How I stalked my husband into submission: a love story

The story of how Adam and I met, dated and eventually married is kinda long so sit tight. It's a bit of ride.

We technically met for the first time was at a church event call youth conference, which that year was at Nauvoo, Il. I was 15 or 16 and Adam was 16 or 17.

The BYU ballroom dancers were there and they were trying to teach us the cha cha. Adam had asked me to dance. Well we were both not really getting it, so I apologized trying to be nice to which he replied, "You'll get it eventually" which I thought was pretty rude. To his credit he realized he sounded rude but couldn't find me to apologize afterward.

This white girl can dance, I however can not

The second time we technically met was at a young single adult dance a couple of years later. Adam went because a friend of his from Milwaukee was going to be there and I went because I was part of the planning committee. Well I had thought this was costume dance, so I wore yukata I got from a friend. Which it wasn't and I was the only person dressed up. Yeah I felt like an idiot.
I thought Adam was being a snob because he just stood in the corner with his friend and talked and he thought I was a weirdo because why was some white chick wearing a yukata and no one else dressed up.

See she looks great in a yukata, I do not

Fast forward a couple months and my dad who was branch president of our singles' branch (A branch president is kinda like an unpaid pastor) asked if I would call this Adam guy and see if I could get him to come to our branch instead of his home branch. ( a branch or ward is like congregation) So I decided to call him up.
The first words out of my mouth were "I'm stalking you"

I didn't really stalk him, but he told his whole family about it, and they only knew me as 'stalker girl'

Yeah, not the best choice of words. Sarcasm does not do well over the phone. Adam almost hung up on me, but allowed me to explain myself. I told him who I was and asked him to come to church next Sunday, he told me he couldn't because his mom was giving a talk at his branch. I told him great, hoped his mom did well and I called back the next week.

This time his friend was blessing his daughter. (kinda like baptizing or a name blessing) I told him that was great, congrats to his friend and I called him the next week.

This time he couldn't come and he couldn't tell me why.
I thought he was blowing me off.
To his credit he really couldn't come and couldn't tell me why, I just didn't know that.

Well for some reason I was really persistent. I kept texting him during this time and we flirted a lot through text. I also kept inviting him to young single adult activities, which of course the first time he could come I wasn't there. On top of that my younger sister gave him a ride and he bought her ice cream. So of course my thoughts were "Great he likes my younger sister"

How I looked after finding out Adam bought my sister ice cream

But again I was usually persistent. We texted and flirted and one day after I got out of work I asked what he was up to. He was at home and I asked if I could come over. He said I could and I we went inside and watched a movie.

Now when we started the movie I was kinda annoyed that he wasn't sitting right next to me. But soon after his little sister and younger cousin came and plopped down beside us. No most guys I knew would tell their younger siblings to scram, but not Adam. He had his little sister in his lap and I was doing secret handshakes with his younger cousins by the end of the movie. Him being nice to his little sister and younger cousins really impressed me. And after the movie was done, one of his younger cousins turned to me and said, 

"I like you"

"Thanks" I said

"You and Adam should date"

I had this face on, but inside I was all, HECK YEA WE SHOULD DATE

Needless to say I was thinking the same thing but I was WAY to embarrassed to say so.

When I was leaving Adam said we should get together again sometime. I agreed.

So we started hanging out. A lot.

But I told myself not to get too attached, he was planning to return to BYU in the fall and I was getting ready to go on a mission.

But then one evening while we were hanging out Adam said something that changed our lives

"I'm thinking of not going back this fall"
"Oh really?" I said
"Yeah, I think I'll work for a bit and transfer to another school that has the major I want. What do you think?" he said
"I'm okay with that."

So our summer fling suddenly had much more potential.

Then there was the next conversation that changed our lives.

Probably my favorite movie of all time, if you haven't seen it, SEE IT, SEE IT NOW!

We were watching My Neighbor Totoro when I remarked that he was lucky because he would have adorable children. To which Adam replied that I was the closest one to make that happen. Kinda unsure what he meant, I stayed quiet.

Adam- "Well what do you think?"
me-"Of what?"
Adam-"Of getting married"

Now at this point we had been dating about two weeks. No rush right?

me-" Uh.... Well, there's a lot you don't know about me yet."
Adam- *yes go on look*

So after telling him about all my issues, and history he simply said okay.
This kinda blew my mind a little. I was fully expecting him to make up an excuse to leave and never speak to me again.
But he took all my baggage with a grain of salt and said okay.

So after that we dated and semi joked proposed to each other, knowing that we were going to get married. And at just the right moment, he did

He picked the ring out himself, he's got great taste!

We were on a young single adult trip to Nauvoo he proposed. 

