Back in 2010: Part 3- Our First Kiss

After I returned from Utah and went to the Indonesian dinner with Travis, we were inseparable. I couldn't get enough of him. I was always thinking about him and wanting to be with him. We started going to devotional together, walking to school together, studying at the library together, and any other thing we could do together. 

Travis' birthday came a little over a week after our first date. He roommates had organized a surprise party. I walked into his apartment and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of GIRLS in there. Just like his cycling class. I remember thinking, Who is this player? There's no way I could compete with a sea of girls. (Or so I thought.)

Travis walked in and was very surprised.

 A posse of girls immediately surrounded him after he blew out the candles. I told myself I was not going to compete with these crazy girls. So I just sat back and waited. Travis looked up over the girls and our eyes met. He smiled and I did some stupid nod that was supposed to mean hi. Why didn't I just wave like a normal person?

He eventually made his way over to me and we spent the remainder of the evening side by side. Holy crapola. He really did like me! I wanted to scream to all the girls in the room, "I win! I win!"

After about a week and a half of always being together, I got a text from a boy in my ward asking me on a date. Travis and I were at the library studying, so I told Travis about it. I really didn't want to go, but the boy was persistent. This was probably the third time he'd asked me out. Travis then told me to tell him I had a BOYFRIEND! Holy moly, holy moly, holy moly!! He was my boyfriend!

A little back story: I was going through a mental battle when I started becoming interested in Travis. My feelings grew VERY quickly and I was so confused. I had a missionary and thought I had my life figured out. I was talking to my mom one day telling her about how amazing Travis was, but I wasn't sure if it was the right thing for me to be doing. My mom then told me something that changed my life. I don't even know if she realized how significant her advice was, but I needed to hear it. 

She told me right now I had one foot in Rexburg and one in Chile (where the missionary was serving). She told me to put both feet in Rexburg and see how it goes. Immediately I knew she was right, so I did just that. I wrote off the missionary and decided to focus on me and Travis.

After I had both my feet planted in Rexburg, our relationship progressed quickly. We didn't kiss as quick as normal "Rexburgers" did. Not that Travis didn't want to. He was such a gentleman about it. 

One night, probably a few weeks into dating, Travis was dropping me off at my apartment door. He asked me if he could kiss me. My heart started beating so fast I thought it was going to pop out of my chest. I wasn't an experienced kisser. I had only kissed one person before that. So I blurted, "No!" He told me later he was dying to kiss me, but wanted to wait until I was ready. After I said no, he told me that's okay and to let him know when I was ready. I wish he wouldn't have asked, he should have just planted one on me. Telling him I was ready was going to be hard. What? Do I just walk up and say, "I'm ready to kiss you now?" How the heck do I let him know?

A week or so later, I decided I was ready. He was walking me to my door (our nightly routine right before curfew). I decided I was going to tell him. I said, "I think I'm ready for that kiss now." Travis smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I closed my eyes, leaned in, and started hyperventilating! Who does that?

Travis laughed and said we could wait a little longer. Oh my gosh. I wanted to kiss him so bad, but I was psyching myself out. I was so embarrassed. But Travis was patient. And so good for me. Guys, I hyperventilated. I'm a weirdo! But he didn't look at me funny or make fun of me. He had so much love and understanding in his eyes. We laugh about it now, but Travis always made me feel so comfortable to be myself. My weird, quirky, hyperventilating self. 

So a few days go by when I tell him to try again. He leans in... and I hyperventilate. Again. I was so mad at myself. I said, "NO! I'm ready. Let's do this thing." Travis closes his eyes, I close mine, we lean in and BOOM! First kiss.

It was horrible. Awkward. Weird. Horrible. My mom told me I'd know if I wanted to marry him by the first kiss, and I was so disappointed. We didn't have a future together. The kiss was horrible. Travis went in like a sucker fish, mouth open. I went in like a 2nd grader. My lips were pursed tight.

Travis and I still laugh so hard when we talk about this kiss. Seriously, it was weird. Luckily the next day we tried again and felt the sparks. They were definitely there. Made me weak at the knees.

