1999 - Tucson & More Hockey

(originally posted 09/06/2009)

February 20 - I had to wake Natalie up when I got home from my date with Elliot last night. I hadn't even mentioned an interest in him to her, so I was worried about her response. I guess the wee hours of the night is the best time to approach Natalie on important subjects. She so weird. I was just so excited that I needed to tell someone and poor sleeping Natalie happened to be the one! She told me that I shouldn't throw myself at him, which I didn't think I was doing. I argued that I wasn't going to make it difficult for him because he didn't seem like the kind of guy who responded well to girls games. Look at me, already thinking I know him. I was right, by the way. As I left her room, she said, "Play hard to get!" I don't think I slept that night. I wanted Elliot to "get" me.

Elliot and several other guys helped a few girls from our ward move into a different apartment in our complex. They came over and invited us to go to Tucson with them to watch someone play hockey. We piled into Natalie's car (Elliot, Whitney, Mike, Natalie, Taylor, and Jayme Malloy) and headed to Tucson for Taylor to win some points with this hockey-playing girl (Mindy ???). We were kept occupied on the way by trying to guess the theme music to different television shows.

I don't remember watching the hockey game, but Elliot remembers it being a joke. Girls were either gliding very slowly across the rink or flying on their bellies after they stumbled over themselves. I wasn't prepared for the cold of the hockey rink, but Elliot was near to keep me warm. Everyone else was adjusting to our sudden public display as we were. It was probably weird for them because it seemed as though we'd all been friends for so long. In fact, it'd been less than a month.

We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant and piled even more people back into Natalie's car for the ride home. Elliot and I sat next to each other, but we also had another person practically laying across us the whole way home. This was not the ideal situation for cuddling, but it didn't stop Elliot from trying to be close to me and even sneaking a little kiss on the cheek.

When we got home, we headed to someone's house to watch a movie. Little cuddling. As much as can be done in a room full of people. And goodnight. Hum, thinking more about that kiss I'm not going to give him. We've just got to get rid of all these people that are always around us!

February 21 - Bishop Dibble asked me to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I was so nervous because Natalie had just given a fantastically entertaining talk the week before and I was no where near as expressive as she was. I think that's when I learned that I was just OK being Whitney. So I became Whitney. And Elliot liked Whitney.

We went to Elliot's house for cookies that night, but didn't get a chance to be close to each other with his family around and Natalie as my ride. Natalie and I also made sure we made fun of their family for liking well-done (burned) cookies. We probably weren't winning any points, but it was fun to be able to joke around with Elliot's family.

February 22 - I was craving a little Elliot time BIG TIME! It seemed like it'd been forever since I had hugged him and that's really all I wanted. I wasn't going to kiss him.

I worked late, but made it to the end of Family Home Evening where everyone was just writing to missionaries. Elliot was writing to a friend on a mission and he let me read his letter. He is so eloquent. And completely adorable. In his letter he told his friend about me (you may think that even writing this whole 10-year story is too personal, but believe me, I'm leaving stuff out . . . this letter included). I needed to hug him. Now.

We tried to sneak away before the activity ended. He needed to hug me too. The moment after we left the building and seconds before we attempted to pull ourselves into our much-needed embrace, a flock of people came flooding out of the building to interrupt us. Natalie included. She was ready to go home, so we said goodnight. Hugless.

1999 - The Lunch Date + The Move

(originally posted 09/04/2009)

February 19 - There was no hiding the fact that I was watching the clock all morning until Elliot finally picked me up from work to go to lunch. We went to Applebee's, a good choice to offset my pickiness. I had on my scrubs and Emergency Chiropractic polo shirt (not very glamorous). When Elliot asked if they were real scrubs, I lifted up the back of my shirt to show him the actual "Scrubs" label located on the rear of my pants. He said, "Oh no, don't get me looking down there." I blushed and determined that I needed just one or two more obvious hints that he liked me before I'd make any moves. He certainly wasn't moving fast enough for me, but I still didn't know what to do!

The lunch was enjoyable, but we were both obviously nervous and didn't talk as easily as we did on the phone. Plus, I was still thinking about him looking at my ghetto-booty. He may have been too.

OK, now don't judge. I certainly didn't. I still had some time before I had to be back at work, so Elliot took me to a second-hand music store and . . . wait for it . . . got totally excited when he found a Mariah Carey CD! Seriously, gag. He immediately purchased it, and though I was seriously skeptical about his music choices, he was even more endearing to me than he had been before. Plus, I caught him looking at me while he was driving. Just one more hint and I'll make my move.

Elliot's brother had invited us to join him and his wife Xan at an ASU vs. BYU baseball game that night in which Adam's old friend was playing. We were to meet up with some of his friends to eat wings later. I called Natalie to gather some clothes for me to change into and Elliot was going to pick them up before he came to pick me up for our second date of the day. If my booty looked good in scrubs, it'd look even better in my cute jeans.

Again, the minute-by-minute countdown made the rest of the day go very slow. Elliot finally picked me up and we headed to the ASU ball fields to meet Adam and Xan for the rest of the game. They seemed happy to have us there, but neither Xan nor I are huge conversationalists, so I tried to ask questions about the pregnancy and excitement of having a baby. Adam and Elliot, brothers of course, had plenty to talk about.

After the game was over, Adam wanted to introduce us to his friend. In the introduction, Adam said, "This is my brother Elliot and his girlfriend Whitney." Completely taken by surprise, I quickly responded, "Oh dear, he moves fast doesn't he?"

Thankfully, Elliot and I can give some credit to our siblings for getting us together. Natalie, because she moved me to Arizona, and Adam because he made it clear that Elliot had obviously talked enough about me to make him think that I was his girlfriend. Green light for me. Go Whitney.

However, my response to Adam's introduction gave Elliot an instant headache. Elliot assumed that my response was negative and all of his presumed flirtations were in vain. I'm really good at ruining great situations, but thankfully this one wasn't a total loss. It gave me my window to make my move because Elliot's sudden headache had rendered him unable to make a move.

Elliot's insta-headache also made him unable to drive, so he handed over the keys while I drove to Wingers. We were early, so we reserved a booth for the group that would be arriving later.

