so i laughed when he pretty much changed his mind, asking little bekah-boo to be his valentine, hugging me at the kitchen sink wondering if i'll be his valentine too, and most of all, writing all about twoo wuv on his blog. that's not boycotting even a little bit.
i myself happen to enjoy any opportunity to be silly and celebrate. and of course i'm going to live it up with the kids. daniel and i stayed up late making valentines for his kindergarten class on thursday night. we've been shooting pretend cupid arrows at each other all morning too. and the kids even had toomuchcandytummyaches this morning. i kind of like the eat it all up and let it be gone approach to sweets.
and now i feel inclined to write about james like he wrote about me, or rather Us. so i'll use the same questionaire he did. if you want to read his post, as i refer to it here as if you have, see it here.
How long have you been together? i'll just leave james' answer here, since it's the same as mine "Almost ten years. We started dating at the end of April 1999."
Where did the two of you meet?
we were missionaries for the lds church in southern chile. as our families only lived a forty-minute drive apart, i find it amusing that we travelled hundreds of miles to meet someone that was so close.
What was the first thought that went through your head when you first met him?
i don't recall a particular thought. he hadn't stood out as any different from the rest of the sea of elders until he asked to borrow my guitar for a talent show. i remember her played a chilean song i hadn't heard before ("quien es la que viene ahi") and "who's gonna ride your wild horses" by U2, which i approved of. but if somone had told me i was meeting my future husband i would have raised my eyebrows.
Do you remember what he was wearing?
missionary garb: white shirt, tie, slacks.
Who asked whom out?
he surprised me by sending me a letter before i was home from the mission telling me he had always been "in love with (my) voice" and that we should "get together" when we were both back in utah. as james mentioned, he had called my parents before i arrived, so my dad teased me about the boy who had already called at the airport on friday. i didn't want to seem too eager, but after that i decided to wait only a couple of days (sunday) before calling him. our first date was a week after my arrival. and he asked me out.
When was the first time you realized you liked him?
the moment i read his letter. i had always admired him as a missionary, but hadn't spent much "extracurricular" thought on him until that moment.
Where was your first date?
i'll correct him here, i didn't drive up, he drove his dad's suv to my parents place and picked me up. we drove to his house where we waited for his chilean friend, who never showed, then went to the mexican restaurant, then hung out with doug, his best friend, who also tagged along when james drove me home. they spent the whole drive home talking about how much they loved U2.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
about a year, as acquaintances i guess.
Where was the first time you kissed?
in my car outside of the jordan river temple, right after we decided to get engaged.
How long did it take to get serious?
not long enough. we'd dated for two weeks when he opened up the "i like you do you like me?" conversation. two weeks later we were engaged. whew!
How did he propose to you?
well, first he wrote me an email telling me how he felt about me. i don't remember exactly what he said (though we have all our emails saved somewhere) but i'm pretty sure he conveyed the idea that he felt our relationship could lead to marriage. i reciprocated in kind and we agreed to go to the temple to contemplate it together. as we were sitting on the loveseat in the celestial room, looking at the upside-down reflection of our feet in the mirrored coffee table before us, he said these words: "so, when should we get married?" to which i replied something along the lines of "august sounds pretty good" (a date which i had rejected earlier as being "too soon"... i was right, but things have worked out anyway. ;) ) james followed this conversation by romantically suggesting he suck a whole in his altoid to make an engagement ring for my finger.
and you know, i have never wished for things to have gone differently. i love it that our engagement, like so much of our marriage and life together, was somewhat reckless and spontaneous... and not romantic in a traditional sense. his silly idea for the altoid ring absolutely charmed me at the time. so, which of us is goofier?
Do you have any children together?
for two regular looking people, we have made two exquisitely beautiful children so far. a boy and a girl.
Pets?
well, james wants a black lab and a german shepherd and a cat. i also want a dog and a cat, but not the same kinds. i am fond of really big dogs that don't bark too much. i don't know enough about dogs to really say what kinds would suit me the best, but i fantasize about a st. bernard or a great dane (i meant it when i said really big, you see). i also think beagles are really cute. my only specification for a cat is that it be a cuddly nice one, not a mean neurotic one like the one we had a few years ago, which is now thriving at my in-laws' house. i also would like to have other pets, though not all at once: fish, finches, hermit crabs, and guinea pigs.
Did you go to the same school?
one. i went to lots of schools, but we graduated from the same school: brigham young university. i with my bs and he with his ba and ma.
Are you from the same home town?
no, but the same home state, a few cities apart.
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
probably a little mexican restaurant close to our house: el rodeo. we also frequent the loveless cafe, the cracker barrel, wolfgang puck's, and a family owned italian place: caeser's. carrabas is a romantic favorite.
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
don't know which is actually the furthest, but we have traveled back to southern chile together; sao paolo, brazil; portugal; and madrid, spain together.
Who has the worst temper?
we just have different things that light our fuses. so i ignite quicker than he does on some issues and vice versa with other issues.
Who does the cooking?
mostly we don't cook, which is kind of lame. nobody should have to survive on cereal alone. we go through phases of cooking. we both really like it under unpressured circumstances.
Who is more social?
probably james, because i need alone time a LOT more than he does. but we are both really social in different ways. we complain about the other's lack of interest in activities we want to do.
Who is the neat-freak?
neither of us. we live like slobs. i crave cleanliness but can't keep up with the mess produced by the four human beings in our family.... but i suppose i do the most cleaning between the two of us.
Who is the more stubborn?
again, we're stubborn in different ways about different things. i am quietly stubborn unless james pushes me too hard. he is vocally stubborn... and i don't push him nearly hard enough.
Who hogs the bed?
james.
Who wakes up earlier?
with no obligations or alarm clocks, james, hands down. but currently i have earlier obligations than he does, so, me.
Who has the bigger family?
james, by one.
How do you spend the holidays?
together in semi-planned chaos.
Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
i see us still together, fighting over some of the same things, probably making some of the same jokes, living in a home that we own, developing hobbies that haven't occured to us yet along with the old ones, and hopefully able to travel.
we better have been to barcelona by then.
