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.

Snippets and Stories

Oooooh heeeeyyyy. Remember how I have a blog? Yeah...me neither apparently.There is so much that I want to catch up on that I figured I would do it as part of the obligatory "Year in Review" post (with only part of it being an actual review).

So to review the first half of the year when I actually kept up with our lives..

I discovered exactly how much I love my little rat-dog during this occurrence. I also had to come to terms with the fact that my hot husband has a baby face and so, much to his dismay, gets flirted with by fourteen year old girls quite often. I admitted that I really am a big science nerd here (but I mean, come on, it is so COOL!).

Dillon and I witnessed some decorative vehicle-lingerie. I reflected a little on the big picture. We discovered that yard-salers can be a little crazy and kinda mean. We continued to date each other. Dillon became a full-fledged engineer. We visited the "Happiest Place on Earth". I learned a very important fact about dairy cows. And I shared exactly how we teachers manage to maintain our sanity here.

And now for the rest of the year. Let me break it down month-by-month.

August
Time for a couple of stories. First, at school we have an emergency shower in the science lab. My first year, not a single student bothered to even notice it. My second year, I had a couple students pull the handle because they were just so darn curious. So at the beginning of this year I thought I would quell that curiosity by being all "Hey, everyone look at the shower. Let me show you how it works. Fun, huh? Don't touch it unless you're on fire, deal?" Instead it went more like, "Hey look at this. (Pulls handle with bucket underneath). Uh...awesome (as water shoots OUT as well as down)." And then I think it must be a timed shower. It's not. So I pull the handle again, thinking that will turn it off. It didn't. So then I sat there all drenched watching as the lab is slowly flooded. My co-worker heard the noise and came over asking about the situation to which I intelligently replied, "Oh ya know, I don't know how to turn it off." She thought I was being incredibly calm. Really I was just being an incredible struggler. My brain doesn't exactly hop to solutions in emergency situations. But all was taken care of. The kind hearted head custodian came squeegee equipped and cleaned it all up; and then proceeded to show me three alternate ways to turn off the shower. Definitely one of my finest moments.

My skirt about two hours after some dry-time.

Second story. One night, Dillon and I were sleeping pleasantly side-by-side when all of the sudden he started flailing and freaking out. I rolled over to ask him what was up when his arm gave a final flick and a mouse landed on my face, specifically my lips. Take a second, read it again. ON MY LIPS. I sat up with an unearthly screech and felt that wretched little creature run down the length of my body and off of the bed, and then smacked Dillon and yelled, "What did you just do?!" He responded with a very coherent, "Wha? Wha?" Apparently, he wasn't awake for his spaz attack but his subconscious took care of that mouse running all over his body. I filled in him (in very nice, dulcet tones obviously), "You threw a mouse on my face. On.My.Face. I'm not sleeping in here!" I gave my face a thorough scrub and we slept in our front room after setting some traps. It was a traumatizing experience to say the least.

September
My classes did a few slime labs so I decided to make some to bring home to Dillon.

 Look! So dendritic! Who knew food coloring would act like that?

  

Dillon's mom turned fifty so all of his siblings and their families went up North to hang out with her and celebrate her birthday. The main event was Hogle Zoo.

The nieces and nephew. So perfectly sums up each of their personalities.

It rained for a bit while we were there so we all found our way to take cover.

Once the rain stopped we finished up seeing all of the creatures.

And then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's (Did you guys know it was Chuck E. Cheese's? My whole life I just thought it was Chuck E. Cheese.) This is how we felt about it..

Too many bodies, not enough space.

It was also Steve's (Dillon's dad) 50th birthday so we all made a second trip up North. This time to hang out at Boondocks which was a blast.

October

Halloween finally started growing on me this year. Once I became too old for trick-or-treating Halloween became kind of lame to me. I'm not too into the scary/gory side of things but the cutesy things are becoming more fun. This year we went to the Staheli Family farm with Steph and Austin. I think it will be on our tradition list.

We also had a Halloween movie night with a little Halloween treat (thanks again, Pinterest).

My mom's office always dresses up for Halloween and visits the schools. This year they did a Duck Dynasty theme. My kiddos loved it. 

My madre's on the far left

November

November was a pretty big month for us. We made some big life changes. First, we bought my Grandpa's house.

It was such an ideal situation. We ended up going through a title company and set everything up so that we pay my Grandpa directly. No loan needed.