God bless Grandma Anderson who taught me this trick. Apparently there are pressure points in your hands. When we'd complain of headaches as kids, Grandma would grab our hands and put pressure on our pressure points to make our headache go away. I told Elliot of this trick and offered to try it on him and threw in a little neck rub for good measure. His headache went away as fast as it came, but that didn't stop me from hanging on to his hand when the rest of the group showed up at the restaurant. He wasn't denying it either, even when we got a few interesting looks from his friends.

Apparently getting together with Taylor Wiscombe meant that Mad Dog Inferno hot sauce had to be busted out to ensure that someone would inevitably go sterile. Elliot and Taylor had tried the sauce twice before and Folsom referred to it as "lava in a bottle." I agreed to try some and dabbed a tiny dot on a piece of chicken, placed it in my mouth, and immediately ran to the bathroom or somewhere near a fire extinguisher to put out the fire in my face! I can't imagine trying any more than the little dot I tried, and wondered at the sanity of Taylor and Elliot who had both tried it several times. They were both running low on brain cells.

After my Mad Dog recovery (seriously, don't try it), I cleaned myself up and returned to my new favorite position, right next to Elliot as he reached out to hold my hand again. Such a little gesture, such a huge smile. The group decided to go to the new movie "October Sky" at the Ahwatukee theater.

By the way, every time someone would say "Ahwatukee," my sister Natalie would say, "Bless you." It still makes me laugh.

Elliot made no effort to keep me from holding his hand, and even reached for my hand while we drove to the theater. I imagine that he was feeling pretty confident and relieved that his headache was gone. We settled into our seats at the theater and though the movie was really good, Elliot had recently made focusing during my movie-going experiences extremely difficult. We held hands and practiced making ourselves comfortable cuddling. It wasn't hard. We were naturals.

After the movie, I had to laugh out loud upon finding Luke Wiscombe snuggled up and sleeping in the fetal position across several seats at the end of the row. Apparently the rocket scientist didn't interest him.

Elliot drove me back to my car at work and I was not excited for the night to end. I was so happy about the whole day, the lunch date, the instrumental introduction, the hand holding, and the cuddling that I just wanted it to continue. Elliot said that he'd follow me home just to make sure I would be safe (because of the late hour). He walked me over to my car and before I even unlocked the door, I turned to Elliot who was very close behind me and let his arms wrap around me as I nuzzled my way comfortably into his chest. I fit perfectly in his embrace and just let myself stay there for a while.

I felt like I had focused so much time on getting to this point that I hadn't thought of the next step. Kissing. WAIT A MINUTE! I had to throw around the pro's and con's of letting him kiss me that night really quick before he tried to do it! This was good, it kept me in his arms a little longer.

I decided NOT to let him kiss me. I made it only possible for Elliot to kiss my forehead and give me another hug before he opened my door for me. He followed me home and I could see him in my rearview mirror the whole time. I was dying to know what was going through his mind at the time because he looked a little spacey. I know I was.

I'll let him chase me for a while.

1999 - E-mail & Nosey's Sister

(originally posted 09/03/2009)

February 16 - Sometime in the first weeks of living in Arizona, Natalie's old friend sent us a laptop so we could have access to e-mail. Elliot and I had started emailing each other on top of the long phone conversations, as well as seeing each other as often as possible. In getting to know Elliot's sister Beth, we found that she was a lover of quoting movies. This turned into a guessing game of movie quotes whenever we were with Elliot's family as well as through e-mail almost every day. I think it just gave us an excuse to contact each other at any moment during the day. It's a good thing my job had a 2-hour lunch break which allowed time for the dial-up to connect to check my emails during lunch.

At Family Home Evening last night, Elliot challenged me on a movie quote and I told him that if I got it right that he had to take me to lunch someday. I was confident in my answer and Elliot assured me that I got it right (although I can't remember what it was right now, I, in fact, got it wrong). We planned our lunch for Friday afternoon because Elliot's class at Mesa Community College (MCC) ended at 12 and I had a 2-hour lunch break.

February 17 - I couldn't go to the cannery assignment that I'd signed up for because working at the Chiropractor's office kept me at work until 6:00, sometimes later. This was OK though because it gave Elliot the chance to have another conversation with someone in which he was able to confess his feelings for me. Apparently the nosey person in our ward and his sister have family counsels discussing the state of relationships in the Butte's ward, and Elliot and Whitney were on their agenda.

I also missed Elliot's church basketball game because of the late work schedule, but we remedied that by talking on the phone for another hour and a half. The topics of our conversation evade me right now, but we found plenty to discuss and laugh about and I was definitely enjoying the attention and was completely unwilling to end the call.

February 18 - Elliot and Folsom took Natalie and I to see the Mesa Temple. It was beautiful and I'd never seen a temple without an Angel Moroni. I enjoyed walking around the grounds with Elliot, but my mind couldn't help but look forward to our time alone the next day at our lunch date.

(If it seems like it's taking an eternity for me to tell the story about Elliot finally making his move, can you even imagine how long it seemed to me when it was happening?)

1999 - Work & The Valentine's Dance

(originally posted 09/01/2009)

February 9 - I started working at Emergency Chiropractic. Unfortunately, as history would predict for the first day of my job, I also had a cold.

Natalie and I met over at Elliot's house that night to take him and Bethany to see "Prince of Egypt." Mother Dibble could tell that I wasn't feeling very well and much to my surprise, she stuck her hand right down my shirt to feel my chest for a fever! Interesting . . . my mom always felt my forehead.

I didn't even feel good enough to focus on any moves Elliot may or many not make. I did get some candy from my secret Valentine though, and I hoped that it was him.

February 10 - Still had a cold. It's hard to train for a job when you can't hear what your trainer is saying. I got a poem from my secret Valentine.

February 11 - Still sick. Celia, the large-chested scary Administrator came to visit the office. She asked me a question and I saw her lips moving, but I wasn't quite sure what she said or asked me. So I just said, "Yes," supposing that she asked me if I was doing OK.

Mistake. Dr. Andreasen came out immediately and sat with me and asked what he could do to relief some of the stress of my training. I wasn't stressed, my head was just going to explode with this sinus pressure blocking my ability to hear properly! Celia never liked me.