Happy Faces!

Two months later, same place this happend

And almost three years later

Super Classy

We're still in love and taking on the world.

And that's how I stalked my husband into submission.

Family

Pretty good looking bunch eh?

This is a picture of my family. Granted, it's a little old now. I was married almost three years ago now.

I am one of six children. And I feel like talking about them so here it goes,

My dad is awesome, he's the youngest of five boys, (poor grandma had her hands full!) he loves to read, write, come up with new lyrics to songs, and taking my mom out on dates. Some of my favorite childhood memories involve my dad helping us make home videos and playing his guitar for us

Chilling on the London Eye

My mom is a saint, she's the oldest of five kids, three girls and two boys. She also loves reading, family history, traveling, and she's also quite artistic but hasn't done anything super crafty in a while. My mom has also kinda become a bit of a foodie, aka she likes high class and kind of exotic food. My mom helped instill a love of traveling and world culture in me. She took me to London when I was 16.

Michael and Sarah

Next comes Michael! He's my oldest brother and he took a lot of grief from all the rest of his siblings growing up. I still feel pretty bad about how we treated him. We didn't get along for a long time, but eventually we became close after his mission and when we were both at BYU Idaho. He was there for me during a really hard time of my life. And was sweet and understanding. I'm very blessed to have him as an older brother. Plus he married Sarah, who is awesome. 

Kendall being a boss

Then comes Kendall. Kendall and I are closest in age, like 19 months apart. Since we were kids I basically thought Kendall was the coolest kid on the planet. Well he still is. This guys is crazy talented and has the work ethic to back it up. When he's not drawing, he's making others laugh, kicking butt at video games and being an EFY counselor. And yes ladies, he's single. Here's his deviantart link http://starvingstudents.deviantart.com/ his blog http://thebravelittleillustrator.blogspot.com/ and his tumblr http://kendallhaleart.tumblr.com/

Charlotte and Brian cutting cake

Charlotte comes right after me, the only sister I have so we're pretty tight like that. Charlotte has an excellent voice and a talent for music, she also has quite a mechanical mind. When she not trying new recipes for her new hubby, she enjoys books and video games. And animals, OH gosh does she love animals. She would constantly try to get my mom to let her have a pet, she had a hermit crab and a beta fish. That's were my mom drew the line. She married Brian this past June. Looking forward to getting to know him better.

Peter being chill

Peter is next! He's one of those kids who kinda does it all. Now my family is mainly a theater/music kinda group, and Peter not only did theater, choir and orchestra, but was also in swim team. I remember my mom telling me she had no idea what to do when she went to his swim meet because she never went to a sporting event for one of her children before.When not in a play, a concert or a meet, Peter enjoys D&D with friends, going on dates, video games and beat boxing.

Jon in Spamalot

Jon is the youngest, and when he was born I wanted to do everything, change his diapers, hold him, feed him, everything! He was 'my' baby. Now he is far from a baby and becoming a young man. He's incredibly smart especially with numbers, clever and witty and works on a comic that's adorable with a friend. When he's not in band, theater or improvdy, Jon enjoys videos games, books, various Internet memes.

And then there's Adam.

My husband, my eternal companion, my boo, he'll get his own post in the future. 

Fairy Tales

Of late I've been pondering about  fairy tales.

I love fairy tales, I grew up with them, whether it was through Disney movies or story books, I have always enjoyed them.

Beauty and The Beast was always my favorite as a child, and while I love more recent additions to the Disney Princess family, Belle and this movie will always have a special place in my heart.

As I got older I would read retelling of fairy tales and the original, more um... well gory fairy tales.

Have you read Aschenputtel? Yeah the step-sister have to cut off parts of their feet and birds peck out their eyes. 

I think part of why I like fairy tales so much is most of them are from folk tales, lately I've tried to expand my knowledge of folktales, and fairy tales.

For example, in Japanese folk lore the story of Momotarō

There seems to be a lot of Japanese fairy tales involving nice, elderly and childless couples.

Here's the wikipedia entry on it

 Momotarō came to Earth inside a giant peach, which was found floating down a river by an old, childless woman who was washing clothes there. The woman and her husband discovered the child when they tried to open the peach to eat it. The child explained that he had been sent by Heaven to be their son. The couple named him Momotarō, from momo (peach) and tarō (eldest son in the family).^[1]

Years later, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of marauding oni (demons or ogres) on a distant island. En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey, and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest. At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive. Momotarō and his family lived comfortably from then on.

So what are your favorite stories? Why do you think we connect and love fairy tales? Any would recommend to me?

 Yeah that's right, I'm making you answer questions.

 Deal with it.