How a Seed Became a Beakstalk: Chapter 3

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl, they fell in love and lived happily ever after.
This is the story of how they lived happily ever after:

Date: June 5th, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM
Place: Draper Utah Temple
What: A Wedding!

We did it! We got married! We get to spend the rest of...well, forever together! And that's what I meant by "happily ever after." No, things won't always be peachy-keen, and no, we're not perfect, but we have a lifetime and beyond to spend with each other. That sure seems pretty happy to me!

Here are some pics from the wedding:

our Temple

A goose of a little brother. (He gets that from his dad.)

The man who married us.

The Bride and Groom!

Oh happy day!

newlyweds

Mr and Mrs

love forever

happily ever after...

(...for one of us anyway!)

(Chapter 2: pics)

Just a few pics from that wonderful night when our future was laid out before us and changed for the better!

biting my lip = super excited!





biting my finger = super duper excited!



my sweet boy



our first engaged kiss

(Chapter 2: cont'd)

"Genevieve, will you marry me?" He was on his knee then, a little black box, which he had pulled out of the hole in Annabelle's back, cupped in his hands.

The moment had arrived. If ever I was to need my brain, it was then. But where was my brain? Even I can't answer that. The only way I know how to describe it is I was in shock. My hands, cold and shaking, flew to hide my burning crimson face. I knew my answer. It just wouldn't form in my mouth! It bubbled up from my lungs, but snagged in my throat. Another eternity came and went. "Answer him. Answer him. Yes. Yes. Yes," became the rhythym to which my heart was beating.

And then, before my mouth could get around the word, air was rushing out of my lungs, past the snag in my throat, between my fingers, and hanging in the air between us was my answer in the form of a strangled, "mm-hmmm." After that moment, it was like someone flipped a switch. We had a purpose, a common goal, and we were going to get there, no matter what it took. Our mindset was changed for the better.

(Chapter 2: cont'd)

We were seated at our table. There was even a third chair for Annabelle (that was the name I decided on). The waiter was prompt, serving our sumptuous soups and delicious dilled salmon in a timely and precise manner, but Jefferson wasn’t hungry. (I know. I know. That should’ve been a dead giveaway, if I hadn’t figured it out before then, but again I just thought he was tired. Curse my naïveté!)

There was only one other couple in the room, and from the sounds of things, they were celebrating their anniversary. I was thinking about how sweet that was, and munching aimlessly on a mouthful of fish, when Jefferson decided he needed to use "the facilities".

While he was gone, the dessert menu was brought to my attention, as well as the fact that the other man in the room, the one who was celebrating his anniversary with his wife, had also gone to the restroom. I made a mental note of that, thinking that I might be able to get Jefferson to relax and laugh if I told him. I mean, it’s usually women who go to the restroom in pairs!

It was at that point, that my eyes fell upon Annabelle. She truly was the prettiest little thing. I picked her up off her seat, and, laying her in my lap, began to stroke the soft fur of her feet with my thumbs.

“Do you like her?” a familiar voice said at my shoulder.

“Very much,” I replied, smiling as Jefferson went to sit down. I turned Annabelle around to place her back in her chair, when I noticed a gaping hole in her back, half-hidden by her yellow sun dress.

“Oh, no. What happened?” I asked, pointing at the hole, a questioning look on my face.

“Oh!” he said, “Gosh, the people at Build-a-Bear must’ve forgotten to sew her up before they gave her to me.” As he was talking, he took the bear from my hands and sat her on the table, close to him but facing me.

Slightly saddened by the great big hole in my “surprise”, but not wanting Jefferson to see my disappointment, I pointed out the options on the dessert menu, asking which sounded best to him. He looked it over, or at least pretended to, and the conversation fell quiet again. I was just about to ask if he had decided, when he said, “Genevieve, I have a question for you…do you really love me?”

Then, and only then, did things start to dawn on me. It was almost as if my brain had been blank up until that point and then started going 100 miles per hour, and things started adding up: the fancy date, the “surprise”, and the sudden lack in conversation…Jefferson was proposing to me! What felt like an eternity later, but was really only a few moments, and after several gulps of air, I answered, blushing to the roots of my hair, “Why would you doubt that?” My voice sounded funny to myself, unfamiliar to my ears.