I got a tape with the most hilarious song from my secret Valentine.

Side note: As Elliot reads me his journal documenting this time in our lives, I have a better idea of how we were acting towards each other and how our interest in each other was not one-sided, nor was it nonchalant. It did take Elliot longer to notice me than it took me to notice him, but the point is that he noticed. In fact, at the time we met, Elliot was actively pursuing another girl. I didn't know about her because she wasn't in town, but our budding friendship quickly made her fade into the background until she was gone completely. Go me.

Thank goodness for some nosey friends in the ward who had to know everything about everyone. According to Elliot's journal, he had a conversation tonight with this guy who asked if he was seriously dating me. I guess nosey people can be helpful sometimes when it involves people admitting and vocalizing feelings they have for someone. Elliot admitted to him that he liked me a lot. This would have been helpful information . . . for me. This is the same nosey guy who sought me out and chased after me before I could leave a Break the Fast after church on Sunday to inform me that the mint brownies that I brought tasted like toothpaste. Great, thanks.

February 12 - A group of us went to a performance of "Annie Get Your Gun" in which a friend from our ward, Amanda Udall, was the lead. I don't really remember the story, but I got to sit by Elliot. I wasn't sure, but it seemed as though I didn't have to put as much effort into making sure I was always by Elliot. He seemed to gravitate towards me now.

I got a flower from my secret Valentine.

February 13 - Elliot and Folsom met at our apartment and we tried to go see "Life Is Beautiful" again at the theater, but it was sold out. We went to dinner at Lychee Inn instead and a quick trip to our favorite store, MacFrugals. We dropped Folsom off at home because we couldn't convince him to go to the Valentine's dance.

Elliot presented Natalie and I with a double-framed picture of us at the Renaissance Festival with our dumb heads as the King/Queen and Nat and Beth as Robin/Marion. I thought it was about the cutest thing that he thought of giving us a Valentine's gift.

Elliot was talking about being caught delivering something to his secret Valentine earlier in the week, so then I became nervous about finding out who my secret Valentine was and having to dance with him. This meant time away from Elliot, which I wasn't willing to do.

When we got to the dance, Elliot went to say hello to some of his friends while Natalie and I leaned against the wall in true Stake Dance form. A young blond man approached me and asked if I thought my boyfriend would mind if he danced with me. Unfortunately, I had to say that I didn't have a boyfriend, muttering "yet" under my breath, and danced with the guy.

Later in the evening, Randy Hilliard revealed himself as my secret Valentine. I thanked him for all of the fun surprises during the week as I danced with him, keeping my eye out for Elliot's location while still trying not to be rude. I'm sure I was completely unsuccessful.

According to Elliot's journal, we danced 3 of the 6 slow dances together, repeating our close dancing position from earlier in the week. I tried to be more obvious about my interest, feeling as though Elliot was finally enjoying some of the attention. I was still missing my Retrix days in Rexburg and dancing each weekend, so I quickly shed my shy personality to break loose on the dance floor. I didn't quite break as loose as the guy in the corner sweating his guts out dancing by himself, but I was pretty energetic and Elliot enjoyed it.

After the dance was over, we invited several people back to our apartment for ice cream. Elliot and I drove Natalie's car home and had a helium balloon sticking out of the sunroof. At one point in the drive, Elliot drove over a curb turning a corner. In his embarrassment, his quick excuse was that he was looking at the balloon, but my peripheral vision tells me that he was looking at me.

During the commotion of eating ice cream back at our apartment, someone sneakily wrote on our calendar on April 14th "Elliot and Whitney will be engaged." Our interest in each other must have been more obvious to others than I thought. And I liked that.

I wasn't quite sure I was comfortable talking to Natalie about Elliot yet, but I sure spent a lot of money on my phone bill calling Lindsay and Stacy. They were super-excited about every little detail I had to offer them and helped me analyze every move Elliot made. I was fairly certain he was about to make a good one . . . and I was going to let him.

1999 - The Renaissance Festival & More Hockey

(originally posted 08/28/2009)

February 6 - Natalie and I drove over to Elliot's to pick up him and his sister Beth to go to the Renaissance Festival. I was still reviewing the previous night and watching for all signs of interest from Elliot. Historically I wasn't one for reading signs properly (hence my absolute waste of over a year in college loving my FHE brother), so I wanted to be sure before I continued my pursuit of Elliot.

Elliot's sister Bethany was 14-years-old, but still very into dressing up. For instance, one time Natalie and I showed up at their house and Bethany answered the door wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots because she had been watching Dances With Wolves. For the Renaissance Festival she was donning her belt and wooden sword. This became very hilarious as we were walking around the Festival when without a word, a random Festival actor and Beth paused, stared at each other for a second, took their stance, and drew their swords! They began a short sword fight that nearly made me pee my pants from laughing so hard. It couldn't have been planned better, if it had been planned.

Elliot's journal includes information about how many cat-calls and come-ons Natalie and I got while we were there, including a man with an eye-patch looking at Natalie and saying "Methinks I am in lust with ye!"

I did my best to be close to Elliot, but not too close. I wanted to be obvious, but not too obvious. What am I saying? I had no idea what I was doing! I just knew I wanted to be near Elliot for the very purpose of his occasional lead with his hand on the small of my back (refer to "the small of the back" excitement from The Never-Ending Date - Part 1). Who cares that I was probably just in his way, but I thought for sure that there were a couple of times that he was getting close to me on purpose. I was super aware of how close he was to me in the torture chamber. Hum, sort of wish we were in a place that wasn't so horrific.

He didn't know at the time that he might regret my amazing ability to eat, but we headed over to the jousting tournament with giant turkey legs in our mitts. Yum, turkey. I cleaned the bone in record time to which Elliot was totally impressed. Nothing keeps me from me and my turkey.

(not sure why I'm not looking at the camera . . . perhaps that giant heaving bosom was hard to look away from or I was making sure Elliot wasn't looking)

So after we'd had enough of the busty peasants, turkey legs, sword fights, and jousting, we headed home to prepare for another hockey game.

