marriage meme

all this talk about love & marriage reminded me that lindsey had tagged me for this marriage meme.... so here it goes.

where did you meet your husband?
i met my husband at sundance. it was the semester after i had graduated from college & i was avoiding life in the "real world" by teaching snow boarding. jeff was another one of the instructors & we kind of hit it off. although, if you were to ask jeff this same question, he would have a totally different answer. according to him, he first saw me at a local snow board shop that he worked at. a girl i knew worked there, so i had stopped in to say hi. after i left the shop jeff started quizzing her about me... he decided to apply for a job up at sundance after finding out i worked there. (good thing i didn't find this out until after he had swept me off my feet, otherwise i think i might have been a little freaked out!)

what was the first thing you said to your husband?
i have absolutely no idea. probably "hi." sometimes i'm not exactly outgoing, especially in big groups (like a bunch of new snow board instructors). i tend to get pretty shy and quiet. to be totally honest, i was probably intimidated my jeff, because i was pretty intimidated by all the other snowboard instructors working at sundance. they were all really good at snowboarding, and i wasn't. i'd bet money that i wasn't hired so much because of my skills on the mountain, but because i was a girl.

where was the first kiss? First date?
i have to admit it wasn't love at first sight, at least for me. at the time, i had an on again off again boyfriend (that my family absolutely hated), & a couple of other boys on the side, that were keeping me entertained. so jeff and i started out as just friends, but he quickly became my best friend. before i knew we were hanging out all of the time. we drove to work together, did a lot of snowboarding, ate almost all of meals together, watched movies every night... we were pretty much inseparable. but it's not like we ever really went on a first date. i don't think he ever even asked me out on a date, we just were always together.

i'm the first to admit that when it came to boys, i was clueless. my roommates were always telling me that jeff liked me, but i never believed it, we were just friends. or at least that's what i thought. then one night, while we were watching the movie blast from the past, jeff turned toward me & kissed me. from there on out, i was smitten.

did you have a long or short courtship/engagement?
we met in january of 2000, started kissing in late february of that same year, got engaged in april of 2001 & we finally tied the knot august 11, 2001. i don't really know if that is long or short. compared to a lot of people i know, it's a long courtship, but then, i also know people who are engaged for years!

where did you get engaged?
we spent that first winter working, playing, kissing & doing lots of snowboarding. when summer came, i told him i was moving home to california. so, he followed me. the only problem was that we lived about an hour and half away from each other. so, we spent the next several months shuttling back and forth between our two homes. by christmas time we knew we wanted to get married, but we didn't get engaged until april. after months of planning a wedding that i knew would be happening in august, i started get antsy to get a ring on my finger. finally, one day in april, i came home from work to find jeff's car parked outside my house. because it was the middle of the week, i knew there was only one reason why he would be there... so it really wasn't much of a surprise. i was so excited, i just wanted him to propose there in my living room. but, he knew better. instead he took me to the beach, which is where he finally made it official.

where did you get married?
we got married in the los angeles LDS temple.

How did the reception go?
okay, i'm going to do a bit of bragging here, so i apologize in advance... but, my reception was AWESOME! i absolutely loved every minute of it. i had always imagined my reception being a big party... lots of food, music, surrounded by my nearest & dearest. it was all of that, and so much more.

i grew up in thousand oaks, ca (which is north of LA), jeff is from orange county. so we split the difference & had our reception in marina del rey on a yacht. everything was absolutely perfect. we had a ring ceremony while cruising the harbor during sunset, an intimate sit down dinner & then we danced the night away. i never wanted that night to end, i was enjoying myself so much!

How was the honeymoon?
we spent our first night as husband and wife at the famed beverly hills hotel & then we jetted off to romantic bora bora. we stayed in an over water bungalow with the lagoon at our finger tips. we spent our days relaxing in the sun, feasting on gourmet meals & taking in a few activities... shark feeding, jeep exploration & a catamaran cruise to name a few.

i tag mama jo, kat & anyone who wants to join the fun!