Love Story: Chapter 4 {the beginning of a lunch-date extravaganza}

Rewind to December 2009. Burt had been home from his mission for  a couple of weeks when he added me on Facebook {I later found out he only joined Facebook to find me. :)} We sent a few Facebook messages back and forth. I told Burt that I was coming down to Hendo for Christmas. We got together with a group of friends for a Christmas get-together. This was the first time I had seen Burt in 2 and a half years! I remember being nervous and thinking to myself, Why are you being ridiculous? There's no reason to be nervous. Burt's just a friend {a really hot one} who you haven't seen in over two years. Stop it! Burt and I caught each other up on the past 2 years, talked about hanging out, but we didn't see each other again while I was in town.

After I returned to Provo, Burt started with the texting again. I specifically remember texting him on New Year's Eve and telling him how I felt lame for working that night, but even lamer that I didn't have any friends with whom to celebrate if I weren't working. We continued texting, here and there. I remember some time in January telling him I was coming to town, and suggesting we get together. He responded with something like, "I'm going to be really busy that week." In my mind, that was code for "I don't want to hang out with you and I'm not interested in you." I immediately decided to stop texting and communicating with him altogether. {I'm never dramatic.} 

Then, a couple of weeks later, while I was in town, he texted me and asked if I wanted to get lunch with him. I was slightly confused about what his intentions were, but I agreed to the lunch date, although I did NOT think of it as a date at the time.

Reasons I didn't consider it a date:

1. It was LUNCH, not dinner. You don't do lunch for a first date. {This was because Burt didn't understand the rules of dating.}
2. We met at the restaurant; he didn't pick me up. {This was because he came straight from school and had to work right afterwards.}
3. He didn't call to ask me-- he texted. {Once again, he didn't understand the rules of dating.}
4. He didn't try to hold my hand and he didn't flirt. {This was because he had no game.}

We ate lunch at Red Robin and talked for hours. When we were finished, Burt walked me to my car, then we hugged and said goodbye. 

To be continued... 

Love Story: Chapter 3

At this point I was living in Utah with Joe & Felicia (bro & sis-in-law). They were nice enough to offer for me to live with them for a while. My plan was to work and start school once I got residency. I got a job at a Marriott hotel in Provo. WORST JOB EVER. I worked the graveyard shift at the front desk. I hated being there alone at night. And I hated when people asked me to fix something in their rooms, like a toilet. I have ZERO handyman skills and people staying at hotels are REALLY grumpy at midnight. Not a good combo. Also, there were the creepy men who flirted with me. I remember one guy in particular, named Lucky. {Who names their child "Lucky"? You're just asking for him to become a creeper.} Lucky called down to the front desk after he got into his hotel room. When I answered, he said something to this effect, "There is a sign on the night stand that says you will do anything possible to make my stay enjoyable..." [insert more creepy comments that I blocked from my memory]. Creeptastic. Anyway, the job ended up being a real bust. I quit at the end of January, after only three months of working there. 


Meanwhile, Burt was working, and going to school at UNLV. He had a change of heart about his major. Before his mission, he was working toward a degree in Engineering. He then decided to switch to Biology and made plans to go to medical school. 

After I quit my job, I felt a strong impression to move back home. I had conflicting feelings; I felt that if I moved back, I would be giving up on a new experience. But I prayed about it and felt like I needed to move back, although I didn't know why. I moved back home in February 2010. I felt instantly relieved and happy when I moved home. Oddly, I felt like it was a new start. How could moving back home be a new start? It didn't make sense, but things felt right.

To be continued...

Love Story: Chapter 2 {college & the mish}

Burt and I graduated from high school in 2006. I was heading to BYU in Provo, and Burt was staying in Henderson and attending UNLV. Sometime during the fall, we drove up to Idaho with a group of friends to visit some other high-school friends at BYU-Idaho. Carly, Devin, Kyle, Liah, and Burt stopped in Provo to pick me up along the way. For a few months after that trip, I didn't have much contact with Burt. Spring-ish of 2007, Burt and I started communicating through texting. He randomly started texting me, which for him, was pretty forward. 

With my nephew, Jameson, on my HS graduation day. *How the heck do you rotate pics on here?*

This is from our trip to Idaho. Our car got stuck in the snow. :(

During the summer, we got together a few times. I think this was the first time that we hung out alone. I remember going to Sonic together a few times. We also went to IHOP one night. {His brother came with us. He drove and we sat in the back seats. Um... awkward.} Besides that, we mostly saw each other while hanging out with our group of friends. We went to Disneyland with a few friends during the summer, went to Buffalo Bill's to ride the Stateline roller coaster with Carly and Devin, and did other fun stuff that I can't remember.

A night out with Carly, Devin, and Burt- taking silly pics with Carly in the back seat.

I remember being really confused about our relationship during this time. I couldn't tell if Burt had romantic feelings for me, or if he was simply making more of an effort to be my friend. {Apparently everyone could tell how much he liked me, but I was clueless.} We sort of just slowly stopped the one-on-one hanging out and texting as the summer came to a close. I transferred to BYU-Idaho and moved to Rexburg in August. Burt was working and saving up for his mission. He left for Argentina in November. Sadly, I didn't get to see him before he left, since I was up in Idaho. 

I came home after spending one semester in Idaho and started going to school in Henderson in 2008. I have a hard time adjusting to new places; I was really homesick. Plus, I am super indecisive. I went through about 500 ideas of what to study in college before I finally stuck to something. I continued going to school and being confused about what to do with my life, while Burt was on his mission. He got home in November of 2009, just one month after I moved back to Utah. I was in a rut and looking for a change. Little did I know, the person who would majorly change my life was in the place I just left.

Elder Ritchie

Baptism day

This one makes me laugh :) 

Seriously, check out that PART in his hair!

To be continued...