"Oh, the dating months. . ." FLASHBACK

I can say dating months because that is what it was. From when Matt and I first started to "hang out" till when we got engaged, it was just about 2 months long. That may seem really quick to a lot of people, but to others, that would be a full courtship. Here are a couple of our firsts. . .

The first kiss was after we had been out about 4 times. Prior to Matt, I had only kissed 5 guys in my short 4 years of kissing. I had my first kiss during my Sophomore year of college. I guess I am sentimental when it comes to that which is why my kissing numbers were on one hand. Matt and I had gone out and returned home to my house and were watching a movie downstairs. Sometime during the movie Matt leaned in and kissed me. He claims that it was a blind kiss. Apparently, I have learned, that a girl gives a clue to the guy that it is OK to be kissed. This clue is given by looking into the guys eyes and then making glances down at his lips, thus giving the approval of said kiss. I did not give said approval. This was not because I didn't want Matt to kiss me, but more so because I wanted to play a little hard to get. Matt said he went in blind and hadn't a clue how it would turn out. It was great and we had a lot of fun (good clean fun Nana). Matt then told me he really kissed me so that I would have to use 2 hands to count the boys I have kissed (he was kidding). Upon leaving my house that night he went in to give me another kiss on the doorstep. When we were just about to kiss, Matt turned around and walked away to his car and went home. I didn't know what to do. My blood was boiling that was for sure, and that had never happened to me before. Matt claims that he wanted to leave me wanting more, well, it worked. Matt and I still pull that trick out every once in a while for fun.



I remember the first time that the words, "I LOVE YOU" were said. It was October 11th. I know that because the picture below shows the date. Matt and I had gone on a double date with my brother, Dallin, and his wife. We went to see a movie and split up afterwards. Matt and I went back to his place. We were sitting on the couch talking about the movie and cuddling when Matt started a conversation. He began by saying, "I heard a rumor . ." I replied back by saying what. He continued on to say, "I heard a rumor that I LIKE YOU." I don't remember my reply to that statement, but it must have been encouraging because he said again, "I heard another rumor" and once I again I said what. He replied back with "I heard that I LOVE YOU." Now let me just pause and express that I have some moments in my life that I am not particularly proud of and this would definitely be one of them. My response, to Matt saying "I LOVE YOU", sounded like so, "Oh, and how's that working out for you?" Matt said, "I don't know I'll tell you when I find out." I don't think Matt had planned that response into his declaration of love. An obvious reply might have been, "okay," " thanks," "I love you too," but not my response. I did return the declaration a few days later, but to this day, Matt doesn't like it when I use that phrase in casual conversation. The picture below was actually taken a little before Matt told me he loved me that night. Don't I like hot?



Matt and I always joke around that we had commitment issues. If someone really wanted to get technical, we officially were boyfriend/girlfriend for about 1 1/2 weeks. We always just said that we were "hanging out". This drove my family nuts, but Matt and I were happy to keep it that way. Matt every once in a while would ask if I wanted to talk about what was going on with us, and I would always reply back with, "No, I'm good." He would agree and we would carry on with whatever we were doing. I think that it must have been strange to him to have a girl who avoided a DTR. Finally over dinner one night, we decided that we were dating, and that felt good. Dating only lasted 1 1/2 weeks because that is when we started talking marriage. But we will save that for next time.