Just a little bit about us. . . depending on which one of us you know. . .
I am a sixth grade teacher, working in the Nebo School District in Springville. I have been living in Provo for the last 4 years, but am originally from Walnut Creek, CA. Yes, I am a true California Girl. I served in the Sweden, Stockholm LDS mission from January 2004 to August 2005. I actually taught high school Biology for one year at my alma mater, Northgate, but then moved out here to Utah for a change. I pursued an education as a Physician Assistant for awhile before being impressed to go back to teaching 2 years ago. This upcoming year will be my 3rd year teaching sixth grade, 4th year teaching overall. I love to read, watch baseball, hike, run, camp, and be with family and friends. I just had my 31st birthday on July 21st.
Ryan is from Lehi, UT and is going to school right now for his MBA at the University of Utah. He served in the San Antonio, Texas Mission from October 1995 to November 1997. He is planning on being a Financial Planner and is in the last year of the MBA program. He is an avid basketball fan, loves hiking, biking, camping, anything outdoors, and his family. Ryan is 33 years old and will be 34 on August 19th.
Ryan goes to school with my cousin Jason. Jason lived in Cedar Hills at the time and Ryan was living in Lehi. Because of the commute up to the U, Jason was looking for guys to carpool with and came across Ryan's name. That is how they became friends in the first place. As Jason tells it, he was sitting in class one day and got the impression to set Ryan up with me. At a family Super Bowl get together he told me that he thought that Ryan was such a nice guy and he should be with a nice girl. (He told me this after Ryan and I had already been on two dates).
Jason actually tried to set us up in November. This is what he wrote me.
Hey there, I know I haven't talked to you forever, but I was talking to a guy who is in my MBA program today, and you came to my mind. He's on my team, and we carpool together, so i know him really well, and he's an awesome guy. I dont know if your still single, but if you are I want to set you guys up.
He's a good looking guy, i think he's 33, and he is a financial adviser at Fidelity, and he's working on his MBA right now.
I told him that it was not good timing right then and passed it up at first. LUCKILY, Ryan did not get into any relationship between that point and December when I text Jason to have him set us up again. It was Christmas break when I text Jason, so I didn't hear back about what would happen until a little into January. I wasn't really expecting anything to happen, but I was ready to date a lot of people and just have fun finding a person that loved me for who I was. I didn't want to have to make them like me, I just wanted them to like me and love me the way I was without trying to change me. I think this attitude helped a lot.
According to Ryan, it wasn't a total blind date, since Jason showed him a picture of me. He was all for the set up, but in all honesty, he didn't think it would go anywhere. In his own words "I thought you were too hot and it wouldn't work out." He actually called me on January 15 (I remember because I was trying to find my way to one of my mission companions homes for a get together and Angie was driving up with me). I was actually kind of lost when he called, but Jason had told me to pick up for any number that I did not recognize, because it would probably be Ryan. I did and we talked for a good 20 minutes, while I was trying to find my way around Salt Lake. :) He asked me out for dinner the next Saturday, on the 23rd of January.
Again, I didn't really know what to expect, but I will admit I was excited to be going out and just having fun. I called my sister Maren and she even came over and helped me pick out an outfit for the night. He picked me up at 7 pm (very prompt and punctual) and took me to dinner at La Dolce Vita in Provo. It's a little authentic Italian place and it was good. We spent a good 2 hours there before I asked if we were going to go do anything else. He told me the sky was the limit, whatever I wanted to do. (He later confessed that he didn't think it would go much farther than dinner.) I know this is kind of a cliche first date, but I hadn't gone bowling in forever, and I really wanted to go. So, we went to Miracle Bowl and played pool while we waited for a lane. I learned that Ryan has a very distinct way of bowling, I haven't seen anyone else do it that way, but it was really fun.
