I love my family!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Life is Beautiful (Part 3)

So. The Big Mo.

Before Steven came, I was gathering everything I could think of that we might need: the cooler of snacks, drinks and games; some blankets; the radio; the beach umbrella; duct tape; a length of rope... Steven arrived while I was still running around gathering. He met Mom and whichever of my siblings were around (just the youngest four, I think... ) and without too much of a delay we got all the stuff packed up into his truck (after first taking out the small grill and leaving it by our garage) and headed off. We stopped for batteries and some Little Caesar's pizza (Mmm, I know a lot of people think Little Caesar's is gross, but I like it.) and hopped on over to York street, which we followed all the way to the Big Mo.

On the way we talked about the Valley of the Sheep, making yummy food, how much we were going to miss each other at school, how BYUI isn't so unbearably cold if you have someone to snuggle with (here Steven fluttered his eyelashes at me and I'm pretty sure my heart missed a beat), how Steven was planning already to transfer down to BYU, and lots of other things, I'm sure. We were so busy talking we missed the Big Mo because there wasn't a line of cars and had to do a U-turn.

Once inside, we set laid out the blankets, coolers, pizza, ukelele, radio, and whatever else we had out in the truck bed and climbed in (turns out we forgot the duct tape underneath the blankets and Steven sat on it, thinking it was a cup holder, the whole night long), ate some pizza, and pulled out Mind Trap. Steven wasted no time in putting his arm around me (WOOHOO!), and I scooted a little closer. While we were playing (well, I was mostly just listening and being amazing by Steven puzzling out the puzzles, because he's brilliant) a news reporter came up and asked if he could take pictures and a quote for his piece on the Big Mo. So we did. (I tried to search for it online, later, but whatever small-town paper he was writing for must not have had a website. Bummer! I should've asked to be emailed the photos or something, that would've been really cool.)

We also started finding shapes in the clouds while we were waiting.  We saw dragons, ships, snakes, Pokémon, a baby (when Steven pointed it out I raised my eyebrows a little, thinking 'he's thinking about that already?! Whoa, now!'), a clown, and some cotton balls. When I pointed out the Pokémon that looked like Moltres, I mentioned that my favorite Pokémon were actually the Eevee evolutions and Ninetales, and Steven's were too! He wondered how exactly he'd found me again, and I told him that he hadn't found me, I'd found him, since I was the one who prompted the phone number exchange. Then he told me that he'd actually seen me before, and thought I was so pretty that he wouldn't have a chance.

Silly boy. Wonderful, marvelous Steven.

Once the movies started, we snuggled up and had fun just watching and laughing together. The first movie was Ice Age 4, then intermission, then Spiderman! I thought it was pretty cute the way Steven was geeking out. :D We didn't rush packing up and were just about the last ones out of the Big Mo, getting back to my house in the wee early hours of the morning. We kept talking about all sorts of things, like stars, simplicity, trust... and when we pulled up to the house, we still just sat there, talking. And I was sitting on the edge of my seat, knowing that I had to get out, but I really didn't want to get out, and over the course of the night I'd started to really want to kiss Steven. Sitting there, looking at Steven, and thinking to myself that since it hadn't happened already it wasn't going to happen on this date, when all of a sudden Steven sees me looking as asks "What??" I was a little startled, I hadn't realized what the expression on my face must look like, and so I gave the first answer that came to mind, a very shy, slightly embarrassed, "Nothing..." But Steven, being a wonderfully observant man, took a moment and then replied, "Would you like a goodnight kiss?" and I said, in an even higher voice  than before, "Yeah?" So, I leaned in.. and kissed his chin. OOPS. I leaned back, slightly panicked. What had just happened and what do I do NOW? Happily, Steven said something along the lines of 'now hang on, let's do this right' and really kissed me. Ahhh, bliss. (I found out later Steven had meant a peck on the cheek when he had offered the goodnight kiss, but thank goodness he's flexible!)

After we'd kissed, Steven and I started talking again. (Which is something that I haven't ever really been able to do with anyone before, just talk and talk about anything and everything openly and freely) And Steven told me I'd inspired him, and by that point I was a goner. The romantic in me was swooning, and I was smitten. After another few minutes about talking, we got out of the car, snapped a quick picture together, and carried all of the stuff inside. We forgot, however, to put the small grill back in Steven's truck. One more kiss, we said our goodnights, and Steven drove away.

I was pretty tired, and once I got back inside, I floated to the couch or my bed or somewhere and thought happily of the pool party and seeing Steven again in the morning, and feel into sweet dreams and a deep sleep.


To be continued! :)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Life is Beautiful (Part 2)

So, the next week began a very large snowball effect. After dogwalking Saturday, I saw him briefly again Sunday at YSA FHE and Tuesday at Institute. That Sunday at FHE, I don't remember all of our conversation, but I remember that he remembered my birthday, including the year. I think that might've been the Sunday I teased him about being older than I am, but that might've been a later Sunday.

