Love Week: Those Three Little Words

As Love Week continues, we're going to share with you our story of saying those seriously big deal words. If you missed our first date story, you can find it here and if you missed our DTR moment you can read about it here.

DaNae's Version:

After becoming "official" Dillon and I spent every moment we could together before he left for Christmas break. It was the longest break evvveerrrr. Nothing like starting a new exciting relationship to stall it for a few weeks. Although he did come back to Cedar for a weekend and I went to Delta for a weekend (where I met his family for the first time which should probably get its own post one of these days).

After the break was over (or maybe during?) we found out that our friends Kurt and Kaylyn had moved up their wedding date to January 16th. As the date drew closer, Dillon and I, and our friend Austin, made plans to leave school early and head down to Arizona for the wedding.

We were pretty enraptured with each other the whole trip, lots of snuggling and sneaking kisses. There was love in the air with it being a wedding. Dillon and I kept whispering to each other, "You make me happy" which, looking back, I'm guessing was our safe way of hinting at those three little words. The whole time we were there- waiting outside the temple, helping decorate for the reception, and all the other inbetweens - everyone kept teasing us about being a next. I think that it kinda caused Dillon to forget how to breathe but I was loving it and soaking it in.

We drove back to Cedar on the 17th and headed to Dillon's apartment to spend even more time with each other because clearly two days in a row was not enough. All of Dillon's roommates were gone. We had the TV on but didn't notice it much. Dillon was talking, I don't remember what he was saying (maybe something about having fun that weekend), when all of the sudden he mumbled, "Because I love you..."

I paused and asked, "What did you say?" Now, I had thought I heard him correctly but I needed to be safe. Let's all take a minute to imagine if I blurted back, "I love you too!" when that wasn't what Dillon had said at all. Collective shudder. Backpedaling. Asking Dillon that question, though, made him nervous and he wouldn't say it again (I'm sure he thought I was freaking out) but I finally coaxed it out of him a second time by telling him that I was pretty sure I knew what he had said. I told him that I loved him too with no hesitation. We had known each other for such a short time but I had fallen for him completely.

(**This is a complete side story but too good not to share. A few weeks after dropping the L-bomb for the first time I was at Dillon's apartment with him watching a movie when I suddenly felt dreadfully sick (I ended up with some vicious combination of the flu and bronchitis which turned into pneumonia). I rushed to the bathroom and threw up pretty violently. Between gasps I heard Dillon say through the door in a comforting voice, "I love you". I had to laugh; what a moment to remind me.)

Dillon's version:

Our friends Kurt and Kaylyn, who set us up on the blind date, were getting married in Arizona on a weekend in January. DaNae and I, plus a few other friends, were going to meet down there the night before the wedding. This was our first road trip together, so we were very excited. Plus our friend Austin volunteered to drive down, so we pretty much hugged and what not in the back seat the whole ride (poor Chauffeur Austin). We took the Vegas route to Mesa and apparently missed an important turn and ended up in Flagstaff. It wasn't a big deal just added an hour to the drive. The day of the wedding was a lot of fun. Outside the Mesa Temple Austin took a lot of pictures of everyone, including a couple of us that are our and our families favorites of the two of us. After the wedding, the reception, and spending the night at Kaylyn's parents house we drove back to Cedar. ( A lot of cuddling again. Did a man just use the word cuddling?) That night we were in my apartment watching movies and talking. I remember telling a hypothetical story to DaNae and at the end I mumbled "Because I love You." Honestly, it kind of slipped out (Even though I did feel that way. I was smitten. I was in deep smit.) and after DaNae replied "What did you say?" I thought "Uh oh! Reel that back in. Told you that you'd screw it up."(see DTR story) So I tried to play it off like I said nothing, but if you know DaNae she is more persistent than that monkey that won't let go of the banana inside the vase even though his hand is stuck. Anyways, she beat me down verbally, so I finally said it louder and she replied "I love you too!" very convincingly. Needless to say I felt very happy and relieved that she felt the same way.(It also shut that stupid voice in my head up for a while.) So we laid on my bed for a long time, both very mutually happy.

