Because Sometimes Its Just Easier!

The First Date

2011-08-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

The first date. Nervous. Excited. Did I mention nervous? Yeah, well, I was nervous. How many boys had I dated? Not many. The plan was to meet Jason at his house, and he would drive us to Idaho Falls. As I pulled up to his house (on time), Jason was still getting ready. In fact, he hollered for me to enter the house, and I found him staring down at me through a little window that looked down from a room of a split level. I'm sure I blushed, because he was not ready.

He motioned toward the couches and told me to sit tight, so I quietly sat down, avoiding the window at all costs, and I took in my surroundings. There were these two very flowery couches, and the wall paper was covered in flowers too. In fact, the whole house had the decor style of a woman, which I thought was odd for a couple of bachelors. I knew that Jason was living with his brother... but he never mentioned that he lived with his parents too!! What if I had run into them that first day? I know that they would have been more than cordial to this unknown girl, because they are very welcoming people. I suppose it is the pressure of meeting the family before anything become serious.

(This whole memory lane thing has me laughing...what good times).

He finally came down the stairs dressed in slacks, a white shirt and a tie. I immediately thought, oh my, am I under dressed in my jeans, t-shirt and jacket? So, I voiced my concerns. His answer, "No, I brought clothes to change into. I just have a job interview in Idaho Falls first."

I nodded my head. Of course, a job interview! Always thinking practically, Jason had tagged our date onto the tale end of his interview! That was a first for me! So we hopped in his white Jeep, and took off, to make it to his appointment on time.

We had an engaging conversation during that one hour long drive. He mentioned how he was interested in being a financial planner, and the job he was interviewing for would be a step in that direction. We talked about family, friends, drum corps. and volleyball.

He asked me, "So, what are your thoughts about going on a mission?"

That one surprised me. I was fresh from high school, months away from turning 19, and hadn't put any thought into that particular option. "Well," I said slowly, "I suppose if I wasn't married, and I felt it was the right thing to do, then I'd go."

Jason's response was something to the affect of, "Well, I'd hate to hold you back from such a great experience."

I'm not sure where the conversation went after that. Those were just the main things I remembered.

The one thought that was on my mind during the drive was, now, am I going to wait in the car....? That's me, always worrying about the details... even then. But not to worry, because my concern was answered with a, "Well, come on, there are some chairs in the office that you can sit in to wait."

So, we went in. He was very gentlemanly and opened the door for me, ushering me in. I expected to wait away from the office, and the people who worked there. To my surprise, Jason led me all the way to the receptionist where he checked in and we took a seat.

The interviewer finally came out, and introduced himself to Jason, and to my embarrassment, Jason introduced me to the guy too! I would have been fine to just sit quietly without any attention being drawn to me. It was very nice of him to include me though.

If my memory serves me correctly, the man asked me if Jason was a good guy, and if he should hire him. I may have responded, "Sure! Your guess is as good as mine!" (Now, I don't remember if Jason was offered the job or not... I hope I didn't hinder him).

After the interview, we headed back to the Jeep, and headed across the Snake River and ate at the Chiles there. The food was delicious, and I distinctly remember being very conscious of eating in front of him, somewhat unlike me. Funny how dating someone new can make us self conscious. Afterward, we went to the movie theater and watched the movie Signs, about an alien invasion. Jason had already seen it, and he just kept watching me... I caught him.

After the movie, we continued talking, and walked around the Idaho Falls Temple. It was gorgeous at night. We may or may not have shared a kiss or two. I plead the fifth, but he was a perfect gentleman!

Funny bit. Jason hugged me, and I could feel something underneath his shirt going down his back. My original thought was that he had some kind of medical thing on his back. It was a little bit worrisome, until later I saw him pull the long cloth strap that he had hooked to his keys! I felt sheepish afterward, because I wondered what was wrong with him!

We drove back to his house, said goodbye and I headed back to my own house with my head in the clouds. What a good day... even after its quirks!

The First Week

2010-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Terra invited Jason over plenty of times over the next week. She did it partly because I had asked her if she would. I had to figure out how to act around this guy. I had never dated a returned missionary before. Not that they are any rare breed of man. I'll just say that the 'boys' in which I had previously spent my time with were not even on the same level of game as a returned missionary for The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Due to my lack of experience, I played the shy role (which is very common for me, when I don't know how much of my true personality to show). I hold back quite a bit when I first meet someone. I never know who might take a sarcastic remark the wrong way. Hopefully I am not the only one who experiences this type of issue.