“Okay then,” he continued, “I have another question for you…”

(Chapter 2: cont'd)

Well, on April Fool’s Day, it all came together: Jefferson had invited me on a “fancy date”, so I got all dressed up. He told me he had a surprise for me. Now, any other woman would’ve put two and two together, but I didn’t! The thought never crossed my mind that the date was a set-up, and the “surprise” was a dainty diamond ring! Call me naïve, but I was clueless! …

He showed up at my door in his suit, striking and handsome. I wore a little T-length chocolate dress with a cream ribbon around my waist, pearls clasped at my throat and dangling from my ears. He helped me into my coat, and we meandered out my front door and into his car. Then he got really quiet. “So?” you might say. “What’s so weird about that?” The reason I was attracted to this man in the first place was because of his conversation skills: we could talk, and about practically anything. The conversation never lagged that I can remember until that moment. I asked him about his day at work. He explained how he had been working hard and that led me to conclude as to the reason he was not his usual talkative self: he was tired.

We pulled up to Chef’s Table, a very expensive “fancy date” restaurant on the border of Provo and Orem, and he reached behind my chair and pulled out a little Teddy Bear.

“I brought a friend with us,” Jefferson said. She was a beautiful little thing, with sandy fur, milky ears and muzzle, wearing a pretty yellow sun dress.

“What’s her name?” I asked (all Teddy Bears have names, you know)

“I didn’t give her one so that you could name her,” he said. I thought that was so precious! I also thought that the surprises would end there but I thought wrong on that head…

(Chapter 2: cont'd)

Dates continued: fancy dates, movie dates, dinner dates, meeting-the-family dates, serious-talks dates, you name it.

There were two dates in particular that I remember as being especially significant:

Date #1 was the first time we exchanged "I love you's."

The Wednesday after making sobai pants, Jefferson called and asked if I would want to go swimming with him while his brother and dad went and played raquetball. I agreed. After a long day at school, who wouldn't want to go soak in a hot tub?

We were appropriately chaperoned by the youngest brother of Jefferson and spent the time chasing and subsequently catching each other  in the pool or soaking and chatting in the hot tub.

When Jefferson went to drop me off, we snuggled on the bench seat of the monster truck and talked...and talked....and talked....and "talked" until it was four AM! Knowing our parents were going to kill us, there was no rush to go home...really, no rush.

It was in one of those hours when Jefferson, breaking a sweet kiss, said, "I think I'm falling in love with you."


Date #2 was the one and only time we talked about getting married.

Some time later, after classes, Jefferson came and picked me up, a common practice at this time. We went and got dinner-to-go at Panda Express. We then settled in for a movie (Kung-fu Panda) on Jefferson's computer parked in a mini-van at a public park.

When the movie was over and before he moved to take me home, this question came from Jefferson:
"So, hypothetically speaking, because if we weren't speaking hypothetically this would just be awkward, if we were to get married, which temple would you want to be sealed in?"

Wait...what? Really?! I thought. Ah! Did the love of my life just say what I thought he just said? Well, answer him!

"Draper," I said.
"Really? Okay, why there?"
What followed was a long discussion of this supposedly "hypothetical situation" in which we were planning our wedding.

Needless to say, when Jefferson dropped me off at home, I was on cloud nine!

(Chapter 2: cont'd)

The next day came, a blessed relief from school on my part and work on Jefferson's. We met, as planned, at my house. I was confused as how to go on from the night before. Who knew such a little kiss could throw me so off-balance! It wasn't like it was my first kiss, but it was ours. I wore the jewelry Jefferson had given me, sort of as a subliminal message that I still thought things were okay, even though I totally blew him off on accident the night before.

We went to the fabric store and bought matching fabrics (a Mr. Men print for Jefferson and a Little Miss print for myself). We didn't have a pattern to go by besides a pair of sobai pants he had brought home from his mission to Thailand. We were relying solely on my skills as a seamstress, and so, needless to say, I grossly overestimated the amount of fabric needed and Jefferson was buying. Just another reason to add to my list for mentally kicking myself, along with blowing off his kiss, and spiralling up straight stairs.

We went home and spent most of the rest of that day working together on the pants, me sewing and Jefferson doing anything he could think of to help, including distracting my numberless concourses of siblings and helping my mother haul in groceries. Finally the pants were complete and, surprisingly, almost perfect! Whew! I had been so worried about screwing it up that I hadn't been much of a very social date.

We posed for some pictures and then went to show his family. They weren't home, so Jefferson took me back to my house and dropped me off. Can you say instant replay of the night before? But this time, I was determined for it to end differently. As I stepped up a step as I did before, and turned to face Jefferson, he came in for a hug, not a "I'm-about-to-kiss-you-again" hug, but a "I-guess-from-last-night-we're-just-friends" hug, when I grabbed his coat collar and let him have it: a big fat smooch!

From that point on it was clear: we were "official"

(Chapter 2:cont'd)

Jefferson left after that for another few minutes and I tried to find a mirror or some reflective object with which to see if my makeup had smeared in the small office I was in. It was definity a man's office, and on closer inspection, I found it was Jefferson's.