Anyways, that Tuesday I saved a seat for Steven next to me (which I had tried to do the week before, too, but it hadn't worked) and he told me he had some good news, and some bad news. Completely unsure of what to expect, I asked for the bad news first. The bad news was that he'd be leaving earlier than he'd previously thought, and that he wouldn't be here for my birthday. (I was speechless, and touched that missing my birthday meant something to him, because I hadn't even really made that connection yet.) The good news was that we'd be able to put blankets and stuff in the truck bed for the Big Mo. (I'd already asked Mom if I could borrow one of the extra mattresses in the attic, but she'd said no. So I didn't bring it up, but just sort of laughed.) Later, probably about halfway through the lesson, Brother Tuckfield drew a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on the board, and I asked Steven if he'd ever seen the Lights at Temple Square. He hadn't, and I told him that next time he flew home for Christmas to stay in Salt Lake for a night and go see the Lights. He asked if I would be in Utah at that time, and when I said yes, he marked it off on his calendar. It was a good night. :)

(I might as well admit that I was finding it more and more difficult to push myself at work. Not only because now I had other things I'd rather spend all day thinking about, but because I'd realized I'd been looking at the problem wrong, and I needed to do a lot of stuff over again. As it turns out, I never did figure it out completely.... I hope I left enough notes and calculations that they could tell I was trying, even if I still don't know where the ideal place for the supports are. So many variables... and I'm still trying to figure out the rules.)

Meanwhile, this week was also the week of the LDS Augusta Stake Girls' Camp, and Steven had briefly mentioned that he'd be going up with his dad on Thursday to be on Priesthood Duty. I thought about it allll week, because I was planning to go up with Audrey Thursday night and pick up Kylie so she could make it to an early morning doctor's appointment Friday morning. And then Friday was the day we'd picked for our Big Mo date (I'd texted Steven after flipping through my planner and realizing that it was the only Friday I had unbooked until I went back to BYU) and then Saturday was another YSA activity, and Sunday was YSA FHE. I would get see Steven four days in a row. Whoa!!

I carpooled with Audrey, and we made some new friends along the way, thanks to some car troubles. (that were unexpected but not unrealistic, because her car had been struck by lightning earlier in the week. She teased me that it was because she set me up with Steven.) We got there pretty late, after the testimony meeting had already started, and we quietly found some space to sit on the ground at the back. I, of course, immediately picked out Steven in the crowd, and almost went and sat down on the ground next to his camp chair, but then decided I didn't want to come across as a stalker. Partway through, I went up to the mess hall and found Sister Koschene making snow cones and stopped to help.  She coyly mentioned that a little bird had told her I'd been on a date with Steven, and so I said yes, and that we already had a date in December, too. I meant our date to go see the Lights. She thought I meant a date to get married, which I quickly realized and corrected.

We finished up the snow cones and got to sit for just a minute before all the girls and guests came up from the testimony meeting. Steven came in, and I smiled and waved. He looked gratifyingly surprised, came over, and gave me a great big bear hug. (It felt so good!!) I met his dad, he met Kylie and Savannah, he helped me help Kylie get her stuff and pack it into Bishop Johnson's car (since Audrey's car was unavailable for the ride home), and said many, many sweet and endearing things... and then we had to part ways for the night.

Next day, I had intended to quilt with Mom in the morning, but it turns out that after I woke up and showered, Mom was in the middle of something. So I thought I'd straighten my hair and then we could get started. But when I straightened my hair, it was waaaay too poofy. So I tried to remember what it was that you rub on your hands and then run through your hair. The first thing that came to mind was olive oil. This was a BAD idea. I remembered afterwards it was hand lotion you were supposed to rub into your hands and then run through your hair. But I thought, "Well, maybe if I towel it off... or blow dry it... or something... then I won't have to totally start over." Turns out, nothing except washing your hair will get rid of the olive oil grease. So, I washed my hair again, blow dried it, straightened it, ran hand-lotioned hands through it, brushed it a lot, and finally decided it was close enough. :3 hehe. I don't remember what time it was when I was finally finished, but it was late enough that there really wasn't a practical amount of time to start quilting. So, I got out the cooler of snacks and drinks I'd put together Monday night (Savannah had laughed at me for doing it so early in advance) and started adding some games to it. After that, I'm not sure what I did. I remember feeling more excited for this date than I did for prom, which is sayin' somethin', because I was pretty darn excited for prom. :)

Anyway, this seems to be a pretty good breaking place. More to come! ;)










Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Life is Beautiful (Part 1)

So, a little less than a month after my last post, my life changed forever. It's a bit of a long story, even though everything happened so quickly...

Skip back just a couple months to Sunday, July 15th. So far my summer had been spent, for the most part, just going to work and finding time in the evenings to catch up with a few friends from high school/USCA. I had been called as the Aiken Ward Young Single Adult Representative several weeks back, and still hadn't been sustained in church. (Or so I thought. Turns out, they'd finally sustained me when our family went to Washington, D.C. for the week of the 4th of July.) I found out there was a YSA committee meeting that evening, the time overlapping with the time of Ben Welker's missionary farewell party. I decided to try to squeeze both in... but I was really late getting from church to the stake center for the YSA meeting. I was stuck outside, with a few other people. One of them was Grandpa Taylor, but he didn't have a key anymore. Thankfully, we finally got someone's attention inside, and we were let in. In fact, I think it was Steven who opened the door. I wasn't paying much attention yet. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Because I was an hour late, the activities had pretty much been completely planned already. But we did talk about maybe having a YSA dance sometime. Me, being me, and always hoping SOMEbody else at a dance knows a thing or two about ballroom dancing, casually asked if anybody happened to know how to ballroom dance and if maybe that could be a part of the dance activity. The brother sitting across the circle from me raised his hand a little and said something along the lines of "yeah, I do, a little, I used to teach..." I was a little bit floored. He was cute, I was pretty sure he'd been the gentleman to hold the door, AND he danced? I was definitely going to have to flirt with this one, maybe even see if I could get a date before I went back to school.