After we kissed, our relationship progressed at the speed of light. We started saying the L word. And then one day, marriage was brought up. Even though I was reluctant to kiss Travis, every moment I spent with him felt right. Our relationship progressed so naturally. It was definitely meant to be.

In April, Travis and I went to General Conference together.

Travis also got to meet my huge extended family in Utah. A little overwhelming, but he handled it well. We went to Travis' mission reunion while we were in Utah too.

My sister, Ashley, came to visit late into the semester. She told Travis my mom wanted her to interview him. She filmed while she asked him tons of questions. She asked about our first date, first kiss, and Travis' intentions. Travis handled it well. I didn't. haha. But I love watching it because you can feel the love Travis and I had for each other. Aww young love.

The video is pretty funny. Long, but funny. We were so young! And I was mean to Ashley in a little of it. I'm glad I've grown up since then. Sorry Ashley!

Watch that interview here:

Ashley asked again later about our first kiss. She wanted the details. Travis acted it out for her and I was so embarrassed.

  The semester came to an end. I was still in school over the summer, but Travis went home to Virginia to work. Our "test" of being apart began. 

Next up, our summer apart.

<<<<<Part 2: Our First Date

Part 4: Our Summer Apart>>>>>>>

Back in 2010: Part 2- Our First Date

After the night Travis and I first met, we remained friends for a couple months. We'd see each other once or twice a week, depending on how often my roommates and I wanted to hang out with them. Travis always made me so nervous. I remember one time we went to his apartment and I was feeling brave, so I sat right next to him. He was eating a huge bag of those gummy watermelon candies and offered to share with me. I gladly accepted (even though I don't really like them). As we were sitting next to each other talking, I was so nervous. Gosh, he's so handsome! 

I don't remember what we were talking about. I do remember that all of a sudden the bag of candy was gone. It had tons in it when we first started talking. And somehow the bag had moved to my lap. I inhaled that whole bag! How embarrassing. Travis still teases me about it to this day!

We hung out often enough for me to recognize that I really like Travis. There was something about him (in addition to his good looks) that drew me to him. 

One time we all got a big group together and went to Denny's really late at night. I'm pretty sure it was past curfew. I sat next to Travis and Brian. The first picture of Travis and I together was taken that night.

Cute huh?

Day by day I realized I really liked this boy. But I was pretty sure there was no way he felt the same. When he finally asked me out, I was elated and in shock.

I remember exactly where I was sitting. On the couch, watching American Idol with my roommates. I had barely got his number from Melissa and texted him a few days earlier. So when he called, I saw his name pop up on my phone. I screamed like a little school girl. What happened next was not human. With phone in hand, I leaped off the couch to the TV. I swear I flew all the way from the couch to the TV and turned it off. Keep in mind I was screaming the whole time until I answered casually, "Hello?". Imagine my roommates faces, looking at me sitting in front of the TV.

Travis: Hi Lindsay, how are you?

Me: Goo... (Travis cuts me off before I could finish) He was so nervous!

Travis: Great! I was wondering if you would want to go on a date with me this weekend.

My heart sank because I was going to Utah with my cousin that weekend. Ugghhh. So I told him I was leaving Friday afternoon and would be out of town until Sunday night.

Travis: Okayyyy. How about Thursday night? I know it's a school night, but we won't be out too late. Freaking heck yes! 

Me: (calmly) Sure. That will work. 

We agreed on a time and hung up.

This conversation is ingrained into my brain. First, because Travis was so nervous he didn't even let me speak. So cute! Second, Travis was so disappointed I'd be out of town for the weekend that he asked me on a date for the middle of a school week. Eeeeek!

When I told my roommates about the conversation, everyone was screaming together. I wonder what our neighbors were thinking. 

*******************************************

Thursday finally came. I remember feeling SO NERVOUS! Travis opened all the doors for me and treated me like royalty (He still does). We rode in his red jeep and I thought it was such a manly, sexy car. We went to Gringo's for dinner (a Mexican restaurant in town). Seriously I was too nervous to even think for myself. I just ordered "whatever he's having". I don't think Travis noticed, since he talked the whole time. I'd answer questions when he asked them, but he mostly led the conversation. I didn't mind, of course, since my brain had turned to goo when he knocked on my door. I'm glad I was learning so much more about my not-so-quiet-anymore friend. 

