They Meet

So since I feel the same thing happens, day in and day out. You know we went to the zoo again today. I thought I would copy a little of what my good friend Andy did on her blog. Many of you don't know Chad and I from before we were 'Chad and Kristine' so here is a jump back to memory lane of how we met and became 'Chad and Kristine'.

wahh ... wahhh ... wahhh (this is the warp sound tv does when you go back in time)

It was September 2001, I was living at home with Mom and attending the Universtiy of Utah. I had just turned 21 in August and was chomping at the bit to go gambling. Sadly I believe I have the addiction gene in my blood which is why we do not live in Nevada. I didn't want to do the Salt Lake regular and head out to Wendover so I waiting til I could head to the 'City of Sin' fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. I had had some luck there before when I was a freshman going to Dixie Collge and lucked out to be in a Pert Plus commercial but that is entirely a different story. So my sister in law Melanie is lucky enough to be from this fabulous city. And my brother, John, was nice enough to say, 'Hey we are heading down to Vegas for Labor Day weekend. You wanna go and I can show you the ropes?' You bet I do!! (Love my Utah quote that people not from Utah say that Utahan's say all the time). So we plan to head down. I have John to teach me how to play and I have a free place to stay compliments of Melanie's parents. Now you are really going to have to pay attention to the names here and remember my name is KristINE, okay? So the plan was I was going to bring down a friend from school with me too. But then he decided he couldn't come. So I was againing being the little sister tag-along. Here is where the plot thickens. So John tells me that one of his friends from the mortgage world is going to come to. And that we were actually all riding down together in a Suburban. I think, okay I don't care, as long as I get to gamble. So this 'mortgage guy' is Chad. Chad is going down to Vegas to see Melanie (MY sister-in-law) 's sister KristEN.

Backstory: Kristen was up from Vegas about a month before or so, and John set Chad up with her. They went out on one date, and talked on the phone since then. So he was headed down to see 'how things would go'. (Chad says he was also going down at possibly making a transfer with work, but hey I am telling the story right?)

On with the story. We head down to Vegas. All is going well. Which Melanie and Kristen get ready for a night on the town, John takes me to my first gambling sin. I figure I have no one to impress, I really could care less what I look like. So John, Chad and I are off. John knows all the dumpy dives in Vegas and Henderson that have $2 blackjack tables and he starts to show me the ropes. I win a bit of money. Oh I am hooked. We go back and get the girls, and head off to the stripe. So we are cheap we find some hole in wall place, with $2 BJ and we are the only people there with all of our teeth. During all this casino hopping, Chad starts flipping my little pony tails, and pulling on my due-rag (yes, I said due-rag. My hair was pretty short back then). I am thinking, Kristen is going to kill me. Leave me alone buddy.

He continues like this all weekend, and ultimately switches sisters. So on the drive home, he is driving while everyone else is asleep (I believe this was the last real restful sleep I had with him driving but we will get there shortly), the spirit tells Chad 'This is your wife.' Chad is thinking yeah right, you better be telling her in a dream. The spirit confirms this three times with him. Once we get back home to Salt Lake, we see each other almost every night and he constantly would call me at work.

Doomsday hits. September 11, 2001. It was kind of a sombering day. But the next day was Chad's 26th birthday. I drove out on my lunch break to see Chad out in Tooele at work. I sent him a singing telegram. It was a 6'4" 300lb singing Elvis. It was great, but what do you send a guy that you have only known for 12 days. His roommate Jeremy (who I had not met yet) was throwing him a birthday party, but he got the flu and so the party was cancelled. Since it was still Chads birthday and we were in a zone from watching all of 9/11 on tv, we thought lets go to the top floor of the new Grand America Hotel to see the city. We had heard there was an observation floor. Well we were told wrong. So on the way down the elevator, Chad was telling me that he spoke to his 92 year old grandpa today on his birthday and told him about me. His grandpa had asked if he loved me and such. Chad said yes. Grandpa asked him, 'So if you had a ring would you marry her?' Chad said I guess so. Then grandpa told him you don't have to have a ring to propose. Then he added, wait how long have you know the girl. Chad told him 12 days. Grandpa said well then that's up to you. Then he told his grandpa, 'Well Grandpa I have to know if she would say yes first.' So as Chad tells me this I ask him, 'What do you think I would say?' Being the cocky son of a gun he is, he say 'yes'. I tell him, I think your right. Then he says, 'Will you marry me?' I say yes, but am in total shock. My mind is thinking, 'Hello!! You have only known this guy for 12 days!!' Chad could see my obvious shock and asks if I am okay. I asked him, 'Is this serious or just hypothetical?' He tells me he is serious. So I tell him, you better ask again. So it was offical, after 12 days of knowing one another we were engaged. Now to tell our parents. We knew Chad's parents would be happy since he was over 25 and thus a menace to society. Mine took a bit more convincing.

(I was still waiting on that whole ring thing)

We decided on the last weekend of September the make the trek up to Montana so I could meet Chad's parents and get the approval of the sisters. All was well. We took our engagement pictures and toured around the 'huge' town of Great Falls Montana.

Then on the way home.....

We were just past Idaho Falls. Chad was driving and I was asleep in the passenger seat. I hear the car go on gravel, then crunching metal then nothing. The next thing I remember is smelly dust everywhere. Chad was passing a car and hit a re-tred from a semi-truck which got stuck in the wheel base of my Civic. He caused us to be pushed into the median where we then hit the crossover road (which acted as a launch pad) and we rolled end-over-end 3 times landing upside down. Now can you see why on the way home from Vegas was the last time I got a good sleep in a car. I can no longer sleep in cars.

(yes the white blanket out the side of the car is a body. That is me)

The car unfortunately died, but the radio was still kicking. It played U2 'Streets Have No Names' even after we had crunched to a hault. Other than the 3 fractures to my pelvis and one to a disc in my back. Chad's fractured cheekbone (airbags deflate very quickly) and one to a disc as well, we were in pretty good shape. We got to bond in a hospital for 5 days until I was released. Chad's brother Kevin was nice enough to come pick us up in the Winnebago. Bridger (our nephew) was three I believe at the time came along. When they stopped at the junk yard to get my nice radio out and replace it with the cheap stock one it came with he told Chad ... 'Uncle Chad your car is broken'. Kevin's face just went white. We thought he was going to pass out.

I finally was able to walk around the middle of November and we were married in the Bountiful Temple on December 27th, 2001. Even though it sucked to have the broken bones and such, it was nice to have work off and get paid short term disability from work and the insurance. I was getting paid more to sit at home and watch tv than to be at work.

So this has been an enormously long post and to those that made it through ... Congrats there is no prize. For some reason it is midnight and I can't sleep so you all got to suffer with my long post. Now I'm sure you know more about us than you cared to have ever wanted to know. Sorry for any and all typos you had to endure. It is midnight after all.

So for anyone that feels the need to take a trip back to memory lane like I did, I challenge you to share a little about how you and yours met.