One day, Jason came over to study, while I made him my famous lasagna. I really had not made the recipe very many times, so I was not completely prepared. Three hours later, Jason was finally able to indulge in the goodness. I love lasagna, and apparently, so did he!

Jason took his turn at cooking for me during that first week. We made a trip to Albertson's for a few necessities. Chicken, alfredo sauce, and garlic bread. Jason cooked up a mean chicken alfredo. I took a picture of him cooking. He was wearing my very nice flowery apron that Grandma Burgoyne made me a long time ago.

Toward the end of the week, Jason's visits began to be less and less. I was worried that he was ready to move on. Truth be told, I did not exert myself to show my interest in him. Did I mention that this was the first time I had even come close to dating an RM (Return Missionary)?

Terra was such a good sport. She was willing to call Jason for me (with me listening on the other end), and ask him if he was indeed interested in me. Jason was confused because he didn't think that I was at all interested. I pushed Terra to ensure him that I was interested. He just needed to ask me out on a date.

After that conversation, I could only let go of the situation and see what would happen.

I was anxious, and I would ask if anyone had called me every time I walked into our apartment. Two endless days passed by without any word from Jason.

Finally, Jason called, and asked me out. We made plans to go to dinner and a movie on the following Friday, which was only a day or so away.

I was so excited that Jason finally asked me out! I had no idea what was in store, but I was thrilled.

A Chance Meeting: No It Was Fate

2010-06-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

This story is a very unique one. It starts out as the same old, "boy meets girl."

I had just moved to Pocatello, Idaho from Soda Springs. I was fresh out of high school, and ready to live my life. My plan was to not get married for at least five years. I had ambitious plans of getting my doctorate in psychology (that was before I realized how much science would have to go into that degree). It was crazy how I found the place I was to live. I searched for weeks for the right place, and believe me, I was desperate. I would have taken anything just over the thrill of being off on my own! Every place I inquired about had some kind of issue. They all fell through. I finally found a house that had one room open for rent. I had no clue who the other girls were that I would be living with, but I took it.

I signed the lease and moved in a few days before school was set to start at Idaho State University. My house was at a prime location, one block away from campus. I was in love with freedom!

When I put my key in the door to show my parents my new pad, I met my roomies for the very first time. Little did I know that they had no idea that they were even getting another roommate! My roommates names were, Tiffany Molder, and Terra Hale. I might add that we had terrible land lords.

On a side note, our landlords would come into our house without ever telling us that they were coming over. One very early Saturday morning (I'm talking around 6:30 am), I awoke to a vacuum running through the living room. I got up and half asleep staggered out of my room. The person before me was some little old lady that I had never met (I only dealt with the land lord's son, because she lived out of town). I was so puzzled as to who on earth was in my house! I found out later who it was. I finally wrote her a letter, after a few more instances, telling her that I expected a phone call before anyone was to enter my house. I don't think it ever happened again in this house.

Anyway, back to the story. I became fast friends with my new roomies. We set up weekly cleaning schedules (which Tiffany seemed to be the only one to follow through with--sorry Tiff). We also began to attend church together and go to school social gatherings.

Tiffany was at work or school most of the time. She was working two jobs. Terra had one job, and I too had one job. I worked at Telerperformance USA. It was a call center. It was a wonderful job where I would call people all over the country who had purchased Miracle Blades and try to sell them some shoe inserts that were supposedly heaven for your feet (insert sarcasm here). I hated my job, but it paid well. After a month of working there, I realized that they never missed me when I was gone. They never even realized that I was gone. So, little by little, I began to stop going to that job. Eventually, I just unofficially just quit by never going there again. I did get my paychecks though, in the mail. Needless to say, I do not list that job on my resume.

I was taking some very basic courses in college. English 101, some class like university success, and survey of art. I'll just say that I was not ready to go to college at this time. I bombed my classes. Hind sight, it would have been better for me to focus on making money, and growing up before I even attempted college. I just did not have the study ethic to get it done, and succeed with it.

Now, I am getting off track. This is the background of my new independent life. There is a major twist in there yet to be seen.

After the first few weeks of school had passed by, my roommates and I decided to attend the biggest "Mormon" dance of the year. It was the open social for the LDS Institute of Religion. We were so excited to go. We were all single, and looking for the next guy to date. Some of our guy friends had promised to try and introduce Terra and I to some guys that we might be interested in. That was a mistake for me.

