Today is the day that Daniel and I met...four years ago. I love telling this story.
I was going to PA school with a girl named Heather. She was married to Kyle, who was a firefighter for the City of Denton. One night, I was over at their house after a wedding and actually got to spend some time with Kyle for the first time. The next day, Heather called me to tell me that Kyle thought he worked with a guy that would be perfect for me. She wanted to know if it would be okay for them to give him my phone number, and I said yes. The whole reason they wanted to set us up was because we both were 'close to our families and we liked to go to church.'
Dan called me the next day and we talked for 1.5 hours. I did not know this at the time, but he is NOT a phone talker. His family (esp. his brother) was amazed that he was on the phone for that long. Of course, being the communicator that I am :) I didn't think anything of it. We decided to go out later that week.
When I got to class the next morning, I told Heather that we had talked the night before and that we had planned a date for later that week. She told me that he was a good guy and it would be perfectly okay for him to come pick me up at my house. At this point, I asked her what he looked like and here was her description - tall, very thin, longish bleach blonde hair. That was a very vague description so I didnot have a very clear picture in my mind.
The day of our date rolled around (06/06/03). When I got to class that morning, Heather was over in the corner with our other friends, whispering. When I walked up, they all stopped talking, looked at me, and starting giggling....of course I was a little worried about this but just blew it off.
Daniel came to pick me up that night, and when I opened the door, I was very pleasantly surprised. He swears to this day that I was looking up and had to drop my gaze to meet his eyes. For those of you who do not know my husband, he is 5 ft 8 in, has very short brown/blonde hair, and is very muscular....the exact opposite of the man Heather described.
Apparently, she had gone to see her husband at work that morning before coming to class. One of the firefighters walked by and Heather asked if that was Daniel. Kyle kind of looked at her and was like....nooooo. That is what everyone was laughing at before class. Heather had never even met Dan, she was going by Kyle's recommendations, and had imagined him as the wrong guy. Of course, she did not bother to tell me that!!
We had a very nice first date, but looking back now, there are several things that we laugh at. Dan armor-alled the running boards on the jeep and I slipped getting into the car, 5 minutes after we met. We went to a restaurant call Portobellos - Dan HATES mushrooms. The waiter at the restaurant made two comments about how much I was talking - I was nervous, so I talked, he was nervous, so he didn't. :) When we got back to my apartment, I invited him up to watch the end of the Spurs/Mavs game that was on. When we walked in the door, my roommate and her now husband, were sitting in the floor eating pizza and watching the game, but all the lights were off and there were a ton of candles lit. Daniel and I both kind of stopped in our shoes. Julie was quick to turn all the lights on to offer us ice cream. He did end up staying for a few hours, though.
On our second date, I had a black eye from playing intramural basketball and had to wear my glasses because I was about have LASIK. Real cute, huh?
On our third date, I had had LASIK, but was having to put drops in my eyes every 2-3 hours and didn't need to be outside in the sun for very long. We decided to go see Finding Nemo and then hang out at my apartment. My eyes were extremely bloodshot and bruised. I didn't now until a few months ago, when Daniel kissed me (for the first time that night) my lips tasted like the medicine from my eye drops...nice, huh?
Daniel then left for two weeks to go to Colorado for his brother's wedding. I know that I left him with a great impression :)
While he was gone, Heather (from class) started a bet within the people in my class - for a dollar, you could write down how many times Dan called me while he was gone. I had to go in each morning and report. Our romance was on everybody's mind!! I didn't tell him about the deal until the day before he came home. The only reason was because Heather was going to win if he didn't call again. Daniel did laugh though... (He called 5 times if you count the extra time he called, because I asked him)
We were definitely meant to be together....He is the love of my life!!
Zach (my cousin) and Alison (Ali) were married on Saturday afternoon at Ali's parents' ranch. The set up was so beautiful! The wedding was held out under a tree that Ali had always played under and the reception was held around her parent's pool. Even though it was the middle of the day, the breeze made it quite enjoyable.
My brother made a great best man.
The newly married couple.
Me, Ali, Zach, and Dan
And now for a few fun pictures of Dan and I that my sister took. I think she did an excellent job.
Me and Dan
My parents 
We had to take a group picture for my parents of "their kids" at the rehearsal dinner. (My sister, Amy, her husband , Charlie, my brother, Cade, and us) The dinner was held at a country club that overlooked the Sacramento River. We had an excellent view of the gorgeous sunset as well.