Natalie's co-worker gave her 4 tickets to the Phoenix Mustangs hockey game, so we took Taylor Wiscombe and Elliot. We were 4 of the meager 200 fans in the stadium, and just so happened to be sitting right behind 4 other fans (2 men, 2 women) though every one of us could have had a whole section to ourselves.

We made sure we made up for the lack of fan support by being extra loud and calling out players names randomly ("MENICCI!!"). At one point, one of the men in front of us turned around to Elliot and in an extremely snippy manner said, "Could you please stop clapping so loudly in my ear? I'm going deaf!" and then he and his guy friend got up and left.

FYI, Elliot does indeed have a loud clap, but he wasn't clapping in his ear on purpose. In the short while that I'd known Elliot, he surely wasn't maliciously trying to make that man go deaf. We discussed the snippy man for a second when the woman turned around and in the same snippy manner of her son, explained that he was tired, had just gotten off of a long day at work, blah, blah, blah . . . and then she got up to leave as well.

We had successfully emptied the poor stadium of 3 of it's fans, but one woman was left in front of us (Natalie's coworker). She turned around and made a remark about the snippy man that can't be mentioned here, but is quoted directly in Elliot's journal. It didn't really apply to the situation, but it made us laugh and made Elliot feel better about his exuberant clap.

February 7 - Natalie and I met Elliot and Folsom at a fireside and listened to President Monson speak. We invited them back to our apartment for ice cream and Anderson Trouble. I hadn't discussed my feelings for Elliot with Natalie, so I was grateful that she enjoyed their company as well. This made it easier to convince her to go with me to places where Elliot would conveniently be and to invite him over when the opportunity presented itself. Elliot is so handsome all dressed up in a shirt and tie. I couldn't wait for the next week's activities that would surely involve Elliot.

1999 - Hockey & The First Date

(originally posted 08/06/2009)

February 1 - I was still out of work and I think my temp agency was irritated with me for quitting twice. Hum. That night Natalie and I went to FHE. Elliot said that I could come to his house and print some of my resumés. I love him. Plus I was in his room, something I'm absolutely POSITIVE his family was freaking out about.

February 2 - Elliot invited us to go to a hockey game with him and a bunch of other people including Adam & Xan. In fact, we were all meeting at Xan's parents house to go with the group. I can't remember what team was playing, but it was my first hockey game and I got to sit by Elliot. I had never seen a professional sport play before (in real life), so hockey was super exciting, especially when they beat the crap out of each other.

February 3 - Natalie and I had signed up to go on splits with the Sister Missionaries, but waited in the parking lot of the church for a long time before we decided they weren't showing up. Apparently Natalie didn't give them the phone number to her giant car cell phone.

Elliot and I talked on the phone for over an hour tonight. I'm not as shy when I'm talking on the phone. HE FINALLY ASKED ME OUT! We'd been hanging out with each other for 2 weeks, but this would be our our official first date. It was set for Friday night.

February 4 - Natalie's friend from her mission (Dean) invited us to go to a fireside with him. I don't remember anything about the fireside, but Dean informed me that his chiropractor was looking for a new receptionist and gave me the number. Thank you Dean.

February 5 - Today was an excellent day. I called the chiropractor's office first thing in the morning . . . "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeemergency Chiropractic, this is Stephanie, may I help you?"

I set up an interview for that afternoon with Dr. Andreasen. The office was set up so that they could act like they were working while still trying to check me out in the lobby. It was a little uncomfortable, but I looked cute and I was confident (for once in my life).

Laxia (Chiropractic Assistant) called me back and took me to the tiny conference room and told me how much she liked Dean and how he was a great guy (she thought we were dating). Dr. Andreasen came in and suddenly we were best friends! He was so super nice that I didn't think he was for real. He asked me a few questions and I could tell that he liked me immediately. I'm surprised he didn't hug me on my way out.

Right when I got home, I received a phone call from an administrator (Celia) from Emergency Chiropractic to ask for a second interview on Monday.

I was so excited for my date with Elliot and the day had already been going really well. It was an enormous group date. We wedged ourselves into the back of Taylor Wiscombe's VW Bug (he took Lauren Walters), and we went to the church to play 3-Legged Kickball. This was fun not only because I was the 6th grade kickball champ, but because Elliot and I were tied together and had to hold on to each other for dear life so we wouldn't fall over! I liked being held onto and he was easy to hold.

After the sweaty kickball game, we went to Aaron Hale's family home to watch a movie (Hook) in their theater room. I'd never heard of someone having a theater room, so this was super cool. Only downfall is that they didn't have furniture and there were so many people. Elliot and I found a place on the floor and started to watch the movie. He looked totally uncomfortable crossing his legs, so I told him he could lay his head on my leg.

To give a short background on my past dating experiences, . . . there weren't any.

Well, unless you count that dork, but I don't, so every nerve in my body was at full attention with Elliot so close to me. Thank goodness for an inexperienced heart and lack of muscle, because there was not really anything else stopping me from grabbing him and making him mine. After my legs fell asleep, he switched me places and for a moment, even played with my hair (HELLO! I'd only heard of guys playing with hair, and for that brief second, I was in heaven! You would never guess that I was 21-years-old.).

I'm not certain that I paid much attention to the movie because I was a little nervous and yet excited about the near-cuddle we were working on. I wanted to be hyper-aware of every move he made . . . if he was going to make one. He didn't. Hand placement wasn't quite obvious enough for the quick brush with my hand, plus I didn't want to be inventing an interest from him that might not have been there. I was determined to let him make the first move. The date ended with a big smiley face in my planner, an invite to the Renaissance Festival the next morning, and an invite to a hockey game that night. No hug, but a big smiley face.

1999 - Trouble & Other Stuff

(originally posted 07/23/2009)

January 25 - As suggested by Mike and Elliot, I quit working at Ikon Office Solutions. The gossiping coworker ladies seemed genuinely shocked and a little upset especially since they had just ordered me my own stapler.

Natalie and I attended Family Home Evening at the church near Elliot's home. We played Human Checkers.

January 26 - I started working at a place called Deutche. I, for the life of me, could not pronounce it. This is especially difficult when you're supposed to be answering the phone. I hated it at this place too. There was a greasy fat man that kept staring at me.