After Gringo's we went to Guitar's Unplugged, a talent show on campus. I love music. So I loved the show. It was great! 

After the show ended, it was about 10 pm. Curfew wasn't until midnight, so I wondered what the next two hours would bring. Then he pulled into my complex's parking lot. Whaaaat?

He then told me that he teaches an early morning cycling class on campus and needed to go to bed. Again, whaaaat? He invited me to come to his class, but I just laughed. Exercising? Ick. He walked me to my door and said goodnight.

That was it. I remember being disappointed, thinking I failed or something since he dropped me off so early. My roommates even asked me what happened and why I was already home. This was not the end of Travis and Lindsay. I decided to go to his cycling class in the morning. I was going to fight for this (sexy sexy) man!

My awesome roommate, Rebekah, agreed to go with me. I was so grateful! He taught the class at stinkin 6 in the morning! Holy crap. I don't even know how I made it to his class. I was a couple minutes late, so he had already started when I walked in. I walked in and saw a group of GIRLS being taught by Travis. Okay, seriously? When Travis saw me, he was so surprised. And then a huge smile formed on his face. Awww be still my heart! I pretty much faked my way through his class. Somehow it still kicked my butt though. Travis was a hardcore teacher. A machine. At the end of class, Travis immediately came over to me. He was glad to see me there and said I did great.

So I left town with my cousin being on Cloud Nine. I was so glad I went to his class. I loved his reaction from seeing me there. I had a busy weekend in Utah with family and then drove back on Sunday night. My cousin Kim was driving. All of a sudden Travis called. Ahhhhh!

He told me a bunch of other people that served in Indonesia were getting together for a big dinner that night and wanted to know if I'd be back in time to go with him. Even though we were probably too far away, I told him I might be able to make it. My cousin Kim is the best and drove as quick as she could. I was about twenty minutes late. Travis texted me the address and Kim dropped me off, then took my stuff to my apartment. Told you she's the best!

Travis pretty much showed me off that night. It was the best feeling ever. He introduced me to everyone and I loved spending time with him. I tried some authentic Indonesian food and heard mission stories. It was fantastic. And I was hooked. I needed to keep this boy in my life.

Next up, first kiss and rest of semester.

<<<<<<Part 1: How We Met

Part 3: Our First Kiss >>>>>>>

Baby News

We're expecting! And we're so excited. Our baby is due June 11, 2015. I feel so humbled being pregnant again. Being able to create life inside me is a miracle, and I thank my Heavenly Father daily for giving me the opportunity.

Travis and I want a pretty big family. He says 4 kids, I say 6. We shall see. In reality, we will take whatever Heavenly Father sees fit for our family. I'm just grateful to have another on the way. Yay for growing our family!

I'm so excited for Hailey to be a big sister. We've been teaching her about the baby in my belly. She doesn't quite get it yet. She thinks there's a baby in her belly too. haha. When she cuddles and feeds her dolls, it makes my mommy heart melt. I can't wait until she can cuddle and kiss her little brother or sister.

I'm currently 13 weeks along. I've been pretty sick this pregnancy. And Hailey is so funny. Whenever I'm gagging (or leaning into the toilet doing the unspeakable), Hailey mimics the noise. Which doesn't help when I'm feeling queasy. haha. But still hilarious.

This pregnancy is feeling pretty different than with Hailey. I've heard that could mean the other gender, but I'm not too sure I believe that. So we'll see (in January!). I finally got some Zofran for being sick, which is night and day difference. I can function now. It's lovely. I'm still enjoying toast and ginger ale for breakfast every morning to give my medicine time to kick in. Good thing I like toast.

My little bump popped out last week. I'm already growing earlier and quicker than I did with Hailey. But I'm excited for that. It took forever for me to get a belly with Hailey. So grow belly, grow!

Here's me when I found out I was pregnant. Just 4 weeks along. Goodbye nice body I've been working so hard on lately! Hopefully we meet again!

