Easter Egg Hunt

My good friend Kimmie is always planning great activities that start out with making grandma's and grandpa's happy. This was no different. I hurried and grabbed the kids from school to race out to Scottsdale to a nursing home to deliver Easter wishes to the grandma's and grandpa's there. We were late, but Stella fit in several hugs and inappropriate comments to suffice for our visit.

Then we headed to a nearby park for an Easter egg hunt. Kimmie's Mom's husband dressed up in his homemade neon bunny costume with pink gloves and tennis shoes and happily posed for pictures with the children.

Then once again, I tried to explain to Stella how to "help" the younger kids find Easter eggs without actually picking them up for them. It didn't sink in.

But it was Kimmie activity, so of course it was fun. :)

Spring Training Baseball

I can't believe I forgot about this! We had a Dibble Day at the Ballpark during Spring Break in March. Usually the Dibble Day at the Ballpark has something to do with Grandpa's work, but this time it was real Dibble, like us. It was abnormally hot since we had just been having some really cool days, but still did nothing for my tan.

My loves.

I have no idea whose feet those are, but that's love right there.

I told George and Anabelle and Stella that I would send their video to ELLEN if they would dance behind unknowing baseball observing fans.  It was kind of funny.

Surveillance on who their next dancing victim would be.

Concession stand dancing.

More loves and my freakishly large and bent arm.

I can't tell if Ray has 2 bodies or if Adam was beheaded.  Lucy paid the closest attention to the game.  The security guard came and asked Adam is Xan was still alive because she was sort of taking a nap and hadn't moved in a little while.  It was pretty hot, so it was a valid concern.

Stella ended up making a new buddy with the poor kid sitting next to us with his loud mother.  They played cards.

I can't say I even watched more than 2 minutes of the game, but it was fun to be with family!

Stella Pulls Her Own Teeth

The teeth to the sides of Stella's front teeth have been loose forever. She was especially working on the left tooth and it was super wiggly while she ignored the right side tooth. Then one day she was eating lunch and started talking in that "I just lost a tooth voice" when you suddenly can't move anything in your mouth that makes you talk normal because she did, in fact, lose her tooth . . . the right one that wasn't as wiggly! She was so excited!

She decided the next day she was going to pull out the other one. And she did. I've never pulled out one of her teeth. She's done them all herself.

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I was kind of hoping for a toothless smile for a little bit because I think it's so cute, but those front teeth sure grew in big and fast. Then Stella pulled the side teeth out and those are taking their sweet time growing back in (she lost them at the beginning of February), making sure we all know how giant those front teeth are going to be.

She loves her big teeth and loves making them the only teeth you can see in pictures. For instance, Exhibit A:


. . . And Exhibit B:


. . . and if I may draw your attention to the girl behind Malcolm in Exhibit C:
I rest my case.

Malcolm is 6 Months Old!

Well that went fast. Anybody? Anybody? Malcolm is so great. Seriously, this little boy brings us happiness that we didn't know was missing!

At Malcolm's 6-month doctor visit, he weighed 21 pounds 11.5 ounces (97%), was 28.25 inches long (97%), and his head was 18.25 inches around (97%) . . . he might be the size of a 1-year-old, but he's proportionate.

Thanks to Stella's pterodactyl screeching, Malcolm found his voice this month. He loves screaming.

Malcolm likes to play the piano with whomever is at the piano. He'll even play himself if you sit him up.

I think Malcolm is going to be one of those kids that no one will believe me when I say he's super happy. He's just so serious and skeptical of everyone he sees outside of our home that he's straight-faced no matter the great lengths you go to to make him smile. Believe me, he's having the time of his life.

We finally put Malcolm in his crib in Stella's room.

Malcolm started sleeping through the night the day I stopped nursing him (boo).

