Our Dating Story

My friend Katie over at The Layton Family did this meme the other day so I thought that I would play along.

1. Where did you meet your husband? I met Shawn at a Country Dance for Y.S.A. (Young Single Adults – what the church calls the unmarried ages 18-30) I had sworn that I would never go to one ever again, but ended up there on a fluke. I had invited a friend, Jason, from my World Religions class to go out with me and my friends. He had just moved here from out of state, and didn’t really know many people. That night everything that we had planned fell through the floor! My friends had family emergencies, and then the Swing Dance (40’s swing..Yay!) had been cancelled. The country dance was the LAST RESORT….that is what I call divine intervention! Hee hee.
2. What was the first thing you said to your husband? The usual “Hello.” He passed me on the dance floor while I was making my way to the drinking fountain. I must have made an impression because he turned around, and asked me to dance.
3. Where was your first date? Our first date was to Sandolo’s Restaurant. It is a really fancy Italian restaurant in Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch. It has singing waiters, and at the end of your meal they give you vouchers to go on a gondola ride. Shawn borrowed his Aunt’s fancy shamcy car (his car was terrible! It was so loud that it would set off alarms as he drove past, and the AC reeked of exhaust). He had a Martina McBride CD on the seat of the car when I got in. (Our song was/is “I Love You – from Runaway Bride). We ate and then went on the gondola ride. The “driver” even let Shawn sing me a serenade. It was so romantic. I melt whenever I hear my honey sing. He has the most beautiful voice.
4. Where was your first kiss? It happened to be on our first date (yeah, I am that easy- just kidding) After our romantic evening he brought me by Keaton Allen’s house. Keaton was going to BYU at the time, but was supposed to be coming into town that night. Shawn wanted me to meet him. We ended up waiting on his front lawn for him to come home. That is when Shawn kissed me. Turns out Keaton was there all along, but had fallen asleep before we got there. I think that Shawn planned it that way.
5. How long did you date? It was relatively short. In fact I don’t know when we were “officially” dating, but from the time we met to the time we were engaged was about 3 months.
6. Did you have a long or a short engagement? Our engagement was short too. We were married 3 months later. So by then we had really only known each other for 6 months!
7. Where did you get engaged? At the Pueblo Stake Center! Sounds kinda silly right, but it wasn’t. At the time I was the Stake YSA rep, and helped to plan activities for us singles. We had a TRI-Stake Talent Show that was held at the Pueblo Stake Center. Shawn had somehow gotten ahold of the MC of the show, and arranged to be the last number. He called me up there and sang a song that he wrote about how we met, and then proposed. From there he took me to Keaton’s house (using his Aunt’s car again – this time I got Faith Hill’s Breathe CD) where there was a quilt on the lawn with a dozen roses, and a letter he had written me.
8. When and Where were you married? We got married on February 26, 2000 in the Mesa Arizona Temple.
9. How did the reception go? The reception was wonderful. It was also at the Pueblo Stake Center. I wasn’t part of that stake, but it turned out to be totally appropriate. That was where we met (the country dance was held there that night), where we got engaged, and then ended it with the reception. It was perfect in my mind. We had plenty of friends and family to celebrate the occasion, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
10. How was the honeymoon? The honeymoon was wonderful. We went to Spain where Shawn had served his mission. I had never left the country and it was so nice to have a personal tour guide. Shawn had only been off his mission for about 9 months so everyone that he had taught, and knew was still where he left them. It was so fun to meet them all. We were mainly in the Madrid metro area, but one of Shawn’s investigators got us a ticket on a bullet train to go south to Seville and then arranged to drive us to other southern parts of Spain. I loved every minute of it. Spain is definitely overlooked when it comes to visiting Europe. I can’t wait to go back again!

I would love to read about more dating stories...so I "tag" everyone that reads this!