We walked in, and you could feel the tension. People wanting to be asked, and people so nervous that their hands were sweating. It was the official "meat market" for the year. Most dances after this one were pretty lame. Tiffany's guy friend, Matt (I believe) introduced me to a decent looking guy that unfortunately reminded me a little bit of my brother (sorry Paul), but this guy had to go. He was very nice, and I'm sure would have been a great example to me, but he was just not it. I knew after being introduced to him, that he would soon be back to ask me to dance. So pretty much any slow dance song, I would "disappear." I was successful at evading him for a while.

In the meantime, Terra saw two guys that she knew from this weird competition marching band thing. It was called Drum Corps. She had a bunch of pictures of her and her band hanging on her wall (it was very different--nothing I had ever seen or heard of before--sorry Terra, I was ignorant back then). Well anyway, I was indifferent, while she got excited and ran up to them to give them a hug. I was kind of looking around, and when I saw the "nice guy" coming toward me, I decided to get involved with Tressa's reunion. I hadn't gotten a very good look of either of the guys, because Terra was kind of in the way. But as I walked up to where they stood, I saw them for the first time... I saw him. How I remember it now, nearly eight years ago, I don't remember seeing anything else. I just saw this great looking, jovial guy that had a contagious personality. His name. Jason Anthony Curtis.

He was a natural flirt. He teased me because I had a curling iron burn on my forehead. He said it looked like a hickey. Honestly, who gets a hickey on their forehead? I couldn't help it. I was a sucker for the joking type. He wound up asking me to dance, and we talked and joked some more. We ended up talking quite a bit over the next thirty minutes or so.

At some point, I finally was tracked down by Nice Guy. I must have been too distracted to constantly keep space between him and me. The dance was stiff, and awkward. There was nearly zero communication, and his breath stank. I was relieved when the song was over. I thanked him for the dance and was on my way.

The time came when Tiffany had to be to work, and since we all road together to the dance, we had to take her to work. We informed Jason and his friend Tyson Fuller of our plans, but that we would be back. We were serious about that.

According to Jason though, he was sure that we were gone for good. So he shrugged it off, and decided to find another girl to dance with. I must point this out that true to our word, Terra and I returned to the dance about thirty minutes later. I was too interested in this guy Jason to give up just yet.

On the drive to Channel 6 News, where Tiffany worked, I couldn't help but toss around the idea of wedding bells and this Jason Curtis. I know! Very odd! I had just met him, but there was something about him--something magical.

We returned to the dance, and I immediately looked out for Jason. I had a hard time finding him and thought he had left. But after a few minutes, I ended up spotting him. He danced a few dances with some short little girl that I loathed (of course, I was jealous). Little did I know that he was keeping tabs on me too, and he finally asked me to dance with him again. I was twitterpated by this time.

I believe we only danced two dances together, and I have no idea what those songs were. Sometimes I wish that I would have paid attention to that, but the only thing I was thinking about was this wonderful guy.

The dance came to a close around midnight. Jason informed Terra and myself that he was going to the university movie theater with his brother Andrew and friend Tyson. He invited us to join him. Of course we went. I couldn't get this guy out of my head. I sat next to him during Spider Man, but he seemed to be watching me more than watching the movie. I would see him looking at me through the corner of my eye, only to look away when I tried to catch him. What a tease!

The night we met was somewhere around September 9th, 2002. I am not positive about that date. That is another detail that I seemed to not pay attention to.

This is just the beginning!

The Jason and Evelyn Curtis Dyansty!

2010-05-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

I have started this blog in order to record the history that Jason and I have created together. I have journals and scrapbooks, but nothing is as detailed as it needs to be. I want our children and their children to be able to look at this and see what a wonderful relationship that Jason and I have had. I will be converting this blog into a book. I have found out how, and I now have all of the software to do it. I laugh to myself because I have it so easy with this. I think of my ancestors who wrote with pen and paper (which I still do too), and others who had to use a typewriter.

I taught a lesson in Young Women yesterday on keeping a journal. I have learned a few things from this lesson that I had never known. And I have a little bit of shame for not being as stalwart as I should be. President Spencer W. Kimball said, "Every person should keep a journal and every person can keep a journal. It should be an enlightening one and should bring great blessings and happiness to the families. If there is anyone here who isn't doing so, will you repent today and change--change your life?" A scriptural reference to go along with this quote is, 3 Nephi 23: 6-13. The Lord rebukes the people for not recording all of the important events.

So here I am starting from the beginning of my Curtis life, since I was Campbell before! I have currently been married to Jason for 7 1/2 wonerful years. I hope that this flows and that the Lord's hand can be seen guiding and protecting us in our journey through life. I guess this is my official autobiography! I never thought I would ever write one!