Malcolm pees out of his diaper almost every single time. As proof that every child is different, he was in size 1 diapers for about 2 weeks, moved on to size 2 (which Stella never wore), and the second I bought a giant box of size 3 from Costco (which Stella was in until she was 1-year-old), he started peeing out of them. So now he's in size 4.

Malcolm likes to scream at his toys.

Malcolm wore his new suit to church and looked so handsome. His neck was too fat to button the top button, but we clipped the tie on anyway.

Malcolm went on his first hike with the family and he slept through the entire thing.

Malcolm is doing better sitting up, but still falls over after a few minutes.

Malcolm likes to bounce on the trampoline (in his tiny jammies).

Malcolm hasn't quite figured out that he needs to roll over from his back to tummy. He'll just lay there for a long time and either not move or arch his back to get his toys. No rolling so far.

Malcolm has always been a tummy-sleeper (gasp!) and he's so pleased with himself when he wakes up and rolls to his back. He doesn't even cry, he just talks to himself until I come get him . . . or until Stella "checks" on him.

Malcolm gets super excited when he sees his bottle. We always get a good laugh when he shoves it in his face. Sometimes he misses his mouth and it gets all over his face.

Malcolm has assassin speed. You can be googling at him in his face and then all of the sudden he'll have a hold of your eyeball or lips with his dagger-like fingernails.

To avoid family injury, Malcolm's fingernails need to be trimmed at least every 2 weeks.

Crazy Hair & Being Honest

Several weeks ago I decided to curl my hair before church. I never, ever do my hair different, so when Stella came into the bathroom she said:

STELLA: "Whoa, your hair is crazy!"
MOM: "Do you think the people at church will think it's crazy?"
STELLA: "Well, they will say that it looks good, but they will think that it looks crazy."

Malcolm's New Stuff

We didn't want Malcolm to feel left out since he's not allowed on the trampoline yet, so he got his super awesome stroller that he loves (and I love, love, love too . . . seriously, it has shocks).

Daddy also set up Malcolm's crib in Stella's room! He didn't sleep in it until I got the bumper (breathable mesh bumper from Target, love it), but he was officially sleeping in his crib by the beginning of February (5 months old) and he's been a champion sleeper ever since!

Trampoline!!

So he FINALLY gave in! Elliot has been completely against getting a trampoline for the last few years since I've started telling him I wanted one. Here are just a few of my reasons for wanting one:

1. It was a only exercise I ever got as a child.
2. It's vital to a healthy childhood.
3. It's an outside activity.
4. Stella wants one.
5. I want Stella to have one.
6. Stella always wants to go to someone elses house to play. Having a trampoline will keep her here and let the other kids come here where I can keep a better eye on her.
7. Summertime and sprinklers under the tramp = total blast!
8. Summertime, sprinklers under the tramp and dishsoap = more fun than you can imagine!
9. It has a net around it for safety.
10. It is just going to wear Stella out!

Elliot's reasons for NOT wanting one:

1. It'll kill the grass (I don't mean to be rude, my love, but take a look back there . . . grass is already dead).

So Elliot was going to surprise us by getting one for Christmas, but they were all sold out. We got ours a couple of weeks after Christmas and Daddy and Grandpa Dibble set it up at the end of January.

P.S. I was right. It keeps Stella home and wears her out and gets the neighborhood kids over here instead of her out there! I LOVE IT!

P.S.S. I love Elliot too. Thanks Lover.

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 - Swing Dancing

(originally posted 08/30/2009)

February 8 - I had my second interview at Emergency Chiropractic at 8:30 with Celia the Corporate Administrator. She was a 4'11", absolutely beautiful, well-dressed woman with a medically enhanced chest area and she was VERY SCARY! I didn't get the same welcome from her that I did from the rest of the staff the week before. She was completely serious and my confidence took a plunge when she intimidated me.

Thankfully, she still called me later that afternoon and offered me the receptionist job and I was to start the next day.

