Flashback Sunday: Our First Date

At the beginning of the year, the members of our church congregation were given a few challenges to work on/goals to accomplish during 2011. One of the goals was to write five years (any five) of personal history. Since Sam and I started dating five years ago (at the end of May), we thought that would be a good place to start our history. And, since our blog is our family journal, we thought we'd document our history here. With that said, we are pleased to introduce Flashback Sundays. Every Sunday (ok, so probably not every Sunday, but we'll do our best) we will post a story from the past five years and our life together before this blog began (I know, it's hard to believe we existed before Internet documentation). Without further adieu, I bring you, Our First Date...

Sam and his roommates planned a group date--a bonfire up the canyon. It was mandatory that all of the roommates attend. Though I wasn't his first phone call, Sam got the guts to call me--"Philip's sister, the one with the missionary." Upon seeing a Utah number on my caller id, I promptly pressed ignore. If it was important, whoever it was would leave a message. I was curious when no message was left, so I looked through our ward phone directory to see if there was a match. The number was listed under Sam's picture who I hadn't exchanged more than about five words with. Needless to say, when the number appeared on my caller id again a few days later, I answered. Sam informed me that he and his roommates were having a bonfire and asked if I wanted to go with him. I surprised both of us by quickly responding, "yes." Sam came to pick me up (a long walk next door) and brought me back to his apartment where everyone was meeting. His friends were immediately skeptical of me. I was, apparently, overdressed for a bonfire. But hey, a date is a date and I hadn't been on one for quite some time so I was going to dress to impress.

After everyone arrived, we loaded into a few cars to head up the canyon. Our first attempt at a location failed. All of the fire pits were taken. So, after some time at a playground, we loaded back up and went further up the canyon. We found a spot and unloaded the gear. Once the fire was ablaze, we all sat around talking and roasting marshmallows. I (admittedly) talked Sam's ear off. He still teases me about it! I was so comfortable talking to him and it was nice to feel that way.

It started getting pretty late, so we decided to call it a night and head home. As we were walking back to our car, some sprinklers came on and totally blasted us in the face. There's nothing like cold water to the face to add some excitement to the night. It was hilarious.

When I got home, Philip was furious with me. He had been trying to contact me for the past couple of hours, but I had left my phone in the car. He didn't expect me to be gone so long and I didn't think to check in--seeing as he's not my dad.

Obviously, the night was a success. Sam looked past what his friends saw as "high maintenance" and despite my rambling (seriously, I didn't shut up!) decided I was pretty great (can't blame him!) And the rest, as they say, is history...

Here we are sitting by the bonfire. So young and soon-to-be in love.