Natalie and I couldn't stop talking about how much fun we had with Mike and Elliot. So we called both of them and invited them over to make cookies. But we told them they couldn't come unless Elliot brought his little sister Bethany. Elliot helped me (sort of watched) as I made the cookies and while they baked, we played TROUBLE. You haven't played Trouble until you've played ANDERSON TROUBLE. There's no waiting for turns when we play. It can also be quite dangerous for others when you haven't clipped your fingernails.

The Dibbles and the Andersons apparently make cookies a little different. Andersons prefer the cookie to be a little more on the "not done" side, Dibbles, other other hand, go to the extreme of "golden brown" (in my opinion). When I pulled the cookies out of the oven, and this isn't funny unless you witnessed it, Elliot exclaimed, "THEY'RE DOUGH!" We had another totally fun night with Mike and Elliot and I was super excited to be able to meet his sister Beth.

January 27 - I quit Deutche at the end of the day. Couldn't stand that fat man's eyes burning into my back. And I still couldn't pronounce Deutche.

Natalie and I tested out the "marriage" class at institute. It was totally awkward. Never going there again.

January 28 - I didn't have work, so I'm sure I went shopping. I also got the oil changed in my car. When entering my information into their computer, the oil guy asked if he could keep my phone number. Now, you must all understand that in the short month that I'd lived in Arizona I had been hit on more times than I EVER had in my life . . . and I spent 2 years at Ricks College where the majority of the population wants to get married (no one paid attention to me there). So I totally turned that guy down and hoped that he didn't tamper with my brakes.

I was excited. The next night I was going to "hang out" with Elliot.

1999 - The Never-Ending Date (Part 2)

(originally posted 07/22/2009)

January 23 - I know. It's taking a long time. It sure went by fast when it was all happening, but the telling the story is taking forever. I apologize for being long-winded, but it's my story, so I get to do whatever I want.

I don't believe I slept most of the night because I was still hoping that Natalie would agree to go to the ward activity at the caves the next morning. I really wanted to see Elliot again and I knew he'd be there.

I love my sister. She woke up and we prepared for the activity and met at the church. We naturally steered ourselves over to say "good morning" to Mike and Elliot, so we happened to be close by when the leader of the pack said that everyone needed to find a ride with someone.

Elliot asked us to go with him, Mike and Bishop Dibble in his father's vehicle. I was very excited, even though Elliot sat in the front seat. Our conversation just continued from the night before and car-sick Mike entertained us with the most ridiculous, yet hilarious riddles.

I didn't know it until this point in my life, but I'm a little claustrophobic. It was the cave that did it. At some points, you have to shimmy down a tiny hole or through an extremely narrow passage and I'm afraid I'll get stuck and die. At the end of the cave, or near it, there was a water hole. By the time we got there, several people had stripped down fairly appropriately (no shirts, they kept the pants) and were swimming in it. Elliot really wanted to swim and I wanted to go with him, but I couldn't picture myself taking off my shirt and swimming in my sports bra. So I was the keeper of Elliot's shoes and clothes and just hoped that he wouldn't break his head on the jagged rocks at the bottom. I was a little irritated when another girl spoke up quickly and said she'd jump in with him, right after I declined.

Someone gave a quick devotional where we had to turn off our flashlights and sit for a few minutes. It was absolutely dark and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, but I knew that Elliot was near me. I could have reached out and started making out with him and he'd never know it was me.


We were filthy by the time we got out of the cave, but thankfully we were reminded to bring a second set of clothing to change into for the ride home.

Elliot let Mike sit in the front on the way home so that he wouldn't be so car-sick, which meant that I got to sit by Elliot. Before we got into the car, I'd witnessed a conversation between Elliot and his father that made me think that Elliot was an only child. He sounded a little spoiled and demanding and I even called him on it. Turns out he is a middle child. He rode most of the way home with his arm across the back of the seat behind me which just made me giddy. I was nervous to fall asleep even though I was exhausted. Had I fallen asleep, I'm sure I would have cuddled into him, my mouth would have been open, and strings of drool would have been dripping onto his leg. I stayed awake.

On the way home, Elliot and Mike invited us to join them and some other people at Wingers to eat BBQ wings. I believe they picked us up again and took us to the restaurant. I had never had wings before and wasn't super excited about it (seemed like too much work), but I really liked the company.

(This picture is not actually of the night I'm writing about, but happened in late 1998. They are all trying the hot sauce "Mad Dog Inferno" which could have possibly sterilized the whole lot of them.)

Those guys made a mess. Seriously, it was like watching people who'd not eaten for weeks. They devoured the wings and had BBQ sauce all over their faces. At one point Natalie and I were giggling at them and they knew why. Mike piped up and said (with wing portions hanging out of his face), "Don't wipe until you're all done!" This has become a commonly used quote since then.

We were invited from the restaurant to a party at someone's house (in the ward). The party was sort of lame and one guy followed me around for a little bit. But we ended up in the dining room playing a game called "Chaos." I don't know if Natalie made it up, but it was hilarious and so fun! Elliot kept yelling out the same answer "1923" each time the game asked for a year and it just made us laugh so hard. It's a loud game, but so fun and the party ended up not quite so lame. I knew for sure I liked Elliot quite a bit, even if he did act like an only child. I couldn't wait to see him again.

If you're looking at my planner (where I have all of this recorded), I wrote down "Lots of laughing! NEW BEST FRIENDS."

1999 - The Never-Ending Date (Part 1)

(originally posted 04/14/2009)

January 18-22 - This was a busy week. I continued working at Ikon Office Supplies, taking daily afternoon naps, and trying to block out the gossiping co-workers. I hated it.

Monday evening Natalie and I went to the FHE activity which was watching "The Princess Bride" in the cardboard cars everyone else made the week before. Natalie and I just sat in the middle of the room laughing our guts out and looking like fools.

Tuesday was unremarkable. Wednesday Natalie and I tried to act spiritual and go to an institute class over by Mesa Community College (MCC). I think we were both completely bored out of our minds and determined to go to a different class the next week.