He brought me to his work...What's he up to? I thought.

Finally, Jefferson came and got me, had me hold my hands over my eyes, and once more led me around. "No peeking...No peeking...Okay...Now!"

There in a conference room of some kind was a gorgeous dinner laid out with crimson dishes jsut for the two of us! What a romantic idea! We ate dinner to the melodious strains of Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble and then came the exchanging of "valentines."

The two weeks that Jefferson was in Belize, I had been wracking my brains to think of something I could do for Valentine's Day. I wasn't quite sure what stage we were at in our relationship, I mean, we'd only held hands once for Pete's sake! So I didn't want to a mushy, lovey-dovey valentine, but I also didn't want to go to far on the other end of the spectrum and have him thinking I didn't like him at all.

So I settled for a nice middle position, focusing on our friendship, and made hime a little valentine book, entitled The Perfect Valentine, which lays out the struggle a little bunny has in trying to find the perfect valentine for his special little friend. I used Franklin, a Build-A-Bear I had made with Jefferson on a date soon after our first one, as the main character, and took Franklin around to different parts of the town in his search to find the one valentine, as was outlined in a poem I wrote, and took pictures of him there. Then, I scrap-booked the pictures together with the poem and made a book! It was this book that I pulled out of my purse after Jefferson had pulled out a set of jewelry from Belize (a rock necklace with a heart-shaped rock as the pendant, with matching earrings). We read the story together and Jefferson was "blown away", as he put it, by my creativity.

The rest of the evening, we spent dancing (aka--snuggling and swaying to music). There was a time or two where I felt like Jefferson was going to kiss me, but each time the kiss fell short, landing on my forehead or the top of my head even.

The drive home was pleasant. We discussed maybe having a date the following day (President's Day) and making sobai pants ("comfy" pants in Thai). The walk to the door was a total norm by this point, and we paused just short of it to continue plan-making for the next day. I was standing on the doorstep which conveniently made me about a foot taller than I am, and relatively closer to Jefferson's height. He dove and planted a short smooch where smooches go. I didn't know how to react!

Did that happen? I asked. Better yet, should I acknowledge that it just happened? Ah! What do I do? Well don't just stand there...do something!

And so I kept talking along the same lines as before, not even acknowledging what had just happened! We set the plans for the next day, and that was that. Not a very romantic end to such a promising start now, was it?

How a Seed Became a Beanstalk: Chapter 2

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl, they fell in love, and lived happily ever after.
This is the story of when they fell in love:

That first date must've sparked something because almost from that day on, Jefferson and I were practically attached at the hip! Hardly a weekend went by where we didn't go out to dinner, or stay home and have a movie night.

There were two weeks in February where Jefferson went on a family vacation to Belize, but we were still in the "friend" stage up until Valentine's Day. On that day, another spark ignited, and we took the next step, we had the DTR moment: we became "official."

That was the day the falling in love started. I thought that Jefferson was still in Belize with his family. I got home from hanging with some old high school buddies and there was a bouquet of roses on my bed with a note that said:

Roses are red,

Oceans are blue,

I'd like to have a Valentine's date with you!

Valentine's day happened to land on a Sunday. After church, Jefferson came to pick me up and as we were leaving, he pulls out a blindfold and insists on my wearing it. My mom helped me tie it around my head, and before I knew it, I was being led to this monstrous truck out in the farthest reaches of my parents driveway. Honestly, it took us forever to get there and I had to hold Jefferson's hand (it's besides the point that I might have wanted to hold his hand, too!). How do I know it was a monstrous truck? Because Jefferson practically had to lift me into it because I couldn't find a foot-hold or a handle anywhere, even though my arm was completely outstretched! Quite a feat in a knee-length dress, don't you think?

We started driving to I-don't-know where. I could smell food someplace...possibly in the back of the car...The drive felt really long, too long just to be going to his house (which is conveniently less than a mile away).

We must be going somewhere, I thought. But it's a Sunday in Utah...where could we go? Maybe he's just driving in circles to confuse me...

The car came to a stop and Jefferson briefed me on what was going to be happening in the next few minutes, but still wouldn't let me take off the blindfold. Mine was a blurry world of pink dotted with black paisley. Jefferson came around and helped me dismount his beast of a vehicle and then, one arm around my waist, the other enduring my vice-like grip, he led me...somewhere!

"There's a flight of stairs coming up," Jefferson warned.

Oh great, I thought. If high heels and stairs weren't a bad enough combination, let's throw in a blindfold! He's really trying to test my gracefulness, isn't he?

