Our Love Part I, wherein the lovers meet

Today is the 4 year anniversary of the first time I kissed Christopherson. So, in commemoration, I am telling the story of our love. It is long and detailed, so I will be sharing it in segments. My girl Kiley did this on her blog, and I loved it so I am copying her. You should go read hers if you want. It is really cute.

Ready?

It actually all starts with my Sophomore year at BYU. We (me, Shelly, Kiley, Ann, and TW) moved into Centennial apartments and found out that our FHE brothers were way awesome and fun. They were so awesome and fun that we did stuff every day. I felt as comfortable in their apartment as I did in mine. Minus the sleeping and showering and such, you know. They had a friend who used to be their roommate named Chris. I heard them talk about him every once in a while, but never thought anything of it. At the end of Sophomore year, Spring term, I had moved out of Centennial and was living at home, but I still spent tons of time there because Ann, TW, and Tay were living in our apartment.

And, lo and behold, in apartment 210 there was a new guy. Of course I had to hang out with him, because if he was friends with those guys, he would be my best friend too. He had just had some pretty rough stuff happen in his life, but I was surprised to see that he wasn’t angry. He was just so nice. One time I was over at his apartment, labeling things around the house with masking tape and a Sharpie. You know, “toaster,” “fridge,” “microwave,” stuff like that. And apparently I said something like, “Chris, we’re best friends!” because all those boys were my friends. And Chris thought to himself, “What is this girl talking about? We’re not going to be best friends, I don’t even know her and she’s at my house labeling things with masking tape.” Luckily he had the good sense to keep those thoughts to himself, however.

As the summer went on, Chris hung out with us more and more. He even came to the dance party in the courtyard, at Kiley’s insisting, and jumped in the pool with his clothes on with all of us at the conclusion of the party, as per tradition.

He was there for Fourth of July/Ann’s birthday fun, the photo shoot with the rain coats and sunglasses, and the re-birth of Fun Night. (What’s funny is that sometimes when we reminisce about that summer, he mostly doesn’t remember me being there. He just talks about how fun it was to go hang out at our apartment with TW and Ann.)

(This has nothing to do with our love, but check out the skin color difference of me and Ann. Awesome. Also TW and Chris, incidentally. Man our kids will be white.)


(hey, this pic could also be part of someone else's love story, Ann!)
But where it began in earnest was Andrea’s family’s cabin over the 24th of July weekend. This is the first picture ever taken of the two of us. We took it because we were matching.



That weekend was so amazing. We went canoeing, and we rode golf carts and 4-wheelers, we saw a moose, we watched movies, we had pancakes, we gathered around the piano and sang songs, and we played UNO Mash.

Singing around the piano is serious shiz. It was a funeral march, perhaps.

We also had Ninja Training (not pictured), which was one of the things that drew me to Chris. Ninja Training consisted of throwing darts at a dartboard by doing things like running past the board and throwing it behind your back, or by rolling on the ground and throwing it, or ducking behind the couch, poking your head up and throwing the dart, then hiding again. It was very fun, and I thought Chris was really fun and funny for coming up with it.

One of the nights at the cabin, everyone ended up out on the deck with their blankets and sleeping bags. There were like 12 of us out there, just talking and laughing for hours and having fun. I was actually laying next to Chris on the deck, not by design or anything, it just happened that way.

Proof.

One by one people started to fall asleep, until Chris and I were the only ones still awake. We kept talking, and talking, for hours after everyone fell asleep. I think by the time we went to bed it was like 4 or 5 in the morning. We talked about our families, and what we were studying in school, just getting to know you kind of stuff. He talked to me about the tough times he’d been going through, and I was again really impressed with how kind he was despite all the stupid stuff he had to deal with. Eventually we fell asleep, and in the morning when we woke up, something was different. I can’t really explain it, but I’d gone from him being an acquaintance to a close friend from one day to the next. It sort of embarrassed me, honestly. I don’t know why that was the emotion I felt, but I clearly remember feeling sort of sheepish.

From then on, I could kind of tell the boy was into me. And I became into him too. There were other notable moments, like a replication of Andrea’s cabin that happened at mine—everyone eventually going to sleep, and he and I talking all night.
There was also the day of fun. (Which I have no pictures of! TW, do you have some?) The day of fun started with a ward activity of floating down the river. Chris stuck right with me the whole time, and would paddle me in the right direction if I needed it. After we floated down the river, we went back to our apartment, and me, Chris and Teenwhizzle watched Emma, which is me and TW’s favorite movie. T Dub fell asleep on my lap, and I played with her hair and sat by Chris. At some point I sort of laid my head on Chris’s shoulder, and I remember feeling so absolutely comfortable doing that. That was my favorite thing about this stage. I never felt awkward or weird, with the exception of the day after the up all night thing. I always felt completely comfortable with Chris, and knew I could tell him anything without fear of judgment.
Anyway, after the movie, Chris, Josh, TW and I went bowling with my parents and little brothers. I don’t remember why that came up as an activity, but it did and it was really fun. After bowling, we decided to go up the canyon and make a fire. We went up South Fork and tried FOREVER to make a suitable fire. We used these shelves I had in my car as kindling. (I had bought them and then decided I didn’t want them anymore. So why not burn them?) We finally got a tiny, pitiful fire going. Right about then a big group settled into the fire pit next to us. They had a pallet or 2 and some lighter fluid, and in about 2 seconds they had a raging bonfire. It was so hilarious to us. Until the cops showed up, because apparently there was a huge sign about not having fires that we had missed. They gave all of us a ticket, which seemed so unfair since our fire was so ridiculous. But we got an $80 ticket, split 4 ways as penance for our malfeasance.
After we put out our fire and lamented the fact that that just happened, we decided to watch a movie. We went and rented When A Stranger Calls, and I don’t care what my siblings say, that movie is way scary. It was just a really, really fun day and I found myself being even more attracted to Chris.

Tune in next time to read about both our first dates. . . . .