Let me just throw this one in here to redeem myself for Natalie. I mentioned before that Natalie and I hadn't lived with each other for several years (like 7 or 8), and even before that it wasn't like we were the best of friends. So this experience was totally new for both of us. I must say though that Natalie was the best roommate I've ever had! She was always home from work before me and she had a little obession with fajitas, which we ate almost every night. She'd make me dinner EVERY NIGHT! Every night. I'd just sit there and she'd make dinner. Every night. She's the best.

Thursday finally brought us some good news. Natalie received a phone call from Elliot asking her on a date for Friday night. Yes, you heard me . . . he asked my sister out first! Seconds after they got off the phone, I received a phone call from Elliot's friend Mike Folsom asking me on the same date. I asked what we were doing, which totally threw him off because I guess it was a surprise, so he said, "I don't know." Me, being totally tactless and rude, called him a liar and said I'd see him the next day. My lack of tact may be one among many reasons that I didn't ever date much. Natalie had given Elliot directions to our apartment.

I was super-excited for the date on Friday, which made working all day very SLOW! I don't remember exactly what time Mike and Elliot were supposed to pick us up, but they were very, very LATE! When they finally got to our apartment, Elliot and Natalie quickly started light-heartedly bickering about the bad directions she'd given him.

We raced off to our first destination in Elliot's white Saturn which was to see "Life Is Beautiful" at the theater on Rural and University. Since we were so late, the rest of the group had already gone into the movie. We waited for Elliot's other friend Cameron to come out with the tickets he was supposed to have bought for us, but we just kept on waiting and waiting.

Call me crazy (well, they all did), but while we were waiting, a few older men that were acting totally drunk mozied on up to get tickets for a movie. One was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and cap. It ran through my mind that those guys looked like The Beach Boys, so I mentioned it to Natalie, Elliot, and Mike. They just laughed until we saw the limousine at the other side of the parking lot! We were pretty sure that Cameron wasn't coming out of the movie with our tickets, so we all ran over to the limo and asked the driver who's limo it was. He wouldn't answer us, but I was positive it was The Beach Boys. You know, I'm sure they just always hang out with each other. So the driver let us get into the limo to sit for a little while. It was awesome because I'd never been in one before.

We had some time to pass, so we got back in Elliot's car and they drove us to Scottsdale to a little ice cream shop called The Sugar Bowl. We sat in a little booth and visited for a while. This is where we all learned of Natalie's germ issues. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I know that Mike and Elliot thought she was crazy. Natalie said that she even has a hard time taking the sacrament because she knows that other people have touched it. We had a lot of good laughs and I thought Mike was awesome and totally funny and Mike and Elliot feeding off of each other was hilarious! They had a lot of silly inside jokes and noises that just made us laugh.

Now that I think about it, we did a lot of driving on this date. It was great though, because that gave us plenty of time to talk. They all convinced me to quit my Ikon job, and they almost convinced us to go on the ward spelunking activity the next day. We drove to Ocotillo to Eric Phillips house for dinner. It was a gated community (I thought those were so weird), and apparently no one could hear the gate beeping because no one would let us in! We just had to sit outside the gate for a long time speculating as to whether or not there was an Oompa-Loompa midget hiding in the gate booth.

Finally somone let us in after Elliot's head was about to explode. He was so embarrassed that absolutely NO PART of the date was going according to plan. Natalie and I were having a GREAT time with just Mike and Elliot! Apparently it was an Italian-themed night with the movie and dinner. The house was absolutely beautiful and we got to take a small tour. It was dark, so I can't recall what it really looks like, but we went into the back yard which was down some stairs to the pool area.

Shortly after we all got down there, the dinner was finally ready, so we were called back up. Elliot, who was standing right next to me, automatically reached out his hand to touch the small of my back to lead me back to the stairs. That was the actual first touch, and let me tell you that I was TOTALLY IN LOVE by then! There was electricity. I'm telling you, I got chills. Sorry Mike. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Elliot all night.

The guys served us our dinner and I knew by then that Elliot wouldn't be interested in Natalie. Elliot grabbed a plate for Natalie and sort of spun it around in his hands and said, "What do you want to eat Natalie." Natalie's response . . . "Nothing on that plate!" That's how I knew.

I really can't recall what else we did that night, but it was seriously the most fun I had ever had on a date! They invited us again to go to the ward activity at the crack of dawn, but Natalie wasn't sure she wanted to go. I didn't even know what spelunking was, but I knew Elliot would be there and I didn't care how early we had to get up. I did my best begging to get Natalie to go. I still wasn't ready to set out on my own. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.

1999 - January 17

(originally posted 04/13/2009)

January 17 - Natalie found some East Valley maps and made me study the names of the streets and the order they go in. We were not getting lost again. We found the Lakeshore building fairly easily and made it to church on time. Nothing to report from church, but we were invited to the Bishop's house that night for "Meet the Members" for new members of the ward. We got good directions.

Natalie and I arrived at Bishop Dibble's home early because we left ourselves plenty of time to get lost. When we entered their beautiful home, there were chairs set up all over the front room. Natalie sat down and as I was about to sit next to her she informed me that I wasn't allowed to sit by her. She's such a mother! I was still super shy and totally nervous. So I pouted and found another chair across the room. Just as I sat down, Sister Dibble came out of her room and I LOVED HER IMMEDIATELY! She asked why I was sitting by myself and I told on Natalie. Take that Nat!

More members showed up and eventually the room was fairly full. I don't know how new all the "new" members were, but I was glad that Natalie and I weren't the only newbies. Elliot was there, though I don't remember him coming through the front door. During the opening prayer, the phone started ringing and I opened my eyes long enough to see Elliot pick it up and hang it up immediately. I thought it was awfully presumptuous of him to do that at someone else's home.

I'm sure that Bishop Dibble shared a little message and then separated us into groups of 4-5 for the game. We were doing skits. I hate skits. I either make an absolute fool of myself or act totally different than I usually am and then I seem fake when people find out that I'm actually shy. We were all given a scripture story. We also had to think of a New Year's Resolution and somehow apply the scripture story to it through the skit.