For some strange reason, I took it into my head that the stairway was circular even though there was no evidence pointing in that direction, and started to walk accordingly, slowly truning in my ascent up the stairs. It led to a lot of blushing on my part when I ran into the wall, and a lot of hushed giggles on the part of Jefferson. I'm just glad it was dark, and that I could tell, even through a blindfold.

We breached the steps and then began the long sojourn through a hallway. Jefferson sat me down in a cushy chair situated in some room...somewhere.

"I have to go bring things up from the car, so no peeking!" he said.

"Okay," I said in a defeated tone. While he was gone, I started to explore my surroundings with my hands. I recognized a lamp, intricately carved with a tubular cloth covered shade. But to my other side, there was something sitting on the floor and I couldn't make it out for the life of me so yes...I peeked. Turns out it was a lamp, too, only the old-fashioned candle kind. It was carved from wood with Thailand carved in the wood. I heard footsteps coming but it was too late.

"Peeker," Jefferson said. I told him about how I had figured out what was around me just by feeling it and I may have fibbed a little to impress him, saying that I figured out Thailand was carved in the lamp with my blindfold on. That impressed him a little, I think, and made me feel better about my stupidity when confronted with a simple staircase, but worse overall because I had just lied!

I couldn't understand why I was being so jittery and nervous...I just had an overwhelming feeling that something important was going to happen and I didn't want to mess that up!

(Chapter 1: cont'd)

"They told me I had a very pretty girlfriend and that when we got married I should bring you back to their restaurant every week and we'd all teach you Thai! They wouldn't believe me when I tried to explain that it was actually our first date!"

I couldn't decide if I was glad he'd told me, or if I was embarrassed, or if it made me awkward...just wasn't sure, but I tried to shake it off.

We went on to Olive Garden and then Jefferson drove to the Provo Temple and parked the car. It had all the signs of a desire to "park" (wink, wink) except the fact he had parked by the temple and then scooted as far over on his side of the car as he physically could. I did likewise, not wanting to give him any ideas. (Daddy always taught me not to be giving boys "ideas"...wasn't ever really sure what he was talking about, but I always tried to play it safe.)

We sat and talked. He was a really good listener and I soon found I was sharing more things with him than I had with anyone in a long time. Before I knew it, I was the one who had a sudden urge to kiss him just for how sweet he was being. I squelched that urge, not wanting to scare him off.

I mean, who knows, this could actually go somewhere, I thought.

When Jefferson dropped me off, he walked me to the door and gave me the traditional awkward-first-date-hug. That aforementioned urge resurfaced, but was immediately suppressed. My parents were waiting up for me, as was their way, and asked me how the date went. I began to pump out every fact I could remember, what his Build-A-Bear looked like, the scene at the restaurant, everything, when my dad said, "So do you like this boy?"

How do you answer that? "It's only been one date, Dad," I said.

"Well, you'd better be prepared to make some important decisions, 'cause they're coming up."

At this I rolled my eyes. "Right, Dad," I said unbelieving.

"I'm being serious. Don't mess with this boy's emotions."

"Okay, Dad," I said in the same tone, and then continued to fill in my mom.

How little did I know then!

(Chapter 1: cont'd)

I called Jefferson to double check the date and give him my address. This was a whole new experience for me. Usually I was the one being told when and where, instead of doing the telling. I was unnecessarily sweaty-palmed and jittery by the end of our five minute conversation.

The night of the date came. My sister Mandy practically dressed me...okay...she did dress me, picking out my outfit and doing my makeup as well as giving me helpful suggestions on the best way to wear my hair. You would've thought she was the older sister and that this was my first date!

Jefferson came to the door and I let my mom answer it (just like in rehearsal everyone! ...just kidding). I came practically bounding down the stairs, my chin-length bob, for lack of a better word, bobbing up and down. I landed with a very unlady-like thud at the bottom of the steps to look up (way up) into the face of my date.

Wow, he's a lot taller than I thought he would be...way taller than his brother...

The date went off without a hitch...well, without too many hitches. Jefferson hit the embankment in the middle of our circular drive (in his defense, there was snow on the ground! And he'd just got back from a mission where he hadn't driven anything with more than two wheels!) but that was a slight hiccup in comparison with the scene at dinner!

But before dinner, we went to the Orem Mall and built Jefferson a "companion." I could tell he was really off-balance for some reason. I don't know if it was because he wasn't expecting me to be quite so vertically challenged (I am 5'6" to his 6'7") or if he didn't expect me to be such a mix of bubbly and goofy (I mean we were at Build-A-Bear), but he didn't seem to talk very much. I didn't want to make him feel any more out of place, so I chattered along and let him put in his piece when he wanted.

