i'm feeling nostalgic...

i've been inspired by my friend mari's blog--she just wrote the story of how she met and married her husband. i know i always love hearing other people's stories, but if you're not interested in this sort of thing--SKIP IT!

edited to add: this ended up being SUPER long, because i remembered a lot more than i thought i did, and i thought it would be good to get it all down in one place. so if you don' t have a long time to sit and read all this stuff, my feelings won't be hurt, i promise...

geoff and i met in september 1997. we were both attending the st. paul fifth ward (aka singles ward), which met at the institute of religion at the university of minnesota. geoff was a freshman that year, and since he was pre-mission, 2.5 years younger than me, and i was dating someone at the time, i didn't give him a second thought.

this person i was dating was geoff's home teacher, however, and he came to me saying, geoff archibald--you know, the freshman? he's having a rough time in his comp. class, and i was wondering if you'd mind helping him out. i said sure, and set up a time with geoff to work on his paper.

we met in the library at the institute, and worked on his composition-he started out by telling me that his professor actually announced that she doesn't give "A"s. nice! the topic of the paper was his green couch. (riveting stuff!!) we actually had a really good time working on the paper and had fun talking together and getting to know each other. geoff was also dating someone, and the 2.5 year age difference seemed enormous at the time, so there was no flirting or tension-just getting to know each other.

the next week, geoff came up to me and said "we got an A!!" i will always remember that, how he said "we". i thought that was pretty cool. we were good friends from that point, and we hung out together relatively often. since we were both involved with other people, it was usually in a group, but we really had a good time.

this is somewhat unrelated but too funny not to include--that winter, there was a sledding activity-after the activity, there were a bunch of us sitting around at the institute drinking hot cocoa and warming up. geoff and i were sitting next to one another on the couch, and nearby, our friend c.j. was flirting like MAD with this girl tessie. they were talking about the movie "somewhere in time" and one of them was saying that they'd never seen it before. they started talking about how they needed to get together to watch it, and geoff pipes up, "oh, i've never seen that movie before, either." c.j. and tessie completely ignored him and kept flirting, and geoff turned to me and said, "did you see that?? they are totally going to get married!!" and guess what--they did! just a funny aside..

geoff went to his parents home in idaho (they moved there right before he started college) for a few weeks before leaving on his mission to england. he called me from idaho, and i was feeling kind of gloomy because i'd just broken up with someone. (video game guy). i remember that he cheered me up and made me remember all the reasons i'd broken up with video game guy--i promised i would write to geoff, and we hung up.

i DID keep my promise---i wrote to geoff once when he was in the missionary training center, and once right before he came home. :) the letter before he came home was actually to see if he'd want to go out on a date with my sister amy. geoff's brother kent and i had been talking, and we thought it would be fun to set up our siblings. i'd called amy out at byu to tell her i had the perfect guy for her, and she said, "geoff? he's more like my friend--i don't think i could think of him that way." my response? "come on, amy! geoff is a great guy and i want you to marry him so i can be related to him!" (too funny!!!)

geoff came home and we went out--amy (who was home from byu on winter break) and geoff, and me and kent. we had dinner and went to see "o brother, where art thou?". kent and i hung back to let amy and geoff talk, and we thought we were being totally sneaky...

amy went back to school, and i told all my friends in the singles ward to stay away from geoff, since i was reserving him for my sister. (i didn't tell him this, though) geoff didn't have a car, and lived close by me, so i gave him rides often, and we hung out together. then we were asked to be in charge of the activities committee together at church, so we spent even more time together. all this time, we were hanging out, and i thought i was reserving him for amy...

geoff asked me out on a double date, but he did it in such a way that i didn't think he was interested in me, just that he needed someone to go with. we went out together and had a really good time--the story of that date is pee-your-pants funny but this is already getting too long, so i'll save it for another time--after the double date, i started thinking, hmmm, maybe i could be interested in geoff.

i actually called amy up at school and told her i was having a problem, because i was saving geoff for her, and i thought i was starting to like him. she laughed and said to go for it because she wasn't interested. i also told a friend, sara, that i thought i could be interested in geoff. she was excited for me, since i was going on another double date with him the next night. (totally orchestrated by me in a completely manipulative and passive-aggressive, let the guy think he's chasing you but really you're just letting him catch you sort of way)

we went on the double date (to see "the sting" on campus in completely uncomfortable chairs) and after the movie was over, we said good night to the other couple and he asked me if i'd like to go on a walk. it was march 17th. in minnesota. BRRRR...i said of course! we walked around for a few minutes, and when geoff noticed that my face was turning blue, he made his little declaration. it was completely adorable and endearing.

we went back to the car, and i told him i thought he was brave to put his feelings out there when he wasn't sure how i was feeling. he hemmed and hawed, and then admitted that my friend sara "can't keep her mouth shut" vaneps had blown my cover and had told him i was interested. (technically, she didn't TELL him, but she let him know without coming out and saying it. all for the cause, i know! but still!!) we had a good laugh, and then decided to play a practical joke on sara. i called her from the car and told her i was home from the date and that it was a total dud. i told her my crush on geoff had been completely momentary, and i was totally over it. i added that i was SO lucky to have her for a friend, because i could tell her all my stupid secrets and didn't have to worry about anyone ever finding out. poor sara was really squirming at this point, but just to make it really awful, i said, "you didn't TELL anyone, did you?" sara sounded about 2 inches tall and she answered, "ummmm...", but we finally let her off the hook and told her we were just playing a trick on her. not the nicest thing to do to a friend, i know...

geoff and i didn't date too long before getting engaged--just a few months. i know some people would find that foolish, but the nice thing was that we already knew each other really well, since we'd been friends for so long. we were married in the st. paul temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on dec. 28, 2001. we'll be celebrating our seventh anniversary next month, and we've been blessed with 2 beautiful daughters, Quinn and Georgia. it is so wonderful to be married to your best friend.