Dating and other allergies

Josh and I met at LDS Business College. During his freshman orientation, I was there presenting for the newspaper and there he was, hugging and laughing my co-editor who had been one of Josh’s mission companions. It wasn’t a romantic star crossed lovers moments. In fact, Josh doesn’t even really remember the actual first time we met. He remembers catching up with Elder Gonzo. The only thing that stands out about our very first meeting is that Josh felt really familiar. It felt as though we had known each other for a really long time. Maybe that’s the Shakespearean lovely moment in it all, I feel like I recognized his spirit.

From there it is a series of me putting myself in his way. (I was such a pre-facebook stalker.) His first recollection is a service project our church group did. We were slicing & bagging homemade bread for distribution to less fortunate families. Josh was loading the bread into the slicer, my roommate was loading the bags, I was in charge of the twist tie machine. For the first half of the night he relentlessly flirted with my roomy, who wouldn’t she was gorgeous! And then the twist tie machine got jammed and Josh tried to come to my rescue, which is very sweet in retrospect. However in the moment I was frustrated and I didn’t need to be saved. So I slapped his hand and told him I could handle it. And suddenly I was getting equal flirt time.

I invited him for dinner that Sunday at our apartment and cooked up a big lasagna, salad and magic cookie bars. I’ll email anyone the recipe for these cookies because they are delicious!! Nothing but coconut, chocolate, graham crackers and sugar! Josh is eating along on this gooey heavenly dessert coconut spilling all over the plate when suddenly he says, “These don’t have coconut in them do they? I’m allergic to coconut!” You should have seen the high alert that occurred he had four girls up on their feet anxious and ready to save him. Then he leaned back in his chair and said, “So, which of you girls wants to give me mouth to mouth?”

What can I say…Josh is a smooth operator.

Proposed!

9 years ago on Valentine's Day Josh proposed to me. It was pretty awesome. We were both going to school in Salt Lake City and the 2002 Winter Olympics were occurring. My entire family was in town and all of us were sleeping in my one bedroom apartment in downtown Salt Lake. It was cozy!

My parents had managed to get a tickets package for the Olympics and so that day I got to go see the Super G. After some sweet down hill skiing I came home to a rose and a cd waiting for me at the house. Josh had dropped it off on his way to work. It was an awesome cd full of mooshy gooshy perfect love songs.

About 8 pm that night I got a phone call from a friend, she told me a big long story about how her husband hadn't done anything for Valentine's Day and she was upset. Could she drive downtown and would I meet her at a park and walk around the Olympic village with her? Heck yes I would! I couldn't get enough of the awesome spirit that surrounded the Olympics! I invited my older sister to come along. As we bundled up I remember saying to her, "I think Josh might be considering proposing soon. Don't let me look like a mess like this when he does okay? Make sure I'm hot." She nodded and smiled and away we went.

After about a five minute walk we arrived at the designated park and there standing very romantically on a bridge we often visited was Josh with another rose. My sister gave my hand a good squeeze and winked and took off to a nearby bench. As I approached Josh he gave me the flower and we chatted for a bit. He was supposed to be at work, but he'd gotten it off early. Yes he'd used our mutual friend as a ploy. And then in a moment of total smoothness, he pointed at my right glove and said, "Hey can I use that?" That's when I totally knew!

(sidebar from Josh "In all my scheming. I did not take into account... gloves." " Ill admit it threw me off my groove..")

But he didn't jump right into asking. He kept on small talking. How was my day, did I like my cd, etc. I'll be honest, I finally whispered, "I won't say no." That's when he knelt down and proposed! It was awesome!

We hugged and kissed and were quickly joined by my sister who knew all along what was happening. Probably should have told me to brush my hair. Oh well! As we walked to Josh's truck, my sister kept telling everyone, "They just got engaged. Love is in the air people!" We had several congratulations in different languages before ever reaching the car! We opened the door to my apartment and the whole family was just waiting. Little did I know that while I enjoyed the Super G, Josh had taken the family to lunch and asked for my hand. So everyone knew! Many kisses and hugs were shared.