How it all began...

I got tagged! So hopefully you enjoy our story of "how it all began"

1. Where did you meet your husband?

We met at my parents' house.  My brother Brandon introduced  us.  He wanted to set us up for a long time, but Matt wasn't cooperative because he didn't want to go out with his friend's little sister.

My brother Brandon and I, Thanks Brandon :)

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?

I was at my house talking to my parents when my brother Brandon came home and said "Matt's here!" At the time, the only Matt I knew was Brandon's good friend whose name was Matt Hunsaker, who I had known all my life.  So, thinking he was the one coming through the door, and feeling very comfortable around him, I started singing "MATTHEW, OH MATTHEW!" in my loudest most beautiful voice (I couldn't see him at the time because I was in another room away from the front door). When I was done singing his name I look over to see some random guy looking at me in confusion. I felt so stupid and attempted to explain how I thought he was someone else.  Here I was in my pajamas with my BIG t-shirt pulled over my knees and here is a very handsome man looking at me as if I was crazy. After trying to justify my behavior and saying sorry, he was embarrassed and said that he was sorry he wasn't who I thought he was. Jokingly he lowered his head and said "I'll just leave," and pretended to turn to go.  He didn't leave though.  Oh, let me just say I make a great first impressions.

3. Where was your first date?

Lucky for me, I was able to have two first dates.  The first one (mid June):  Matt had been over at our house hanging out with Brandon (this was just after we had met) and he was trying to get me to go four-wheeling.  At the time, I had a very bad cold and wasn't feeling up to going.  He wouldn't settle for a no, but he did settle for a drive to Fairview Canyon where his family had a cabin.  We got there (1 1/2 hr drive), walked to a nearby lake and back, checked on the cabin, and then drove to his house.  He made me quesadilla's and then he took me home.  Our second first date was in November. We had a 13 hour date! We went four-wheeling, went to a movie, played Monopoly, played piano,  and made some food. I still remember the first time I saw him that day and I thought he was soo hot! I had forgotten something in my room when he came to pick me up and while I was getting it I had a feeling that he was the one I was going to marry! Who knows if it was just my wishful thinking or if it was the spirit, but either way we got married!

This was a picture taken of us on our third date. :)

4. Where was your first kiss?

I'll just say that it took Matt a LONG time to kiss me (30 dates). To give you an idea of how long it took, we would always hang out with my brother Brett and his wife Sarah at their house.  Every time we would say goodbye to them, Matt would walk me to my car and we would stand there and say good bye FOREVER!  Then pretty soon we would be soo tired and cold that we would give each other one more hug and then hop in our cars and drive away. And every time I would get a phone call from Brett saying.."What is wrong with you guys, why didn't you kiss?" Apparently, Brett and Sarah would be spying on us and waiting to see some action. You would think that most older brothers would be very protective of their little sister. But the truth is that my brother and the rest of my family were in love with Matt, so he could do anything and yet still get away with it. Okay, maybe not anything, but they just trusted him and really really wanted him to be in the family. I think they were more in love with him at the time than I was.

Well back to where we kissed.. We were out side Matt's brother's apartment leaning against the car. We were talking about who knows what and then we just stood there in silence. I couldn't handle the silence. It was so awkward that I grabbed Matt's face and started to shake it. Don't ask me why, I guess I just didn't like the whole situation.  After I stopped shaking his face, and we finished laughing over it, he finally kissed me. It was about time!

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

We met in June, started dating in November, got engaged by February and  married by the end of April. So I would have to say short :)

6. Where did you get engaged?

Well the whole process was long (in a good way). He took me on a scavenger hunt to some of the places where we had made memories, like the Trolley (a restaurant in Springville) and RC Willey's. He even took me to the LDS Distribution Center and gave me the Book of Mormon and Bible with my name printed on them, Tana Leigh Nelson (instead of Tana Leigh Jones). There were more places that all had meaning to them and at each place I had to go in and ask for my next clue. Each clue was a present and attached to each present he had a poem or something to let me know how much he loved me and why this place is special to him. Obviously, I knew what was coming, or so I thought I did, but after we were done with all the clues and there was still no ring on my finger he asked me what I wanted to do next. He said that we could watch a movie or something.  Needless to say, I was confused. Why would he go through all this work for nothing! Did he just think it would be fun to do this for no reason? Well after a few minute's of me feeling awkward with disappointment, he asked me if I wanted my last clue. I said yes! He gave it to me, and the clue told us to go to the tower (the tower is a small room with a lot of windows at the top of Matt's house where we had spent a lot of time together talking). We got up there, following a path of rose petals, and he had a beautiful display of roses waiting for us. I turned around and he got down on one knee and obviously you know the rest of the story :)

Here are some pictures that were taken right after we got engaged 

7. Where did you get married?

The Salt Lake Temple 

I tag Margi, Michelle, Kiley, Lisa D. and Stephanie J.