Ha! Boy did I ever.

I think he noticed when I noticed, but I'm pretty sure he dismissed it at first, too. I kept trying to make eye contact and smile, but the fellow who seemed a bit glued to his side was staring, unabashedly, and it's kind of hard to aim a smile with such precision as not to be perceived as smiling at the person right next to the intended recipient. I didn't want to go overboard. This other guy was either zoning out or I must have looked *really* good that day. At the end of the meeting, I was heading back to Aiken for Ben's farewell, and everyone else was heading over to the Criswell home for YSA FHE. Determined to say some sort of friendly goodbye and try to lay a foundation so I could talk to him the next time I saw him, I tried to call out a goodbye... but the other guy carpooled with him... bummer. So I called out a goodbye anyways, and the other guy looked up while he just got into his truck. Man! That backfired. Oops.... ohwell. Whatever.

So I made my way hastily back to Ben's farewell, where Bishop Askew brought up the vast probability that I would be married and might even have a kid by the time Ben got back. I laughed it off. Me? Married and kids within the next two years? Fat chance. I was pretty involved in my schoolwork to have much of a social life, so unless the guys picked up their game (which, I was pretty sure they would once I moved out of Freshmen Housing. Most of the preemies weren't really into dating, after all) and somebody really was interested, I probably wasn't going to get too serious for awhile. The time came to say goodbye, and it was kind of weird to think that I wasn't going to see Ben for two years. That's kind of a long time. Even weirder was the thought that I might have a different last name when he got back. As improbable as it seemed to me at the time, the bishop did have a point. These things do happen. I wondered if I would send him a letter and just sign my new last name, or if I'd mention it only briefly in the letter... or if I wouldn't say anything at all and he'd just find out when he got back? Then I reminded myself that I didn't have to worry about that yet, and I probably wouldn't have to, either. (Ha! Right.)

At some point on Sunday I found out this guy's name. His name is Steven Estep. :) The other guy's name, for reference and to help keep things straight, was Kevin.

The next time I saw Steven was at Institute on Tuesday. I liked his sincerity and his insights. I was still hoping to maybe get a chance to talk to him, but he was gone by the time all the clean up was finished and I looked around for him again. I might've rolled my eyes a little.

The week passed, and Friday night I went to the YSA party at the Criswell home. It was supposed to be a pool party, and we were supposed to all bring a friend, but we got rained out and none of the people I invited ended up being able to make it. But Steven was there, so it was another chance to try to talk to him. Except... Kevin was trying to talk to me. But we played games as a large group and laughed and told jokes and had fun. And then Steven and Kevin left at a decent hour because Steven's responsible like that, and I went with another YSA friend Audrey to Waffle House.

After a long and interesting conversation with Audrey... I convinced Audrey to text Steven and see if I could have his number. He, of course, was asleep at that very early hour, but later on Saturday texted back "I approve" I sort of did a victory dance around the house. Texting back and forth ensued... only a little bit, at first, and with long breaks between texts. Saw Steven at YSA FHE on Sunday. Split a brownie. Still didn't get much of a chance to talk to him outside of our discussion in FHE. Audrey called and set up a dog-walking party. Later during the week I texted Steven on my own and set up a Big Mo date (although the technicalities of who asked whom are arguable, since I sent the first text but Steven was the one who actually asked if I'd like to go). As for dogwalking....I don't know if Steven knows this (well, he will now) but I was in on the dog-walking thing from the beginning. I'm pretty sure Audrey just told him I'd be hanging out with her that Saturday and might be coming along. I borrowed Lizzy from Grandma and Grandpa Taylor, because I was pretty sure I'd feel really awkward showing up to a dog-walking party without a dog, even if he had already approved me. Besides, at this point I'd gone through his whole Facebook page and knew that he loved dogs, so it'd give us something more to talk about if I brought along a dog, too. Right? Right. Is that shallow? No. Maybe. It's not like I hadn't ever dogsat Lizzy, she was the closest thing I could call 'my dog', so whatever, I went for it.

The dogwalking went really well, we finally got a chance to really talk, and after some time of walking, Audrey had to go to work, and then Steven asked me to dinner. :D We went to Pizza Joint, because they like dogs, and then after having talked all through dinner and still not wanting to part ways, we took a walk down the Riverfront, too. At the end of the date, Steven looked like he wasn't quite sure if he should give me a handshake or a hug, so I didn't let him decide and gave him a hug. I had developed quite the crush.