We also had a situation where this...

Led to this...

I love this new car! I'll tell you though that people were real quick to make Dillon and I feel bad for this purchase. That part I did not love. I think people find it hard to believe that we can jump into a house payment and a new car payment without starving to death. Being a young couple, I know that our situation is not typical. We're blessed. Plain and simple.

I also got new bangs, which is clearly also a big life changer.

December
December was full of fun as it always is. I found time to get decorations up early enough to actually enjoy them this year.

My parents came over after my mom's Christmas work party. My dad won fish during the white elephant activity. He was just going to leave them in a bag outside and let them freeze but my mom told him that was mean so he decided to come to our house and feed them to Little Buddy. Little Buddy just stretched out his neck, checked the fish out, and then went about his business. The next morning he was as interested as ever in his food pellets and the fish were swimmin' around. I guess we have new pets. **Update, we've gone from four fish to two so maybe Little Buddy is just biding his time. Poor fish**

We went up to Temple Square. Dillon had never been and every year we say we'll go but don't end up doing it. A few things we learned: don't go on a weekend, don't go the same night/time as a Jazz game, smile and enjoy it even as people are shuffling you around in their hurry to get from one end to the other.

We went to a couple good movies. I saw Frozen with the middle schoolers right before the break and immediately decided that Dillon needed to see it too. And I maybe downloaded the soundtrack. Worth it.

Dillon very nicely obliges me through all the chick-flicks and kid movies that you could imagine so I definitely owed him a trip to this movie. And I actually like it. It's my favorite out of all the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movies. I didn't even start counting all of the ways the movie could have been shorter during this one. That's a success for me. And I also downloaded this song after the movie. But seriously, listen to it and then try to tell me it's not a beautiful song.

Christmas Day! The best day of the year. Dillon and I checked out our stockings. My favorite is the teeny frying pan that is perfect for one egg. I eat eggs all the time just to use it. I think Dillon's favorite was the fruitcake. (He always wants to try it so this year I got him a miniature one. He was so excited..until he actually tried it. It's super gross. So he says).

Our presents to each other. Dillon: tie, shoes, Star Wars, Xbox game, and giftcard. DaNae: new slippers (49ers of course since Dillon got to pick), comfy boots, sparkly bobs, shower gel and Hart of Dixie season 1.

We then had our scrumptious traditional biscuits 'n gravy breakfast, and started a new tradition of building a Rice Krispie Holiday Train. It was so easy and way more fun than a gingerbread house. Those cookie homes always frustrate me. They never turn out how I want them to and usually fall apart. This train on the other hand came with a fool proof kit and guide (makes sense since I'm pretty sure it's made for five year olds). 

After that, we headed over to my parents to spend time with family. These cute miniature humans came with their parents to open their presents and entertain us.

We also had an early Christmas with Dillon's family which I have just now noticed I took no pictures of. We went to Delta the weekend of the 20th where we got to go to the Firemen dinner Friday night and spend time with Dillon's family all the next day. They all got us much requested Home Depot giftcards (as did my family) which we are excited to put toward some small scale home remodeling.

That's all folks!

Tonight Dillon and I are going to consider our New Year's resolutions, maybe more vigilant blogging should go on my list.

A Thanksgiving Birthday

So many things to catch up on. So SO many things to catch up on. But first! 

It was this guy's birthday on Thanksgiving.

My other big brother. I definitely don't let him know how I feel about him often enough. I'm proud of him. That simple sentence doesn't really explain it like I would like it to but, I am seriously so proud of him. He's had setbacks and trials that no one would be envious of. He's also persevered and overcome a lot of that.  (He'll probably laugh or think I'm nuts when I say this but...) I really think he must be one of God's warriors because I tell you, Mr. Lucifer would be happy to bring him down.

A small bragfest...

He's taught me a lot about what it means to be compassionate. He has a big heart and does a lot to care for and include those who others may deem "the little people". 

He has an incredible work ethic- ask any of his former employers. He gets in and gets it done.

He is a big softy. He would rather hang out with little kids than anyone else. He's pretty good at spoiling the kiddos in his life.

He is an awesome cook! As in...I'm completely jealous of his innate knack to be able to throw things together and make it taste delicious.

Happy Birthday, Devan! I love ya! And remember, the people that matter know what kind of person you are and what you are capable of. Keep on keepin' on.