Our First Date

Prior to our courtship, Jared was my home teacher.  As my home teacher, he would call to set up a time to come visit.  He'd bring his companion, Bryan Koopman along and they'd visit and ask if I needed assistance with anything.  As mentioned in an earlier post, I was attracted to Jared from the moment I laid eyes on him.  So, when he'd ask if there's anything that he could do for me, I wanted to say, "Yeah, let's go makeout."  However, having some amount of self control, I'd refrain and simply answer, 'no'.  Well, after a few months of being visited by Jared and Bryan.  I became good friends with Jared.  He'd call once a month to set up an appointment with me and we'd end up talking for hours.  In fact, one night, we talked from 8:30pm-2:00am!  After his relationship with Heather ended, I noticed he became more flirtatious  during our chats by phone and in person.  As one of his visits was coming to an end and I was walking him out to his car, he said, "You know there's a lot of guys that would like to date you."  I have no idea what I said after that.  Well, actually, that's a lie.  I do know what I said but it was stupid.  Therefore, I have no intention of sharing it on my blog.  Anyway, a few days later, there was a fireside at the Church.  Afterwards, Jared and I were hanging out.  When I got home later that night, there was a message on my cellphone.  He'd asked me on a date!  FINALLY!!!  The only problem was, I was still dating a guy.  Yeah, I know, I was a bit of a player.  Actually, you probably have no idea how big of a player I was--and, again, I have no intention of sharing that information on my public blog.  So, back to my story.  The night I received the call from Jared, I called him back and we talked for a few hours.  We were both extremely tired at work the next day.  Then again, when you're living life as an LDS single WHEN are you NOT tired at work the next day?!  hee hee  Two days later, I broke up with my boyfriend.  I won't go into detail on that because...it'll only show how much of a devil I am.  Later that week, on Saturday, I was working at Mervyn's until 9:30pm.  I rushed home from work and hurried to get ready for my date with hottest guy in town.  I wore tight (but not too tight) black pants with a burgundy sweater, black boots, and I wore my hair straight (that means I REALLY wanted to look good).  He showed up and I was ecstatic!  My parents were nervous because I'd mentioned fifty-thousand times how much I like Jared.  So, after chatting with them for a few moments we left.  He took me to dinner at Applebee's.  He had chicken strips with ranch dressing (he spilled a little on his shirt) and I ended up only having a brownie dessert.  He knew it would be a really late date so he just planned on taking me to a movie.  He'd cut out the newspaper clipping and asked if I'd enjoy seeing 'Elf'.  I definitely was interested in seeing that movie but--I was more interested in being with Jared. haha  We drove to the theatre, walked inside and observed an empty theatre.  The gates were closed behind the counter.   Jared told them we were there to see 'Elf'.  They looked at us rather strangely and said it wasn't playing.  What?!  It was only 11:20pm.  As far as we were concerned the movie had started at 11:10pm.  We walked back out to the car, Jared looked at the newspaper clipping another time and started laughing.  The movie 'Elf' was showing at that theatre.  However, it was an 11:10 AM showing not an 11:10pm. hahahhahahhahhahha  We got a good laugh out of that.  We drove to his house where we watched a movie, graded an "Anti-Mormon Literature paper"  he had received from someone and held hands on his parent's couch that we now own.  You can assume that more than kissing has been done on that couch now. hahahahhahha  Aren't you glad I told you?  By the way, he tried to kiss me a million times that night.  I was trying to play hard to get--and let me tell you, after liking the guy for 9 months before our first date------THAT WAS HARD!  Anyway, we kissed on the second date so it was fine.  Oh, and our second date took place on the following Tuesday, we saw the movie 'Elf' at 11:10 AM. :)

Lake Berryessa

Jared and I LOVE hiking.  In fact, we are quite obsessed with the activity.  We're hoping to gather up a group that likes to hike and...go hiking!   Also, just a side note, Jared is looking for a partner/group of guys to go mountain biking with...any takers?  Yeah, we're trying to meet new people and make lots of friends in our new city/state...we're flippin' excited!

I thought I'd add some pictures of our hiking days at Lake Berryessa, CA  It was one of our favorite places to hike when we were living in San Francisco.  Point Reyes was our number 1 and Berryessa was a close number 2...

Elders Andrew and Brian Brown

Andrew and Brian are serving full-time missions.  Andrew will be serving in Austria and Brian is serving in the Chicago North-Spanish speaking mission.  Here's their addresses:

Elder Andrew Brown

MTC Mailbox #144

GERM-MUN 1110

2005 N. 500 E.

Provo, UT 84604

(he will be in the MTC until November 10th, 2008)

Elder Brian R. Brown

Illinois Chicago North Mission

3295 N Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004

(he will be at this address  until further notice)

Please write them when you have time.  I know they'd love to hear from you.  They really enjoy receiving mail.