At the end of the date, I was waiting for the typical, "Well, I had a lot of fun, I'll call you later" line, but he surprised me or maybe I surprised him. I invited him in for a little bit and we ended up just talking. We found out that we both really like sports, but not the same ones. Ryan's a HUGE basketball fan (Jazz) and I am a HUGE baseball fan (Oakland A's) so we both watch Sportscenter a lot. :) When we made that discovery, Ryan asked me out for a second date on the spot. He had tickets to the Jazz game in about a week on a Monday night (February 1st). I remember because I was in charge of FHE and I almost canceled the date because of that, but I figured I could miss one in the name of potentially finding the love of my life. He told me later he was worried because he had taken a girl to a Jazz game many times before and things never progessed further after that. As my cousin's husband, Rich, said later, "Did you know Chalyce came from a sports family? Of course it would be fine." But he didn't know.
Needless to say, the 2nd date was a huge deal, because it was an hour of driving up (we never stopped talking or ran out of things to say), dinner at Iggy's Sports Grill, the whole game, and then an hour of driving home. It was a blast. I loved it!! However, I really had to pull back from the date and see if I loved the date or I loved being with him. He asked me on a 3rd date, but he couldn't do anything that weekend because his nephew was being baptized and his brother Gary was coming into town from Oregon. So we set it up for the following Wednesday.
I forgot to say, but Ryan was always good about calling me to confirm the date in between our dates. We would talk for long periods of time. He did a really good job of keeping in contact and making sure I knew he was thinking about me and probably also making sure I was still thinking about him. :) We ended up going to Olive Garden for dinner which was really good as well. I thought it was going to be a short date, especially since he told me he was going to see a movie with his cousin Shirley at 9. However, he asked if I still had time to go to Trafalga and play miniature golf. I thought that sounded fun, but I noticed that he was acting a little strange. We went and ended up playing one round of glow in the dark golf, then going on this 4D roller coaster ride 2x, and then playing a bunch of arcade games.
I was impressed that he was willing to do Dance, Dance, Revolution with me (3x) and then Guitar Hero. Apparently, I was already into him, because I ended up playing left handed when I am right handed. I was wondering why it felt strange. :) When we got back to my place, he asked me out for a 4th date, which would be sledding on Saturday. I said yes, and went to give him a hug good-bye, but instead I got a peck (I just had to say that). At first, I wasn't sure what was going on, but then when I realized it, I kissed him back. However, he was down the stairs in a flash and on his way. It took me 10 minutes to realize what had happened and whether or not I liked it.
I unfortunately had to cancel our sledding date because I got very sick, sore throat, cough, fever, everything all at once. So, instead, my sweetheart brought me 1/2 a dozen roses (it was the day before Valentine's Day), 4 cans of chicken soup, and a big immunity boosting smoothie. What a sweetheart. Then he sat there and let me talk for an hour. That was huge for him to do that for me. However, I was still not sure if I liked him for him or if I just liked being pampered and taken care of. I needed to make sure that I was not just liking him because I enjoyed having someone around. Ryan knows that I have a very logical brain, so this makes complete sense to him and probably to my family and friends.
Up to this point, he was the only one that would call and set up dates and meetings. I had not once called him or texted him because I wanted him to pursue me. So, I spent the whole next day trying to figure out whether or not my feelings for this guy were genuine. I prayed about it and tried to figure out if this was something I should pursue, or if I was being selfish and just wanted someone to be with me. I really did not want to be wasting his or my time. So, I thought about it all day on Sunday and came to the realization that I really liked him because I was feeling nervous about whether or not he was still interested in me after he left the day before. I didn't know if I was showing enough interest for him to continue to pursue me. That was my answer, so I called him, but he did not answer (the most excruciating wait of my life) and I left a message. He did call me back that night and he told me later that my call to him pretty much sealed his notion that I liked him back. From then on, we haven't varied from this course towards eternal bliss. We are so happy to be in love and to be taking this final step to be together forever.
I know this was a long post, but lots of people wanted to know how it started. I am just grateful that we were both prepared for one another and put together at the opportune moment for both of us to give it a shot and see what the Lord had been reserving all along for us. It was definitely worth the wait and it won't even compare to how long we now are able to be together.
