted for Valentine's Day was for us to write out "our story". I was just Tagged to do this sweetheart tag and I thought it was a great way to get both prospectives. So my answers are first then Dan's. I want this to be our record for our kids to read. My answers are pretty lengthy, I just want to remember it all. Dan is a guy so his are pretty brief, but I was happy he remembers things pretty much how did. He had a hard time with this because he always tells me he doesn't like remembering out dating days. As you will read, those day were good, but we are just so happy now that we are married and all the unsurety is behind us!

1. Where did you first meet? First impressions?

I first saw Dan in Church. I had been living in Belmont for the previous year and Dan moved in at the start of the new school year. He was called to be a Sunday School teacher and I saw him for the first time when he got up to teach. I looked at him (checking out the new people), thinking he was too short for me, I leaned over to my roommate's sister that was sitting close by and told her she should date. I don't think I met him that day, I actually don't remember when we officially met, but he hung out with a lot of my friends so it was probably at one of their apartments.

Dan: We met in our ward while we were both at BYU. Neither of us quite remembers our very first impression but I remember being shocked that she wasn't scared when my roommates and I snuck into her apartment and and tried to scare them on their way home from the movies.

2. What do you remember about him?

Dan had a good sense humor. He is an amazing teacher. He always walked me (and other girls) home at night if we were leaving a friends apartment late. Dan took frequent naps. He really got to know people.

Dan: I remember she seemed very serious. I had also heard that she didn't date anybody under six feet tall.

3. Who asked who out first?

Dan asked me out first. It was an interesting situation because we were friends and hung out all the time. I was weird about the situation because he was my friend and I was afraid of the transition. Dan always claims that the only reason I went out with him is because my other friends told me I should. That wasn't the case, I knew he liked me, I just like to keep all my friends as friends so I just needed a little encouragement that it was a good thing to date him.

Dan had gone to a friends wedding in California and when he got back we were just hanging out with a couple other friends. When I left his apartment my friend told me Dan was going to ask me out. The next night I was over at his place and he basically sat me down and explained that he liked me and he wanted to "go out with me" so I guess that was him asking me out.

Dan: I asked Annie out first but we had been hanging out quite a bit and she had been helping me stretch some nights for quite some time. It was a really weird courtship. It was obvious we were into each other but she was kind of cuckoo about it.

4. Where did you go on your first date?

Our first official date was to Trafalga (miniature golf). It was kind of an awkward situation because it was with a big group of our friends and I guess I didn't know how to act. This goes back to the "I want to go out with you" comment, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT. Did that mean he just wanted to go on a date? (I was pretty sure that wasn't the case...Question #6 will answer that) So were we together like boyfriend/girlfriend? I was always awkward around people on dates, but this with a friend I was dating with All my friends around. I have a picture of all of us on that group date (I don't have a scanner so I can't post it) but we AREN'T even standing next to each other. It looks like he is on a date with another girl. Ironically it was my roommate's sister that I originally said he should date. Over all it wasn't a bad date, I just didn't know what was going on :)

Dan: We went miniature golfing at Trafalgar on our first date.

5. What was your favorite thing to do while dating?

Dan and I would play cards non stop. He had taught me a game called Last Card. It is a lot like Uno, just with playing cards. We would play it for hours and hours. I am horrible at it, even to this day. We didn't keep score normally, you know, 5 games to 3, we kept score by the hundreds. So every time you won 100 games you had 1 point. (Please keep in mind a long game was maybe 5 minutes, most only lasted like 2 minutes). I don't know what is was, but it was our most favorite thing to do and we never go sick of it. Usually the only reason we would stop playing was because Dan would beat me like 20 games in a row and I would throw my cards at him.

Dan: Playing Cards

6. When was your first Kiss?

Ok so let's go back to that first night when he sat me down and we talked and he said he wanted to go out with me. I told him I felt the same way and then he preceded to tell me that if he took me out he would want to kiss me. I said... ok. I am pretty sure his line was something like... well let's try it out now. Then he kissed me. I wasn't the person who just kissed people if I wasn't dating them, that is why there was so much confusion for me on our first date. Typing out our first kiss sounds so cheesy, but it really was cute. I knew he really liked me and he couldn't even wait for our date for him to kiss me.

Dan: We kissed the night I asked her out. It just seemed natural and I am pretty irresistible.

7. Who said I love you first?

Dan did, but once again, there is a lot of background to the story. Dan and I started dating the very end of may. I had gone home for the summer, I came up to visit him once, then came back in the fall. Not too long after I had been back Dan broke up with me. He told me it was to see if he could live without me. Obviously he realized he couldn't, so he wanted to get back together. After much thought, I realized I couldn't resist him so we were together again.

Before Christmas I decided that Dan wasn't the one for me, but I waited until we had both gotten back from Christmas vacation and after new years to break up with him. Dan being the wise person he was he knew that we were meant for each other and did everything in his power to get me back. What did it was a 4 page front and back letter that expressed how he felt about me. I had gone up to my sister's to show her the letter and get some much needed sisterly advise. On my way home either I called him or he called me and we met up at Coney's for lunch. Dan new how much I love ice cream and I had never been there so he said we should go there. I don't remember what we talked about, but when we were leaving we were standing outside in front of our cars and that is when he said I Love You. I looked and him and said something like let's get in the car and talk because it was cold outside. We got in my car and he said it again and that is when I said it back. From that point forward we new we were going to be together forever.