Love Week: The DTR Moment

Our second Love Week installment.. If you missed the first one about our first date(s), you can find it here. This second tidbit is about our DTR (or Determine the Relationship) moment which coincidentally is also our first kiss moment.

DaNae's Version:

After our initial dates, Dillon and I made plans for about three more dates- hot tubbing (where I was convinced that he'd wave goodbye after seeing me in all my albino glory), church Christmas devotional, and Monday night football with his man friends- over the course of the next week. Things were going great. No deal breakers had come up. Everything seemed easy and comfortable already.

The night of our fifth date (the Monday night football) Dillon took me to my house and walked me up to my porch. Once we were on the porch he started telling me how much fun he had been having with me over the last couple of weeks. I kept interrupting him like a dork. "Me too!" "I had fun doing that too!" I could tell he was getting flustered with my interruptions so I closed my mouth. He was definitely being fidgety and refused to make eye contact in the midst of his (what I can now assume was a) semi-prepared speech.

As he was winding down he ended with, "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend...". I answered in the affirmative and then he leaned in for a kiss. I had a brief moment where my brain went, "Uh-oh...it's been a while since I've done this. Are my skills gone? It's like riding a bike, right? Guess we'll find out".

We made yet more plans to see each other that week and he hopped in his jeep and drove away. I went inside and flung open my parents bedroom door loudly proclaiming in a singsong voice, "Guess who's got a boooooyyfriiieeeennnnndddd??". Poor souls. I woke them from a deep slumber. They managed a sleep-ridden congratulations and I went downstairs to my room where I'm pretty sure I fell asleep smiling.

Dillon's Version:

For our fifth date I asked DaNae to come to Monday Night Football with my buddies at Ryland's apartment. It had been a tradition for my friends and I to watch every Monday night game and I figured if DaNae could stand to be around me during football she was even more special than I thought. It was the Jets vs. the Patriots and I don't remember much about the game because I was really nervous. I'm not sure when I decided or if I even told anyone, but I decided that that night was the night I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend. Even though this was our fifth date there is always the voice in your head saying " she doesn't like you and even if she does you're gonna screw it up". So after football I dropped her off at her house again. We were on the porch in front of her house. I remember rambling and finally saying "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend?" she said yes so I moved in for a kiss, which was also very nerve racking(remember you're gonna screw it up voice.) It was awesome! I then went to my friend Austin's apartment and told everybody there "I gots a girlfriend." (DaNae here...Dillon thinks it's funny to purposely be grammatically incorrect. I've tried to tell him otherwise to no avail. Sigh.)

Love Week: The First Date(s)

Love week! My friend Elyse, introduced me to the idea of Love Week. Her version of it is what I would like to do in the future but this year I decided to have Dillon and I each share our versions of significant times in the initial stages of our relationship. Today..the first date. This is how we met and this is how we both felt about it. Mine is a typical longer-than-necessary detailed girl version. Dillon's is more straight to the point. I love them both.

DaNae's Version:

My friend Kurt had been pestering me about dating (my dating life in particular, he was engaged) for a few weeks when he asked if I would go to the college dance with a guy he'd set me up with. I was wary to say the least, not exactly eager to jump on the blind-date-horror-story bandwagon. I reluctantly agreed and prayed he would be someone normal that I could have a conversation with.

I told my mom about my upcoming date and we decided that it called for a  new dress (because the only things I had that didn't qualify as simple church wear were prom dresses and that was not happening...and also because my mom always got excited when I had dates..probably because I wasn't exactly a pro-dater during my college life). We took a trip to St. George and decided on a cute black dress, which automatically meant I was going to wear my cute black heels. (Heels generally make me about 6'- 6'1" but I was over having a complex about it. I decided if I guy couldn't handle my height he could move right along..ain't nobody got time for dat. I did find out later that one of the first things Dillon told his mom about me was that I wore really tall shoes..)