After Build-A-Bear, we went to Thai Ruby Gardens. Jefferson was way excited but, at the same time, a little nervous. "American Thai food is nothing like the real stuff," he said. This of course made me all the more nervous myself!

I don't wanna feed him crappy Thai food!, I thought.

When our waitress came by, she started (in English with a heavy Thai accent) to ask us if we were ready to order, when Jefferson started spewing out Thai! I have to admit, I was pretty proud of myself, I mean, I accomplished all three goals for our date (Build a "companion", eat Thai food, and speak Thai) even though I couldn't physically do the last one!

Jefferson chit-chatted with the waitress, who went back to fill our order. When she came back, she brought another waitress with her. They all were sprechen Thai at this point, and for a girl who speaks only Germanic languages (English and German) I just sat around awkwardly and smiled a lot. The waitresses (we're up to three at this point) went back to bring us our order, and when they came out they brought the cooks, too!

Jefferson is loving this!, I thought, when suddenly he burst out laughing at something one of the cooks had said. When I gave him a quizzical look, he told me he'd tell me later, and kept laughing.

After dinner, we decided to go to Olive Garden for dessert (Jefferson's idea...well, how was I supposed to know that most Thai desserts are deep-fried fruit or something with kidney beans involved?) On the drive there, he started to tell me all about his sudden fits of mirth back at the restaurant.

How a Seed Became a Beanstalk: Chapter 1

Once upon a time, a boy met a girl, they fell in love and lived happily ever after.
This is the story of how the boy and girl met:

On a chilly Decemeber evening, as I did some last minute grocery shopping with my mom for New Year's Eve, I got a text from someone I hadn't heard from in a while. He was a boy I had gone to school with, named Kindall. We'd been on a couple dates in high school: a dance, ice-skating, and to a football game or two, but nothing had really come of it. Kindall's texts made me think they were leading up to another such date:

"Hey, what're you up to this week?" he asked.
"Not really anything...why?" I sent back. Nothing could've prepared me for his response!
"Well, how would you like to go on a date with my older brother?"

I burst out laughing right there in the frozen foods section of our local Reams. Mom came over and asked what was up. I let her read the texts, too, and she chuckled a little. "Why not?" she said. "It could be fun."

Now mind you, this wasn't my first blind-date. I'd been set up quite a few times in fact by friends and neighbors alike, but nothing had ever really come of any of it. Sure, the boys were nice but they never asked me out more than once and that time was the time it was set up by somebody else, so it doesn't really count! In other words, this was nothing new, just the fact of who was actually setting it up (a guy I'd dated before) was  really tickling my ribs!

I teased Kindall a little in the next few texts between us, telling him I was unsure, that I'd never even seen his brother, etc. Then his dad took the reins:

"Genevieve, dad here. Tell you what, you plan the date and I'll pay for it. Is that incentive enough?"
Well, who could say no to that?

Mom and I went home and told my dad. He was skeptic about this whole blind-date thing, but when you're a college student living at home versus on campus, it really is one of the only ways to meet new people.

In his texts, Kindall had told me a little bit about his brother: His name was Jefferson, he was 21 years old, and had just returned from serving an LDS mission in Bangkok, Thailand. He was really shy, and hadn't really found his footing around girls yet. Kindall told me that he and his dad thought I would be great for a first date after two years of no girls because of my fun personality. They really thought I could help get Jefferson out of his shell and back into the dating game. But I didn't know anything about him! How was I supposed to plan a fun date if I didn't even know his hobbies? Oh boy...this was my exact thought process:

Well, Thailand. He'd served there, and if I had just served a mission, what would be the things I would miss the most? Definitely the food for one thing, so I'll have to find a good Thai restaurant. [Thank you, Google!] But that's not a very fun activity ...hmmmm.... what could we do for the date part? ... Honestly, I don't know how boys do this all the time for every date, and still keep them fun and exciting, especially if they don't know the girl at all! ... back on track... hmmm...another thing I'd miss from a mission... maybe the fact that you don't always having a companion with you all the time anymore... but how could I replace that? Oh, I know! We'll go to Build-A-Bear! We'll make him his own little companion! ...and maybe I could get a Build-A-Bear, too! I've always wanted one and this would be the perfect opportunity! What'll I name my Build-A-Bear? ...wait a minute. You're not done planning your date yet. Right...oops... Is there anything else I would miss from a mission? Maybe the language, but I don't speak Thai... I think the first two things ought to be enough. We'll go to Build-A-Bear and then to a Thai restaurant and that should be good enough, I think... Now back to the Build-A-Bear I'm gonna get...