The Fam-Bam

Jared and I have wonderful, loving families.  We enjoy living where we live, however, we miss our families.  I am the oldest of four children.  My brothers are currently serving their missions.  Brian is serving in Chicago, Illinois (Spanish speaking).  Andrew is still in the MTC but will be headed to Austria in a month.  My little sister is running for Vice President (of her fifth grade class).  She is very talented.  She plays the piano and soccer.  My parents are humble, sweet people.  I never appreciated them until I moved out to attend college.  I never understood them until I got married.  I love my family and wish I could be nearer to them.

Jared's family is also wonderful and loving.  He is the fourth of seven.  He has five brothers and one sister.  All of his siblings are successful people.  They serve faithfully in their various church callings and they are dedicated and hardworking.  I admire all of them.  Jared's parents are sweet people.  They are strong and supportive.  I am so blessed to be apart of such great families.  I hope Jared and I can get our families to migrate to our city.  haha Yeah, I know, I'm living in a dream world...

Jared

Update on Jared:

He is working as a Psychologist for a Specialist Staffing Agency.  He loves his job.  He works many hours but it is nothing compared to what he's been through.  He spent three years working toward his MA Educational Psychology with School Psychology, Pupil Personnel Services Credential.  This included two years of schooling and a one year internship.  He has worked hard and conquered many challenges over the last few years.  I'm very proud of him.  

He doesn't have a church calling, yet.  However, we just moved in last week.  The first thing the Bishop said to him was 'So, you'll be here permanently?  That's great.  That means your game for any calling that may come along.'  haha

Jared's a great handyman.  He fixed our porch light and put in new air filters.  That's pretty good since it's only been a week.  

That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll find some more things to write about that will make friends and family gag. LOL

Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House

Jared and I moved into our first house last week.  The process of buying our first home was smooth and fun.  Phil Devito was our Realtor.  I am using his name because I highly recommend him to anyone that plans on buying in our metro area.  He went above and beyond his job description.  He was an excellent person to work with.  The funny thing is, we called his number because it was posted on a "For Sale" sign at a house we liked.  

So, we've moved in.  I absolutely love our home.  I think it is beautiful.  It is in a nice, quiet neighborhood.  We are living in the burbs and loving it.  I cannot say enough about the area in which we live.  We are very pleased with our decision.  We are proud of ourselves because we know we have worked hard to be in the position we are in.  However, we mostly feel blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful home.  We cannot fully express our gratitude.  Our home is 3 bed/2.5 bath/2 car.  The backyard is not landscaped but we look forward to beautifying it.

How Julie Met Jared

April of 2003, I was at a young single adult dance.  I'd arrived with my good friend, Sara.  After entering the steamy, stinky, room, Sara and I positioned ourselves so as to get a good, long look at the crowd.  Immediately, I noticed a tall, blue-eyed hunk across the room.  Since I'd only been home from Utah State University for a week, I hadn't met too many people.  Pointing toward the direction of the sexy man, I said to Sara, "Who is that?"  She replied, "That's Jared Casady.  Don't pay any attention to him, he's with Sandy.  Oh, and he already has his Bachelor's Degree."  Apparently, these two things meant a great deal to Sara.  Anyway, I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  There were two reasons for this, his good looks and his discombobulated dancing.  I didn't see him spending a significant length of time with any one girl so, I decided I'd make a move.  I asked him to dance.  Fortunately for him, it was a slow song.  Unfortunately for me, we were dancing in front of a speaker.  I managed to squawk a few meaningless sentences.  Just before the conclusion of the song, I thought about making a request for a "next slow song re-dance".  However, much to my dismay, the song we'd danced to was the last one for the evening.  The lights came on and the dance was over.  I sensed Jared liked me.  However, also to my dismay, another girl, Heather, had already put the moves on earlier in the evening and it was obvious, he was interested in her.  I didn't fret because I'd been in similar positions before, and well, I had a boyfriend anyway...To be continued...yes, we've been married for four years and we just bought a house.  For your information, I will be adding to this post.  However, in between, I will be discussing and posting about our current life...Think of my blog like the movie, "The Princess Bride."  Much like the grandfather, I am telling a story.  However, in addition to telling the story, I have to discuss things in the present.  Get it?  Got it?  Good.