Dan: I'm not sure. I think it was Coney's and I think I said it first.

8. When did you realize you loved him?

I don't remember when it was, but I do remember sitting in the hallway of my apartment talking to my roommate as she was getting ready, telling her about Dan and how I felt. I remember saying to her that I loved him. It was so funny when I said it out loud, I had never said that about anyone before, so it helped me realize that I really did. This was sometime in between our first and second breakup. When the actual saying of I Love You came, I already new that I loved him. It was us saying it to each other signified us both wanting to get married.

Dan: I realized I loved Annie when we were broken up the second time. I was ruined and I knew that, although it didn't make sense to either of us, I loved her.

9. How did he Propose?

Dan is such a wonderful person and now that I am typing out the events leading up to us being married, I realize more and more that I am so lucky to have found someone who can put up with my craziness.

We had been talking about getting married for awhile. I was going home to California to babysit for the family I nannied for each summer. I had mentioned that I REALLY wanted the ring before I left so when I went home I could show everyone. I was flying home on Thursday March 23rd. Tuesday March 21st I was at Dan's intramural basketball game and after it he asked if I wanted to go to dinner the next night. Sounds innocent enough except Dan NEVER plans ahead. So by him asking me to go to dinner, and it being the night before I was leaving, I knew it was going to be "the night". I ran home and told my roommate that Dan was going to propose the next night. While I was at class the next day she, unbenowst to me, went over to his apartment to see if it was true and to look at the ring. Finding out that I knew he quickly came up with a plan to throw me off.

So I get all ready for the big night. Trying not to show my excitement I go to his apartment. Walking in I don't find him looking great and excited to go to dinner like I expected, I find him IN BED ASLEEP!!! He "woke up" when I opened his door. Now trying not to show my shock and confusion and ask him if he was ok and if we were still going to dinner. He simply replied sure if you still want to. OF COURSE I DID... I WANTED TO GET ENGAGED. So we headed to Goodwood BBQ, a favorite restaurant. I tried as hard as I could to be pleasant, but I know I wasn't. I was just so sad that it wasn't going to happen. Finally at the end of dinner I apologized for being rude all night and confess that I thought he was going to propose. Just as I was finishing putting my foot in my mouth the waiter came up and asked if I had lost a ring. (A month before when we had gone there for dinner I had actually lost a ring there) I said yes, completely confused. Had they actually found my ring? Was this Dan proposing? The waiter handed me a box and said maybe this is it. I opened the box to find a beautiful sparkling diamond ring inside.

I am sure I started to ramble on about how sorry I was for being rude at dinner, how excited I was, asking if this was this for real, etc when Dan grabbed the box, ring still inside, and headed for the door. I jumped up and ran after him. We got into his car and he said I could only have the ring if I could guess the actual location he wanted to officially propose at before we reached our apartments. In disbelief I just started to name every place under the sun that I could think we had ever been together. We were getting closer only blocks from our apartments and I still hadn't guessed. I am sure I just started to beg for my ring because I couldn't think of anymore places, and that is when he pulled over to the side of the road and I knew exactly where we were.

The summer I had gone home after we had just started to date I came up for a visit. We had plans to go to a movie, but we didn't get but a few blocks when Dan's car died. We sat out in the 100 degree weather just talking and playing cards waiting for the tow truck to come. He said it was here that he realized how much he liked me so this was the spot he took me back to, to propose. So there on the side of 350 N kind of across from the Gold's on 9th with cars driving by, people jogging and walking around, Dan got down on one knee in the street and proposed. It was the sweetest moment of my life.

Dan: I proposed to Annie in March of 2006 and It was two part. She had lost a ring at Goodwood BBQ a few months earlier and so I gave the ring to the restaurant manager and had him come up to us a dinner and ask if she had lost a ring. Annie assumed I was proposing so I had to act like I wasn't and she was visibly ticked off. I didn't actually propose there though. I made Annie guess where I was going to actually propose and said if she didn't get it I wouldn't propose. I ended up proposing on the side of the road by the Gold's Gym near our apartment complex. I had broken down there when we were dating and Annie had such a good attitude about it that it really endeared her to me and I realized she was a woman I could marry.

10. What do you remember about your wedding day?

There were a million little things that went wrong, but none of that even mattered. It was the most perfect day of my life. I enjoyed every minute of it. I married that man I love, I had all my friends and family around me on the most specially day of my life, and my parents throw the best reception ever. I always tell my dad if he ever want to pay for another one, I wouldn't mind and Dan and I will get married again :)

Dan: I remember our wedding day being hot! In fact, I was just thinking about it recently. It was disgustingly hot. I also remember how pretty Annie looked. I think women who get dolled up for weddings usually make themselves look ugly but Annie was stunningly beautiful. I was very releaved and being married to her felt quite natural. I also remember the "world's colliding" feeling with my family and hers and my friends and hers.

I tag anyone who wants to do it. It is fun and I love reading everyone's stories. Just so you know it is just suppose to be from your prospective, but if you can get your husband to do it too I would recommend it. (If it weren't for Valentine's Day and my constant asking Dan probably wouldn't have done it) Good Luck!