Marital Bliss

I saw this on one of Katie's relatives blogs, so if you read this, then you have to do it yourself, so TAG You are IT!

1. Where did you meet your husband? What was the first thing you said to him?

Since Gary and I offically met when we were two, I don't remember. I do remember when I saw him for the first time, when he got home from his mission. It was at church. He was sitting on the back row reading his scriptures, preparing for his talk. I remember I was wearing this cute outfit and he was in his suit. I walked up to him and said hi, how are you, glad your back, etc, etc. It was a short conversation. Nothing to tp write home about. I had been kind of interested in someone else at the time, but after seeing Gary, I was infatuated.

2. Where was your first date? Kiss?

Our first date was a dare. Two of my guy friends dared me to ask him out. I was nervous because Gary is kind of shy, and I thought he wouldn't talk! But I did. My friends got dates and we all went and saw that movie with Sylvester Stallone called Driven, corny, but memorable. I don't remember if we went out to eat or anything like that.
The first kiss was a funny story, it was a great moment, but it took Gary forever to kiss me. Our first date was in April, and our first kiss was July 14th! I totally remember the date because I had waited so darn long. I was NOT going to make the first move, but he finally kissed me! I house sitted for this older couple and they have an amazing house!!! I asked them if I could make my boyfriend dinner there, so they said sure, we had a great evening and then while we were watching a movie, he finally kissed me! It was great!

3. Long or short courtship?

In the LDS world I would say long, in the real world I would say average-short. We dated from April to December, then got married the following June. And since we have known each other since we were 2, i would say we have had a pretty good foundation. I tell Gary that is why we get along so great, we have been through primary, mutual, backpacking trips and even mr hogwood mechanical drafting class together! Crazy!

4. Where did you get engaged?

After I was done teaching for the semester, Gary asked me to go to San Fran for the day, see the sites there, go to dinner and see the lights at the Oakland temple. We had a great day. It rained off and on. It was pouring by the time we got to the temple, we still got out and looked at the lights. So romantic. There is an area were you can look out over the whole bay area (beautiful!) so there is where he asked me. He started by saying, that he had two early christmas presents for me, I was wondering where he was keeping them, because they weren't in the truck. So he said, the first was Will you marry me and the second was to go pick out a ring. I was so surprised (we hadn't talked about marriage at all yet) so the first words out of my mouth were, "Are you serious?" He says yes and I said yes too! It was great! It was about 6 pm when we were at the temple, so from there to tracy were decided on a date, and then went to the West valley mall and picked out the ring. This was Dec 22, a Saturday. I was so exxcited but he wanted to talk to his parents that night, so we decided not to say anything until he talked to my dad after church. So when I got home at 8:30 and went straight to bed, to avoid confrontation, my family knew something was weird! Sunday was the Christmas sunday in our ward, I was Mary in the program, so saying my lines was a little hard because I was so giddy. He talked to my dad after church. we picked up the ring on Christmas eve. I made him ask me again with the ring. My mom and grandma just got their rings and put them on, no fancy proposals, so I wanted to be asked and given my ring! Gary was amazing, it was what I dreamed of!

5. How did the wedding and reception go?

It was great! Everything went so well! It was an amazing day. We had only one drawback, my brother was fighting the Ojeh fire in So Cal, and couldn't make it. We even brought his tux to the temple, just in case he made it.

6. How was the honeymoon?

Our honeymoon was a trip of a life time. Since we both had jobs we decided to have an expensive honeymoon. We went to Hawaii for 10 days. We did everything, hiked, kayaked, took a helicopter ride, went snorkeling, went on a day cruise, went boogie boarding, took surfing lessons. It was awesome. We spent a week in Kauai and 3 days in Oahu. By the time we got to Oahu, we were tired! We saw the sights, Pearl harbor, PCC and laid on the beach for the rest of the time. But I am so glad we did it. It was the best!

I love you Gary. You are an amazing husband and father. I couldn't ask for more. I am glad I get to spend eternity with you!