Yuba Lake

For spring break my roomate, Luke, and I decided that we wanted to go camping. As much fun as camping can be with two guys alone in the woods.... we decided that the experience would be much more fun if we invited the girls. Since Ashley is a BYU student she doesn't have a spring break, but she decided she needed a break too so she consented to skip school and come with. We packed up Luke's outback with some extra clothes, sleeping bags, and a cooler full of food and headed for Yuba Lake. This was our first trip together and it was a blast.  We had tons of food, a big fire and a lot of smores.  The next morning we went hiking for a couple hours, then decided we wanted to go swimming.  The lake was still too cold but we found a hot spring about 20 minutes from our campsite.  That was probably my favorite part of the trip.  We met a hippie at the hot springs who gave us lessons on how to successfully free dive to the bottom of the 30 foot deep caverns.

The Bonfire

Two weeks after our first date, I was already feeling very close to Ashley.  We had already barely went a day without seeing each other, and I had learned enough about her to truly admire her.  I was beginning to spend my mornings anticipating seeing her in the evening.  She made me happy.  One night my roomates and I decided we should take dates up Provo Canyon and have a bonfire.  My roomates each had girlfriends whom they were taking and I had every intention of bringing Ashley.  The only problem was that she had been, and still was, at her best friend's wedding reception.  One roomate suggested bringing someone else, but I knew if I didn't take Ashley I would end up spending the rest of the night thinking of her anyway.  I convinced the group to wait over an hour just so that I could bring Ashley, but it was worth it.  We had a lot of fun.  So much fun, actually, that a couple of cops found us that night and brought a drug dog to search our campsite.  After they determined that we were clean, we convinced one of the officers to take a picture to mark the occasion. 

Fate

Right from the time of our very first date, Ki and I instantly hit it off and became really good friends right from the get go. When we initially started going on a few dates and hanging out a lot, neither of us were planning on or looking for a long term relationship(AT ALL), but fate seemed to have other plans for us. About 2 weeks after we had started dating, my best friend Tiff got married. Because I was one of her bridesmaids I was around for all of the regular wedding festivities... including the bouquet toss. Well, being the competitive spirited person I am, when that bouquet came flying over my head to the right, I lunged for it! And when someone else grabbed it too, I'm only a little ashamed to admit I yanked it from their hands to claim it as my prize. Just 10 minutes after I caught the bouquet, Ki ended up texting me and asked me how Tiff's reception was going. I replied that it was going great... and I also informed him that I had just caught Tiff's wedding bouquet. :D Later that night I ended up finding out that Ki had been with his roomates when he got that text message, and that when they heard I caught the bouquet they told Ki "uh oh this could be trouble" and said something to Ki about running while he still could. But Ki didn't run and not long after I caught that bouquet it was pretty clear where our relationship was headed! Cheesy, but true. :)

1st Date

On the 24th of February 2009, I invited Ashley to a Jazz game for our first "official" date. Prior to this, our first time out was on a double date to a haunted house the week before Halloween, although we were both out with different dates. There were two things initially that stood out to me concerning Ashley. The first was her light spirited happiness and the ease with which she smiled. The second was her honesty. As we were driving back from the Jazz game, in an attempt to get to know her better, I had been asking her a series of questions. When at last I asked her to tell me something embarrassing about herself that most people didn't know, I was shocked by both her answer and her willingness to share it. With a first impression like hers, I was looking forward to a 2nd date.