Waiting for Dillon to pick me up, my parents tried to insist that I introduce him. "I don't even know him! I can hardly say, 'Hey, we just met but here are my parents" were my expressed feelings I believe. So when Dillon came to pick me up, I opened the door and said something to the effect of, "Hi...those are my parents. Let's go." Real charm right there.

As we rode with the group to Pizza Factory I remember thinking, "He's hot...probably out of my league...was this outfit the best choice?...my hair feels like it's frizzing already...I really don't like dances...hope it goes alright...I'd rather sit and observe than dance...it's awkwardly quiet in this car...oh thank goodness we're at the dinner place..." and a million other first date thoughts.

I knew most of the people in our group so during dinner my naturally sarcastic side came out with a few biting remarks at one of the group members. I noticed Dillon was pretty quiet and thought, "Welp, just ruined the date right there..scared him away with my sarcasm. I should probably reign it in. Maybe I can still convince him I have a nice side."

After dinner, we changed at a friend's apartment and headed to the dance. As we were walking in, my heels became a hindrance in my attempt to elegantly walk down the stairs so Dillon offered me his hand. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, to my surprise, he didn't let go. I smiled to myself and we walked into the dance.

I was nervous about the dance, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of dancing. I really prefer to be an observer but I couldn't do that in this situation so I decided to fake it. Dillon made it so easy. Neither of us were the uninhibited dancing type so we mostly played around. He taught me some basic swing dancing moves. We preferred the slow songs because shuffling in circle was easy.

The whole night, we never stopped holding hands. The conversation was easy. We asked the basics about each other and laughed at our attempts to dance. I was loving it, but that little self-deprecating devil on my shoulder was making me wonder if it was a one night thing...if Dillon was just always this nice to his dates...if this hand-holding, close-dancing business was just some dating etiquette he was following.

When he dropped me off at my door he was friendly but kept his distance. He thanked me for coming and that was that. My first thoughts, "Knew it! He didn't even ask for my number. He must act like that with all of his dates. Well, at least it was fun..but dang it!".

My friend Kurt texted me later that night to ask if there was going to be a second date. I texted back that it didn't seem likely since Dillon didn't ask for my number or anything. So Kurt, being the helpful soul that he is, did some detective work and figured out that both of us had a really good time and that both of us wanted to go out again but Dillon had wussed out (his words) when it came to asking me for my number.

Our friends set-up a second group date. Dinner and movie. While at the movie Dillon held my hand the whole time again and the voice in my head was all, "Dude! You're messing with my head! If you're this attached to my hand, you better be this attached to me too. No more hand-holding dating etiquette." But at the end of this date, Dillon asked for number and we actually set-up our third date for later that week. We both had finally figured out that the other was just as into us as we were into them..and.it.was.awesome.

Dillon's Version:

I was set-up on a blind date by my friend Kaylyn and her fiance at the time Kurt, and all they told me was her name, DaNae. The 3 of us went to pick her up at her house, and I remember waving very quickly at her parents as she ran out the door. I also remember thinking "oh a pretty redhead". We then went as a group to the pizza factory and ate. After eating we went to Kaylyn's apartment to change for an SUU dance (like highschool but in college) while DaNae left the room to change Kurt and Kaylyn held their thumbs up signaling a question as to whether or not they did good. I gave a double thumbs up back and nodded yes (apparently they did the same to DaNae who responded in kind). We went to the dance and I held her hand pretty much the rest of the night. We also danced although I am jealous how good of dancer Kevin James is which tells you how bad I am at dancing. However, DaNae was on drill team in High School and could move. After not scaring her away by my pathetic dancing, I took her home. I was never good at the end of the night thing (do I go in for a hug? handshake? is she fiddling with her keys? when was the last time I had a mint?) that combined with the fact that she was pretty and also intimidating made me think "oh she was just being nice"(a common thought for me and other men/boys) . At her front door I folded like a lawnchair, and gave her a hug and left (without her #). Later that week I talked to Kurt found out she did like me, and we set up a 2nd date. At the end of that date I made damn sure to get her number the 2nd time.