A trip down memory lane...

I was tagged like 10 years ago, and I'm just now getting around to it. I actually liked this tag because it wasn't just about me. So, I'll try to make this somewhat interesting (and I even put a few pictures in-wow, do we look young!).

1. Where did you and your spouse meet?
Eric and I met our freshman year at Utah State University in the Fall of 1996. It was the week before school started-freshman orientation-and one of my friends, Amber Gregory, knew one of his friends, Joe Roylance. One night, we got a HUGE group (like 80 people) together and played "Fugitive". Joe, Eric, and a bunch of their friends (all from Logan) were totally serious and experienced at this game, all decked out in camoflouge, face paint, the works. I thought it was hysterical, and instantly found out that these guys were the coolest, neatest, funnest (I know that's not a word) group of guys I had ever met. That year we hung out with these guys all the time, and even went on Spring Break together to my parents' house in the S.F. bay area-13 of us!!!!

(Eric & I our freshman year, playing intramural soccer)

2. How long did it take before you and your spouse were dating and then fell in love?
Eric and I didn't have romantic feelings toward each other our first year of college. In fact, I had a crush on one of his best friends, Steve! But Eric and I were like best friends-in a goofing-around-wrestling-cuddly sort of way. (We were all that way with each other though!) The summer after our freshman year, Eric and all his friends left on missions. And we wrote them all too. Eric was one of the best writers, and somewhere in the middle of his mission, I think we both developed feelings for each other, although we never wrote of it obviously (and it didn't stop me from dating other guys while he was gone). When he came home and we saw each other for the first time, we both knew there was something different between us. We dated that whole year (my senior year) and got engaged in May of 2000 right after I graduated. I think we really fell in love around December when he came out to visit me and my family for the holidays. That's when we both knew this was it... :)

(Eric & I right before he left on a mission. No, we were not dating here!)

3. Where was your first kiss with him?
Technically, our first kiss was Homecoming night (our freshman year) on top of the "A" (an Aggie tradition), but it was him and 2 of his friends and me and 2 of my friends. We all stood on the "A" together and rotated kissing partners (it sounds kinkier than it really was)! I have to admit, at that point, it was like kissing my brother! :) Our first "real" kiss was about a couple of weeks after we started dating, 3 years later. We went night-hiking up to the Wind caves in Logan Canyon, talked for like 2 hrs at the top, and well, you can guess the rest... I was his first kiss post-mission, and obviously the last person he would kiss before getting married a year later. (Yep, I was THAT good! :)

(Spring Break trip down to Moab/Arches with a bunch of friends after his mission. Yes, we were dating here!)

4. What was your most memorable date?
There are so many to choose from, honestly, but probably for me it was my 22nd birthday. It was January, so it was freezing and snowing outside, and he came to my house in the middle of the night, dressed up in a suit and kidnapped me in my PJ's. I have to admit, at first I was little disoriented and mad because I had to get up the next morning early to teach skiing, plus I had a cold (it could've been the Nyquil talking!). But once I realized what he was doing, I was excited. He blindfolded me and took me to his friends' house where he had set up a table lit with candles, roses, sparkling cider, and chocolate covered strawberries. Nobody had ever done something like that for me up to that point, and it was so romantic! There was even music and dancing (him looking hot in a suit, me looking raunchy in my jammies)! Best birthday gift ever though, hands down.

5. What did your parents think of him and his of you?
My parents loved him from the first time they met him during our Spring Break trip to CA our freshman year. They loved all of his friends too, but esp loved Eric (it was probably his great baking skills :)! In fact, my mom even predicted (but didn't tell me until we were seriously dating) that I would marry him! Eric's parents equally liked me, and I knew his family well before even dated, being as they lived in Logan and Eric lived at home. My friends and I always LOVED to visit the McEvoy household in all its craziness (10 kids!) and always felt at home there.

(An engagement photo)

6. How did he propose?
Eric's mom died in April of 2000, and although at that point our families knew we were getting married and we had set the date, Eric waited to make it "official" since we were going through so much with the death of his mom. After I graduated in May and was getting ready to go back home and work for the summer, he invited me over to his house one evening. Most of his family was there (which wasn't strange to me considering that's how they were), and his dad suggested we go to the cemetary to see Elaine's grave. So, we got up there and it was raining, and we were all gathered around (even some of Eric's friends were there too) and Eric leans down by the grave to pick up some flowers. I wasn't really paying attention too much, and I assumed the flowers were his mom's. But then he turned around on one knee and asked me to marry him (in front of like 30 people). The ring was tied on a ribbon onto the flowers. The first thing out of my mouth was actually, "are you kidding me?" But I was just surprised at how he did it (he wanted his mom to be there, isn't that sweet?), and then of course, I said "yes"! We were crying, hugging, and kissing for a good while, and the funny thing was that all of a sudden it stopped raining. We like to think that it was his mom's way of being happy for us!

(Right after Eric proposed to me!)

(Aug. 17, 2000)

I TAG...Minna, Lindsey, and Ashley!!!