My group had a few people, but I only remember Kyle Jones and another girl named Jaime. Kyle and I paired up to take the story of the sons of Mosiah that were put into prison. We tried really hard to discuss our plan of action for the skit, but we got nowhere. We'd have to do this impromptu. My resolution was to stop being so shy and learn how to talk to people and Kyle's resolution was to stop biting her fingernails. It was our turn and I wanted to throw up and/or pee my pants. I hate skits.

Kyle and I held our imaginary prison bars. I got stage freight and couldn't think of anything to say. Much to my relief, Kyle started talking about how long we'd been in jail and how boring it was because I never talked and how I better start talking before she went insane. I wanted our turn to be over, so I quickly said, "Well, now that I've learned how to talk, I'd like to mention how you biting your fingernails for this whole time we've been in jail has been disgusting. You should stop." The End. We got a few laughs.

I was jealous that Natalie got to be in Elliot's group. Why did I have a crush on him? He keeps calling me Wendy! I believe they got the scripture story of King Benjamin. I quickly learned that Elliot likes to talk because it took him a while to get to the point of his babbling which was his resolution to learn everyone's name in the ward. He was funny and adorable. I wish he'd stop calling me Wendy.

Bishop Dibble started dishing the Rootbeer Floats in the kitchen as Elliot started taking them to everyone in the other room. My heart fluttered when Elliot asked me, calling me by my actual name, if I was interested in the rootbeer float. Instead of breaking down and just eating one, I had to be difficult. I asked for them to be separate. I'm a fan of rootbeer and ice cream, just not together. I followed Elliot into the kitchen to make sure he understood me (he had a history of not hearing clearly). Bishop Dibble knew right away that I'd be a difficult one. His response to my request made me feel like a moron! I also finally figured out that Elliot was Bishop Dibble's son. Not so presumptuous anymore. Still just very, very cute.

1999 - January 11-16

(originally posted 03/16/2009)

January 11 - Natalie started working at Pinacore, so I went shopping again. I was really enjoying this new-found world of dollar stores.

We remembered the announcement that FHE would be at the building Natalie and I had first gone to church before heading over to the Single's Ward. We were confident that we would be able to find it again, remembering that it was on Knox. Crap! Knox isn't a through street, but there is a road called Knox on almost every other road! We were tired of getting lost.

We finally found the building on Rural and Knox and made it to the last 10-15 minutes of FHE. This was fine because they were making cardboard box cars to use for the next weeks activity of watching a movie. Not interested in making a car. Apparently the handsome young man I'd met the day before wasn't interested in making one either. Elliot was sitting on the stage next to a few girls. My eyes found him immediately. He, for some reason, was wearing a snow cap, but he sure looked good in it. He hopped off the stage when he saw us and quickly made his way over to us.

ELLIOT: "Wendy, right?"
WHITNEY: "WHITTTTTT-NEEEEEEEY!!!! Good grief."

January 12 - I went shopping again. I was worried that my stellar skills when tested at my Temp Agency were too much for them to find me a silly job, but they finally called and set me up to work the next day.

January 13 - I started working at Ikon Office Supplies. I was shoved in a back room with 2 gossiping co-workers. I don't remember exactly what all my tasks were, but it was repetitious and so extremely boring. I even fell asleep a few times. I had to count the different office supplies that employees ordered or something, to make sure they were being honest. So inhumanely boring.

Aunt Lora's father had passed away on Sunday. So Natalie and I volunteered to babysit the grandkids during the viewing that night.

January 14 & 15 - I worked. Listened to the ladies gossip. Fell asleep.

January 16 - My friends Debbie Towne and Alyssa Meryhew came over to visit us! Our first visitors! I remember calling my old roommate Jeralyn (Beck) Merwin at 9:00 in the evening and woke her up! I was shocked that she and her husband were already in bed so early! Married people.

1999 - January 10 (THE FIRST MEETING)

(originally posted 03/01/09)

January 10 - Natalie and I were plum exhausted after our ordeal with the pizza, but still prepared for church the next day. We didn't know which ward we were in or what time it started. We figured that no church could be true that started before 9:00, so we were ready by then. Driving around Mesa all week, we had seen church buildings on nearly every corner and were sure that we wouldn't have a problem finding a ward to attend until we found our real ward. However, we weren't in Mesa anymore. Tempe and Chandler did a better job of hiding their buildings amongst neighborhoods and such, so we seriously couldn't find a building anywhere! We stopped at a gas station to look up some wards and I specifically remember seeing Tempe Buttes (though we laughed because we didn't know how to pronounce it properly). We kept driving until finally we saw a steeple off of Rural and Knox.

We had already been driving around for an hour, so we were happy when we were on time for sacrament meeting at this building. However, we were disappointed that it was someones farewell. We weren't in the mood to sit through someones mom cryin' about missing her son for 2 years. Natalie leaned over and said something about leaving, but I was determined to stay.

I don't remember anyone going out of their way to come and meet us, but somehow we got to Sunday School and Natalie was not happy about being there. As the end of the class came near, Natalie was searching out the exits to see which one would get us out fastest.

WHIT: "We're staying for Relief Society."
NAT: "We are NOT! We went last week!"

I'm not quite sure, but there may have been some pinching going on while Natalie and I were arguing about leaving or not leaving until a nice lady turned around before Relief Society started. She introduced herself and asked us about our story. When we told her that we were just going to this ward until we could find our regular ward, she looked at her watch and said, "Oh, my granddaughter goes to a singles ward that just started 5 minutes ago." She gave us directions and we dashed out.

We had already used up our 3 hour allotment for church that day (2 hours of church, 1 hour of trying to find a church), but we headed to the singles ward anyway. On our way in to the church we picked up a tithing envelope and snickered at the bishop's name . . . Bishop Kent Dibble. That's a funny name. We tried to be sneaky as we quietly crept into the back of the chapel, but everyone could smell fresh meat as their heads turned. They were just starting the sacrament. Seriously, everyone was staring.

There was a handsome young man blessing the sacrament that day. There were also some other fairly attractive young men passing the sacrament. One of them came all the way to the back to sit right next to us after the sacrament was over. He was ready to pounce as soon as the closing prayer was said. He introduced himself as Ryan and offered to show us to our next class. The Relief Society president was next to introduce herself, Laura Leeper. She was very tall and pretty and super nice. Bishop Dibble came to meet us next. He was very soft spoken and wouldn't look us in the eye. I think he knew we were snickering at his last name.

