My Love

I've been all about the questionnaires lately....here's one from Erin over at Confessions of a Magnolia Mom in honor of Valentines Day next week.

How long have you and your significant other been together?

We have been friends since 2006, dating since February of 2008 and we were married on March 13, 2010.

How did you meet?

Craig and I met during my first full year of teaching which was the 2006 - 2007 school year when we were on the same coaching staff at my former school.  He was the head basketball coach and I was a Math/Geography teacher and assistant volleyball coach.  We gradually got to know each other through long hours spent at track meets and fun happy hours with coworkers on Friday afternoons.  I knew from almost the very beginning that there was a connection between the two of us, in fact I found myself extremely disappointed when I found out that first year that he had a girlfriend of six years.  I can remember thinking "oh, well......I guess he'll probably marry her soon."  Our relationship really grew out of a deep friendship and we hurdled many obstacles both individually and as friends way before we ever started dating.  Six months before we ever started dating I told one of our mutual friends "I'm going to marry Craig, I just can't date him right now."  Doesn't really make sense, but that was the truth.

We began dating in February of 2008 and this is probably the best part of the whole story.  I was playing basketball with 6th graders in the gym on my conference period and as I came down from jumping for a rebound, my foot rolled on a student's foot and I heard the unmistakable POP of a very sprained ankle.  One of the other coaches came over to me immediately and all I said was "go get Craig."  He and I spent one very memorable afternoon in the Care Now getting x-rays of my ankle which ended in me hobbling out on crutches. It was a Wednesday afternoon so he had select basketball practice that night and at 9:00 that night he brought me Taco Bueno to my apartment, got me my medicine and helped me settle into bed.  I gave him a spare key to my apartment to lock the door as he left and I didn't get that key back until I moved out almost six months later.

In Vegas for my 25th birthday.

In College Station for an Aggie football game.

At the State Fair with our good friends, the Manning family.

Pre-partying for the U2 concert at Cowboys stadium.  My first U2 concert while Craig had seen already seen them in.........Dallas, Madison Square Garden, Hawaii and Dublin.

At a friend's wedding.

If married, how long have you been married?

We were married on March 13, 2010 in a gorgeous outdoor wedding with about 150 of our closest friends and family.  Our wedding colors were chocolate brown and lime green and we honeymooned in Antigua for a week.

***I don't have any wedding pictures on my flash drive at work or else I would post some of those.***

My favorite bridal portrait.

I printed this one in sepia tone for my Daddy to put next to his bed.

Against my mother's judgment, I took all my bridal portraits in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas which is known for bars, tattoo parlors and other questionable establishments.  But I wanted something different from the typical bridal portraits and we were able to get some amazing pictures.

One of my favorite engagement shots taken in the gym where we met and spent so much time together.

We had our engagement party at the horse races where we rented out a suite and invited all our closest friends to join us for food, horse racing and then a Cross Canadian Ragweed concert.

Our honeymoon in Antigua - I was so skinny and tan!!!

It was absolutely gorgeous.

We did nothing exciting or interesting.  No paragliding, no scuba-ing, no jetskiing.  Nothing.  We sat on the beach or by the pool and slept, drank and read.  It was wonderful.

If you are married, where did you get married at?  Big or small wedding?

We were married outside on the edge of a golf course at a hotel in the area.  I really didn't have a preference as to where we got married and when Craig saw this particular location, he got excited and pumped for the wedding.........so that's what we did!  I liked that we had the wedding and reception all at the same place.

Do you have any nicknames that you call each other?  Do share!

Not anything other than the typical "honey" or "baby."

Name three things you love most about your honey.

- His compassion for and loyalty to those people that he cares about.  (This includes not only his family, but the girls that are on his basketball teams.)
- His sense of humor and ability to make me laugh.
- He is the most patient and thoughtful person I know!

Tell us how he proposed?

He completely caught me off guard.  It was a Thursday afternoon on a day when we had early release due to final exams.  Ironically, I had just spilled the beans to my principal that Craig and I were even dating, although my principal said "are you about to tell me the worst kept secret at our school" right before I told him so apparently we weren't as sneaky as I thought.  He just asked me in our bedroom when we were both wearing sweatpants and t-shirts - nothing special nor a very romantic setting, but the words he chose to use were beautiful.

Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne and rose petals?

I'm not any of those things so I would really hope that he would not do anything like that.  He usually surprises me with some sort of flowers sent to work and a sweet card.

Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or a pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I would hope this answer is fairly obvious.  I would prefer sweats, popcorn and relaxing on the couch but instead of a movie, we'd probably be watching sports.

Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day.  If you could do anything?  Go anywhere?

I'd like to take him to Australia - that's his dream vacation spot.  We'd also like to go to the Super Bowl, the Olympics and an NCAA Final Four.  I'm hoping that our next overseas adventure will be to Ireland, England and Scotland.

Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.

Since our anniversary is only one short month after Valentine's Day, we will not be doing anything major for V-Day but instead we will be celebrating LOVE with Natalie as a family of three.  We're planning on starting the tradition of a family date night for Valentine's Day (I can't resist the opportunity to dress her up and put a big fat bow in her hair) and then a Momma-Daddy date night for our anniversary.

Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day?

Nope.  Not a thing.  I'm waiting for our anniversary in March.

Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

You should have three "lives" in the house - your family life, your marriage life and your individual life.  Craig and I do things with Natalie as a family, we do things just the two of us and we do things individually by ourselves or with our female/male friends.  The amount of time that you devote to each "life" will never be equal but they should all satisfy you and create a whole person.

Show us a picture of what love means to you.

This is my lovely husband right before we were rolled into the OR for my emergency c-section.  He might have been terrified and nervous, but he didn't let it show.  Instead he stayed strong and tried to make me giggle.