 

 And here's 10 weeks. Already a little bloat. It would come and go.

 And now here is what I look like currently. My belly popped out a little and is not going away. 13 weeks. Hello second trimester!

We're so excited for this baby. And so grateful that Heavenly Father has sent another little spirit to join our family. We are SO BLESSED!

Thanksgiving

This year our Thanksgiving was small. Just the three of us. But that didn't stop us from making it awesome. We got a turkey, pumpkin pie, sparkling cider, the whole shabang. 

I actually had a friend that told me how to cook the turkey FROZEN! It was the BEST! The day before Thanksgiving, we cooked out turkey (it took about 9 hours). Then we heated back up in the oven for an hour on Thanksgiving day. It made Thanksgiving Day was less stressful and it was DELICIOUS!

We had finger foods for lunch on Thanksgiving. Veggie tray and bbq weenies. Yum.

For dinner, Travis and I worked together. I'm grateful he doesn't mind helping in the kitchen. He actually loves it. I made pretzel jello, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Travis was in charge of the green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Go team!

The food was delicious and we had leftovers for dayyyyys.

Isn't he stinkin handsome? Look at those blue eyes!

I did feel a little sad since my family was all together in Washington for Thanksgiving. But I'm grateful for my little family. I cherish the memories we make as we start new traditions together. I'm also grateful for friends that invited us over for games that night. It made it feel a little less small... if that makes sense.

We have so much to be thankful for! God is so good. He has a hand in our lives. I see it daily. I'm so grateful for my family and that we can be together forever.

Back in 2010: Part 1- How We Met

My sister did a series of blog posts a while back about how she and her husband met, their dating life, and then eventually marriage. I loved how she recorded the memories that are fading quickly. 

Travis and I were talking the other day, trying to remember memories from the first year we knew each other. It's getting harder to recall them! It made me sad. So I thought I would follow my sister's example and record what I can remember. I started this blog right after we got married, so I want to record what happened before. Our fourth anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, so I figured this was perfect timing.

How We Met

A little background first. Travis got back from his mission in June 2009. I was graduating high school at that time. That sounds pretty funny now that I think about it. Travis and I both went to school in September that year at BYU-Idaho, but we didn't cross paths until later. I had a missionary I was going to wait for, so my first semester was spent avoiding boys and hanging with my awesome roommates. 

January 2010 came. A new semester with some new roommates. 

One of my new roommates was the wonderful Melissa. She was the one responsible for introducing Travis into my life. Travis and his roommates were Melissa's FHE brothers back before Travis' mission. So one day, Melissa told us she invited them over to hang out. Boys coming over to our apartment? Gulp.

Travis and his roommates walked in. Travis' roommate, Brian, was super easy-going and funny.  Curtis was SUPER tall and easy to talk to. To this day the tallest person I have met. Travis, on the other hand, was shy and quiet. When he first walked in, I couldn't believe how handsome he was. A boy that looked like that was coming here? My young, naive heart couldn't take it. I was smitten. But I knew there was no chance he'd ever be interested in me. So I tucked that thought into the back of my mind.

We started off talking and playing some games. I immediately noticed Travis' laugh. It's one of those laughs that makes everyone around laugh.

You have to understand my friend Melissa. She is fantastic. And she brought me out of my shell. Melissa is outgoing, friendly, and makes everyone feel comfortable. So Melissa being her wacky self, turned on some Glee and started dancing away. 

Brian soon joined her. And then, I surprised myself. I got up and danced too. Way out of my comfort zone, I should add. I have no dancing skills, but it didn't matter. Soon everyone was dancing and being crazy. It was super fun. 

Travis didn't do much dancing. He mostly sat, watched, and laughed. Oh how I loved that laugh. 

 
I'm so glad my roommate Brielle was obsessed with taking pictures (and still is!). I have a lot of pictures to document the night we met.

That night was crazy. After the boys left, I was so embarrassed with my behavior. I danced crazily and probably looked ridiculous. I remember thinking if Travis had any initial interest in me, it most likely disintegrated after seeing how I acted.