Ryan showed us to the Sunday School class. Natalie and I found some seats and started observing. My eyes caught onto the handsome young man that had blessed the sacrament. He was standing at the front of the room shaking hands with everyone. He sat down towards the end of the row in front of us and put both of his arms along the backs of the seats next to him. He turned his head to the right and behind him and glanced at us for a second, turned his head back forward, and then quickly back to look at us again. He prepared for pouncing the second the closing prayer was said. I got nervous.

ELLIOT: "Hi, I'm Elliot."
WHITNEY: "I'm Whitney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "Whit-ney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "WHIT-NEY!" (duh, do I mumble that much?)

Through talking in the short amount of time we had before he had to go to priesthood, we had already made a connection of someone I grew up with that served in his same mission to Dominican Republic East (Tad Hansen). As per usual, I was fairly silent and nervous and felt like a dork because I already had a crush on him.

Relief Society went by and Natalie and I were done with the day since we'd been at church for 5 hours. As we headed out to our car, Ryan caught up with us and invited us to dinner at his families home. We already had plans to dine with Uncle David and Aunt Lora, so we declined.

I wrote in my planner that day (because I don't write in my journal) as the people I remembered: Ryan, Laura, Elliott and a big smiley face. I wish Elliot would have asked us to dinner. I totally would have cancelled on UD & AL.

Happy Birthday Natalie!

. . . oh, so many other pictures I could have posted of you, but I still want you to like me. Happy Birthday Sissy.

OHIO - Part 1 (UNCLE MILES)

FINALLY! We finally planned our visit to Ohio to see Uncle Miles and Tom! Last Friday we flew out and got to stay in their beautiful home. I wonder what my house would look like if I worked at Crate & Barrel. I didn't get a picture of Toby, Miles' cat because he was a little shy and freaked out with Stella's sudden movements. Every time we saw him outside, he had a look on his mug that said, "I will return home when the child is gone. No sooner."

Of course, Elliot had to eat some BBQ, so we went out to eat at Montgomery Inn on someone's referral. I forgot to pack warm clothes, so I was freezing the entire time we were in Ohio. After dinner, Miles and Tom treated us to some Graeter's Ice Cream. I have a strict rule about NOT mixing chocolate and fruit, but Tom was quite passionate about getting the raspberry chocolate chunk that we had to get it and it was DELICIOUS!

Saturday morning (late morning) we planned to go to a children's museum called Cosi, not to be confused with Cosi the restaurant and also pronounced different. Makes sense, doesn't it? We had been in the front entry area for quite some time looking at their displays when I got a little ansie to go to another floor to see the rest of the museum. Miles and Tom were lurking about trying to act really interested in something (obviously stalling for time . . . but not obvious enough to me). As I started walking away, I spotted my brother-in-law Keith coming in the front door. Hum, I wondered. I haven't seen many people who look exactly like my action-hero brother-in-law. Then I saw his beautiful wife (my sister) and looked down to see a turbo stroller holding their 2 adorable kids as well as Aunt Nat following closely behind with a pig-tailed Tatem! I was so happy to see them! (if you'll remember, I didn't really get my fill of them when they were in Arizona in May because I was on my death bed) I was so happy that they made the LONG drive from Indiana to visit us!

(Stella was disgusted by the fake camel)

We milled around through the museum holding Stella most of the time because she felt like crap most of the day until she got some medicine from Aunt Lindsay.

Stella even fell asleep in Elliot's arms!

We ate lunch, made a huge mess in the cafeteria, and let the girls play in the museum playland before we headed back home. It was nearly impossible to get a picture of all four girls holding still. I can't believe Stella is the oldest. It's so weird not to have to chase around my own child anymore.

Miles and Tom grilled some yummy kabobs for us and we finished the night off with some more Graeter's Ice Cream. They also busted out the white-trash wigs.

(How can she be so, so, so beautiful and soooooooo absolutely ugly at the same time!)

We also had a contest to see who could suck in their nose the skinniest (pictures to come). We tried to stay up really late to visit, but we're all old now and can't stay awake very long. We did manage to take a normal picture of ourselves and send it to Mom (also, pictures to come later . . . they are on Miles' camera).

Elliot has a special touch with babies. Baby Brynlee must have been a sleepy girl!

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Uncle Miles before he went to work and had planned on leaving for Kirtland in the early afternoon. When Lindz, Keith, and Nat and the girls showed up all in matching outfits and one for Stella, we headed over to Crate & Barrel to visit Uncle Miles one more time and have lunch so he could have a picture with all of the girls. Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (the restaurant where Elliot and I almost broke up 10 years ago) was a little chaotic, but I'm glad we got to spend a little more time with Miles.

We finished packing up our stuff and said our goodbyes hoping that I'd made good enough friends with the little girls for an unforced goodbye hug (I even got a kiss-kiss from Tatem!).

We're so glad we finally got to visit Uncle Miles and Tom and scare the crap out of Toby the Cat! Thanks Miles and Tom!

10-Year Reunion - 05/15/09

I had really hoped to be at the point in my 10-year story where my sister Lindsay and my cousin Stacy made their way into the picture, but that didn't happen until May of 1999, so we have a while. So you'll see these pictures again soon.

However, we weren't postponing our 10-year reunion because I'm behind in my story! We've been planning the reunion of the 4 of us for quite some time and May 2009 was the time!

Here we are after church in 1999. I know, what's going on with my wings?

Lindsay, Natalie, Whitney, and Stacy laying across

And here we are laughing at my Mom after I got married towards the end of 1999. My Mom was peeking behind someone trying to take a picture of us (this picture) and tripped. I know it's horrible that we're laughing, but the peeking and tripping combo was just too much for us!

And here were at lunch in May 2009, all grown up with 9 kids between us!

I know that my sisters have some other pictures. I actually didn't take any of the weekend because I got sick and missed everything. I made it to the lunch, swimming, and sleepover. I also made it to the see Brian Reagan (comedian) on Saturday night, but I missed everything else. I know they had fun and I'm really looking forward to our Mexico reunion!