April 4th

Today is April 5th. It seems strange that 6 years ago yesterday, Allen and I went on our first date. Oh how time flies. I can hardly believe we've been married almost 4 years! In honor of our "dating" anniversary, I would to share how we got together. Many know this story, but if not, sit back and relax...

Long ago in a far away land....

Allen and I officially didn't meet until the summer of 2002 after our freshman year at Olivet, however, I was told after we were dating that he has his eyes on me our whole freshmen year. =) Yet, he never talked to me...how is a girl to know a boy likes her if he never talks to her? Moving on... When we did first meet, we both had not so great attractions to each other (for allen it was more of "maybe I should reconsider this"). You see, we met at Indian Lake Campgrounds (Heaven on Earth we like to call it) because our mutual friend Brett, brought him. What turned me off was that Allen had a mullet...oh yes, a full out mullet. (not pretty ladies...let me tell you) What turned Allen off was seeing my sister and I's giggly relationship--you see he has all brothers and didn't understand this (still doesn't sometimes).

So needless to say, we became friends. Fall of our sophomore year, we would talk here and there and I did find out through a friend that he liked me. At the time, I liked someone else, so I didn't pursue him. He did pursue me. He asked me out several (Allen will say 15x) times to do group things--never one on one dates. I had a bad experience in highschool where I kind of led a guy on and I didn't want to repeat it...so I said no...everytime. So by Christmastime, he basically gave up.

Then in early spring our sophomore year, we talked and decided to be co-captains together for intramural indoor soccer. Due to this, we started to talk more and more. OH...I left out a very BIG KEY thing. When we came back from Christmas break...Allen's mullet was GONE. I thought..."mmm, much cuter". =) So anyways.... So I realized that I was starting to like him and I thought I was being pretty obvious about it (although I found out later, he had no clue until I was pretty blunt about it). Then I finally asked if he wanted to see a movie with me. Right now, I can't remember who paid..I think I might have paid for myself. After the movie (which was Bringing Down the House in case anyone is interested), we went to Denny's to talk and have hot chocolate. We ended up talking there until 3am! That moment was the moment I knew he was the one for me. I had never in the past been so comfortable with a guy where I could completely be myself (silly, stupid, and all) and not feel dumb.

From there, the rest is history.... he asked me out the very next day (the day of our very first kiss--which was so cute...he was so nervous). So even though we joke how I turned Allen down many times, I remind him that he did "get" me in the end. =)

So that is our very long, but interesting (at least I think so) story of how we started dating! Hope you enjoyed it!

Below is a pic from our wonderful wedding!