Little did I know, Travis did notice me. I learned later he thought I was cute and had a great personality. He was in the middle of getting to know another girl, so he told his roommate to ask me out. When his roommate said he wasn't interested, Travis decided to take action himself.

And I was so surprised when he did. 

The story of our first date coming next.

Part 2: First Date>>>>>>>

Arkansas Getaway

For Father's Day this year, I got Travis tickets to an Arkansas Razorback game. Travis lived in Arkansas during his high school years. So Arkansas is his and his family's team. Go hogs! Since we're pretty dang poor, the tickets were for a game far into the future-November. So life went on and we patiently waited for November 22nd to come. Well the waiting paid off! This last weekend it finally came!

We dropped Hailey off at a friend's house on Friday afternoon. She loves my friend, Brielle. Hailey was basically pushing me out the door when we were leaving. She didn't even notice we were gone! It was such a blessing for me since I haven't left her for longer than a few hours at a time. We were leaving her for 30 whole hours! (Thanks Brielle and Matt!)

So Friday afternoon we set off to Arkansas. Wanna know something crazy? We didn't even turn on the radio. We seriously just talked the whole time. It was nice. 

Three and a half hours later we arrived in Rogers, Arkansas, where our hotel was for the night. It was significantly cheaper to stay about 20 minutes away from Fayetteville, where the game was. We checked into the hotel. It was a super nice room! Probably the nicest room our money has ever bought. 

 After checking in, we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I've only been there once before. It's divine! Travis got this HUGE sampler of breakfast foods and I got a nice slice of ham with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Mmmmm. You hungry now? I am. 

After dinner we walked around the Cracker Barrel store. It's so fun! And it had Arkansas gear for the best price around! Travis got a nice hoodie. So fun. Then we headed back to the hotel to stay up late because we can!

The next morning we ate breakfast, got ready, checked out, and headed to Fayetteville. Game day!

The game didn't start until 2:30, so we had some time to kill. We walked around a small shopping center then headed to Whole Hog for lunch. Travis' family loved Whole Hog when they lived in Arkansas and have mentioned it quite a few times. I was excited to taste it. We got there right after it opened so we were one of the first ones seated. The food was goooood. It was fun comparing Kansas barbecue to Arkansas barbecue. They are very different, but both so tasty.

 It was hilarious sitting in Whole Hog as people started coming in. Everyone was dressed in their Arkansas gear. I felt like we were among our brothers and sisters. We just blended in. We stick out in Kansas when we wear our Arkansas gear. All we needed was an Arkansas accent. It's crazy how  significant of an accent difference there is just 3 hours down the freeway. I was hoping to pick up a bit of an accent while in Arkansas, but not this time.

After lunch we had an hour before we needed to head to the stadium. We went to the mall. They had a Razorback Shop. We spent most of our time in there dreaming of the things we wished we could buy. All we ended up getting was a small bear for Hailey.

And then.... the game! We parked a few blacks from the stadium and walked up. We got to our seats about 30 minutes before the game started. 

Our seats were one row from the very top. But it was still a blast! 

The game was AMAZING! We did not expect Arkansas to do as well as they did. We thought they would put up a good fight, but Ole Miss would pull through in the end. What happened was both unexpected and spectacular to watch.

Arkansas shut Ole Miss down. Arkansas' defense was playing better than I've ever seen. Ole Miss couldn't get anything done. Arkansas intercepted two Ole Miss touchdown opportunities in the end zone. One was followed by a 100 yard touchdown for Arkansas! Arkansas' defense built a wall of defenders around the guy with the ball. They all ran together the whole 100 yards. It was like Mighty Ducks in real life. Holy crap. The stadium was going crazy. All I could do was say, "holy crap!" repetitively while alternating fist pumps into the air. Travis was next to me screaming like a girl. It was AMAZING.

 It rained the whole time. Some moments the rain was pouring, but most of the time it was a consistent sprinkle. I feel like it added to the fun memory. It was so fun. The game ended and Arkansas won 30-0. Holy moly. 

We headed back to the car and set off for home. We had such a fun weekend! And basically I win "Best Wife of the Year" award for getting Travis and I tickets to that game. (Thanks Taylor for the suggestion!)