Once Upon a Time...

Thursday Jan 24th 2008 was a cold, wet day in Rexburg Idaho. I had a huge headache and was loaded down with homework I knew I would be up half the night doing. I had previously committed to helping out at the Rexburg LDS Temple open house. I was going back in forth on whether or not I would go or not. My body was telling me to stay home and sleep. If I was getting sick I needed to sleep it off fast, I didn't have time to be our of commission. The more I leaned towards not going the more I felt like I needed to go. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was suppose to be there that night. So I got all dressed up and me and my roommates headed to the temple...

It was a bitter cold night (as many January nights are in Rexburg.) I felt bad for the guys who had to work outside. We got our assignments and I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be inside the temple, but in the halls of the church. Little did I know it was all for the good. After standing there for an hour I started to notice the same cute guy walking past me. Each time I would smile at him. I knew he was a volunteer outside in the cold parking lot because of his vest and the gloves. Unfortunately, because of the gloves I couldn't tell if he was married (I'd ht on way to many married men over the course of the 3 years I'd been at school and I was done making that mistake.) Finally after 2 1/2 hours this cute guy came up and started talking with me. His name was Mike and we quickly found some things in common and talked for a good half hour (keep in mind this left his poor friend Bobbers out in the cold a lot longer than planned.) Finally, he asked for my number, just in case he and his friend wanted to stop by. I figured it wouldn't turn into anything, although I was pretty attracted to him. He lived at the Ridge and since the guys that lived there were well known for being 'players.' I didn't think he would call. (It should be noted I lived at the Ridge too... so it was wrong of me to judge.) Luckily, that night he sent me a few texts... After than I was a little more positive.

Friday Jan 25th, 2008: I had a date planned with the guy I had just broken up with two weeks prior. I got a voicemail from Mike at about 6pm that evening asking if I wanted to go on a date. (I still have the voicemail saved on my phone and it is cute to listen to him stumble over his words.) I called him back right a way and worked out a plan to have him pick me up at 8:17pm that night. We walked back to his apartment (it was just one building away.) I was introduced to all of his roommates and the couple we would be doubling with. Then we headed to "Frontier Pie" where we would have dinner. This is an important part of the story because it is were my nickname hails from. We couldn't decide what to get for dinner so we all closed our eyes and pointed to something on the menu. The other girl got Liver and Onions and we all tried it (yuck!) I got the quiche... which was actually pretty good. Mike and his Best friend Dave (more affectionately known as Bob or Bobbers) have a thing with nick-names. On our way to the movies Bob named me "Keesh" in honor of my dinner and it fit. Dinner was a lot of fun. I enjoyed getting to know him better and he made me laugh so hard, which I loved.

We went to see "I am Legend." Mike had already scene it so it was obviously a ploy to get me to pull him close to me when I got scared. It work. I was so intoxicated by the smell of his cologne and his rock hard arm muscles I could barely keep my emotions in check... but I did. We didn't even hold hands! He was the perfect gentleman. I did hang on to his arm tight when I got scared and he had his hand on my knee every once in a while when I was really tense. But that was all. I knew this guy was different and I was excited to get to know him.
(This is not a picture from that night but the exact machine.) After the movie mike proved his skills at electric jump ropes. I was impressed when he got the jackpot on the second try. I was home right before curfew and the door step scene wasn't awkward at all. He gave me a hug and went on his way. He texted me right before he went to bed. This started a nightly ritual or late jokes through texts.

Saturday Feb 26th, 2008 - I was working long saturday nights at Craigo's back then. I came home afterwork (with an amazing cookie monster for my roomies and I to share) and my roommates said there was something on my bed. I ran back to see what it could be. There was a single flower with a note attached to it. It was from Mike letting me know what a great time he had the night before. It was at this moment I knew this was going to be something special.