I had lunch with some friends from college (Debbie Towne & Alyssa Meryhew). We went to Sweet Tomatoes and of course, brought up the topic of guys in my ward. The question was asked if there were any tall guys (both Debbie & Alyssa are fairly tall women) and the only one I could think of was Elliot. I hadn't really noticed anyone else. So I told them about Elliot, having to finally admit vocally for the first time that I liked him and make my claim to him even though I was only 5'5" and could certainly find a shorter man. I realized that my sister/roommate Natalie and I hadn't yet developed our girlfriend relationship yet, so I hadn't discussed any Elliot topics with her. It was therapeutic to vocalize some of my feelings with Debbie and Alyssa.

Today was the start of Valentine's Week. Our ward did a secret Valentine match-up and I really hoped that Elliot got matched with me. Today I got a shoe. I know, sounds gross doesn't it. I guess it was to be able to match you to your Valentine at the end of the week at the Valentine's Dance. Not sure.

In 1999, there was a huge obsession with Swing dancing. Elliot was still on his mission when everyone was re-learning the dance, so he never got into it. However, he is a huge fan of Big Band music. This FHE activity was especially exciting for him because there was a real band playing the music for the night. My parents taught me how to swing dance when I was younger, but they were doing crazy new things these days so I couldn't quite keep up.

I danced with a few people (can't remember who), and then the last song was "Moonlight Serenade." I hadn't danced a few songs and was sitting in a group of chairs off of the dance floor. Suddenly the sea of dancers parted as I saw Elliot appear in the midst of the dance floor. He quickly walked straight to me to ask me to dance. I liked to see him moving so quickly towards me as if someone else was going to swoop me up before he could get there. I, of course, accepted, and he led me to the dance floor.

Oh, dancing. He pulled me close. I don't know what it is about guys who think they can just pull you that close to dance when they aren't even dating you yet. I have a tendency to encourage the closeness and made no effort whatsoever to move away from Elliot. I was smitten. I was in deep smit.

A little side note: "Moonlight Serenade" would become OUR SONG. I didn't even remember (or know at the time) what song it was until Elliot reminded me much, much later in our dating. I thought it was so sweet that he was the one that remembered. Also, I found out much later that Elliot knew someone else was on his way over to ask me to dance, hence the quick acting on Elliot's part. Also, Elliot was waiting for that song specifically to dance with me.

In review of the evening, I was torn between thinking that Elliot's quick swooping on the last dance was a sign of interest or if he just realized that I hadn't been dancing for the last few songs. Either way, the close dancing was still fresh on my skin and kept my mind agreeably engaged for the rest of the evening.

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 - Super Bowl @ Dibble's

(originally posted 07/23/2009)

January 30 - I went to the Grove Parkway church building to hear Shari Dew speak. It was nice and I was actually hoping to see Elliot's mom there so I could sit with her. I liked her. I really liked her son.

January 31 - Super Bowl Sunday Elliot invited Natalie and I over to have dinner with his family. We started calling Elliot's mom "Mother Dibble." It stuck. Natalie started calling Elliot's dad "Ka-Bish." That one didn't stick so much. I was still trying to avoid him because I was embarrassed about the last interview.

We also met Elliot brother Adam and his wife Xan. They had just announced that they were expecting their first child at the end of July.

Bishop Dibble asked for another interview with Natalie and I separately while we were at his home. He gave me a calling to be on the Homemaking Committee. When I went back out to sit with Elliot on the couch, he asked me what my new calling was. So I told him.

When Natalie got out of her interview, Elliot asked her what her new calling was to which she responded, "I guess you'll find out on Sunday."

Just then Bishop Dibble came in as Elliot said, "Come on, tell me. Whitney told me what her new calling was."

Bishop Dibble's response . . . "That's because Whitney doesn't have an understanding of how these things work."

Holy crap. He hates me. I'll never date his son.

OK, I still like him. He gets hiccups when he laughs really hard. We couldn't stop laughing after we saw this Super Bowl commercial for Fox Catcher Cam: