2 Years

Two years ago today this happened. Two years ago today I met Hal. I don't think I have ever really talked on here about how we met and in a second you're going to be rolling your eyes. Hal and I met...gasp...at the singles ward. If you're not from the Utah area, just know meeting at the singles ward is kind of cliche. We met at the ward Christmas/holidays party as it was in-between the holidays. I went with my friend Monica and we dressed up all fancy. Hal came up to us and introduced himself and said we were the prettiest girls there. Hal had been home from his mission in the Dominican Republic for 16 days and he was freezing. It's very warm in the DR year round and he came back to very cold snow.

It was his first outing since being home and I remember he was wearing a suit with a sweater vest(There's something wonderful about a sweater vest) and he was introducing himself to everyone like returned missionaries do. He came up to my friend and I and said we were the most beautiful girls at the party. After he walked away I couldn't even remember his name. We sat down at a table with our friends and Hal came and sat down next to me. I learned later he had originally sat down with people he knew from high school and actually even left his suit coat over there, but felt like getting to know new people so he came and happened to sit down next to me. He danced with me that night after dinner.

That night was also a single adults' party at the Rec Center, so a bunch of us went over there after the dinner. Since Hal was so recently back in the US and had barely left the house, he didn't have a car, so of course I offered him a ride. We went to his house so he could change. I met his little brother Dane that night. He probably thought I was such a weirdo standing in the doorway in a prom dress. Hal also had to come with me to my house to change. Our kitchen was torn apart and our fridge and dinning room table were in the living room because our kitchen floor was being re-done. I left him on the landing, but by the time I came back upstairs he was in the living room talking with my whole family. When I had gone downstairs I told another sister to come back up with my and meet the guy I had with me because he was "beautiful."

I took a ton of pictures while we ice skated that night, but ended up losing every single one of them.

Let me tell you something about newly returned missionaries. They're very awkward. They haven't touched a girl in 2 years. They haven't socially interacted with anyone other than other 19 year old missionaries, or people who they are teaching about the church. They are removed from the internet and all forms of pop culture. So needless to say, they're a bit awkward, especially around girls.

We went ice skating until 2 a.m. and I only fell four times. The first time I took Hal down with me, and he was nice enough to protect me from hurting myself. By the end  of the night he "accidentally" made me fall by pushing me down. But I guess that is evened out by the last time when I fell flat out and someone skating backwards almost ran into me, but he stopped them. He was so sly that night he even held my hand. How many returned missionaries do you know who do that 16 days after they get back? Guess it was fate...

Our group of friends were big huggers, and we always say goodbye with hugs, so I made him give me a hug when I dropped him off. That's the rule of my car, and it just so happened to work in my favor that night.

We tried to go ice skating tonight to celebrate, but a hockey game was about to start when we got there. Boo, so we are watching paper heart instead, this better be good. I was real bummed we couldn't go ice skating.

So to go along with this I will post the pictures I have been waiting to post for this reason. At the end of November Meagan wanted to celebrate her birthday by ice skating outside. We went to the amazingly awesome Gallivan Center to ice skate outside. It was so much fun. Finally, someone was worse than me, Dane seriously was racing a 5 year old girl around the rink and lost. I didn't even fall once this time. I'm practically a pro now.
And here is me demonstrating my pro skills. I skate like this all around the rink. Ha, that would be awesome if I could.
Isn't this the best picture in the entire world? Meagan and I left to get my camera and then we were sitting next to each other and apparently we both put one of the other's ice skate on. We only noticed because I saw the numbers on the back of her skates when I was behind her. I made Hal take a picture...but I'm sure it looked like Hal was taking a picture of our butts because we were bent over holding up our pants so you could see our skates.