Love Day Link-Up: The Story of Mauneyland

Even though we don't really do much for Valentine's day (and the day has already passed), I decided to link up with Becky from the Mrs. to Mama blog and talk about my favorite subject, the story of how Mauneyland all began!  So here goes... the story of us:

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

This might be a shock to some of you, but Josh and I met on July 31, 2008.  Yep, a marriage and two kids later and we've known each other a whopping three-and-a-half years!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

Let me start by saying that even though he doesn't remember it, I can still remember the very first time I saw Josh.  It was at church and he smiled and said "good morning" to me.  He was so incredibly good looking that I thought that I was pretty darn impressed with myself!  I thought, I must look good today!  Then he got up and did the announcements and I realized that he was a pastor and was required to say "good morning" to everyone.  And that there was no way that I would ever date (much less marry) a pastor!

We were officially introduced at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, where I still work (albeit from home now).  A friend of mine brought him and a friend of his to play golf and I walked out to greet them and check them in.  It just so happened that I dressed up that day and on the first tee, Josh looked at my friend Christie and said, "I think I'm going to marry your friend."  She laughed and told him that he was not my type, probably due to the fact that he was a pastor.  He bought us all lunch afterwards and called later that night to "make another tee time," which was actually his lead-in to asking me on a date.

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We will have been married for three years on June 13th this year (Jake was our honeymoon baby).

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  

We got married at the same place we met, the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami, Florida.  Since I work there, I had a very specific idea of where on the property I wanted everything to take place and how it should all look.  All in all, about 130 people watched us join together in holy matrimony on a terrace overlooking the golf course.  It was supposed to storm and even though the wind picked up at one point, the weather held out just for us and the breeze actually kept it from being scorching hot!

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Not really.  Josh has nicknames for just about everyone, but I'm mostly "babe."  So is he for that matter.  We're super creative.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Only three???  I would definitely say his love for God, his ambition, and his sense of humor.  And I do need to add in his calves... haha.  That's a bit of a running joke around here.  But seriously, they are fantastic.

7. Tell us how he proposed?

Our story is a bit random actually.  I wasn't really expecting a proposal (since we had only been dating for 6 weeks) but the night before he actually proposed he made this big fancy candlelight dinner, gave me a card and flowers, and throughout the meal I started getting suspicious.  After dinner he told me to check the oven and I got really excited, thinking that maybe this was it and there would be a ring in there.  But alas, it was an apple pie.  I have never been so disappointed about an apple pie in my life.  His decoy plan was perfect.

So the next day I rushed over to his house after work because we had planned to go meet some people and I was running late.  I quickly changed clothes and then he sent me on a wild goose chase to find the remote control before we left.  He needed to set the DVR.  Looking back I should have questioned why he didn't look for it himself or at least asked what he needed to record.  Since he knows me so well, I first looked in the most obvious place (the drawer in the entertainment center) and sitting there was a ring box.  I was totally confused.  And then he walked over, dropped to one knee, and asked me to marry him.  He told me that he would rather propose on a normal Thursday than with some grandiose gesture, since the normal Thursdays are what he was looking forward to in our life together.  After I said "yes" he handed me a Bible and on the first page it said, "To Kim, on the day you said "yes," October 2, 2008.  At that point, I did get super teary.  We spent the rest of the night meeting up with friends and calling our families.  It was so much fun!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Um, neither really.  Although once he did make a trail of Hershey's kisses all through the house, which was pretty awesome.  And he likes to send me or bring me flowers when I don't expect it.  So he is a flowers and chocolate guy on unexpected days throughout the year I guess.  For Valentine's day we've decided to just buy gifts for the kids and then go out on a date sans kiddos. We actually discussed our Valentine's Day expectations yesterday so that we would have a standard from year to year!  

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

I would pick option A, but seriously, we have two kids and don't live near a beach.  So I do look forward to the day we go on a vacation again and get to do that.  But popping in a movie and relaxing on the couch happens at least once a week around here.  And going to the movies is even better, which again, we never really get to do anymore.  I'm pretty sure the next theater movie we'll go see will be something released by Disney or Pixar.  I am surprisingly okay with it.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Wow is this list long!  We have plenty of things on our "bucket list" but my true dream is to go with him on a mission trip someday, preferably to Africa since neither one of us have ever been.  The good news is that I know this is in our future.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

We didn't have plans until Valentine's Day.  Josh called his dad to come over and watch the kids and we ventured out to our favorite restaurant (Saul Good), thinking it would be a crazy wait.  This restaurant is incredibly delicious, and the wait was only 15 minutes and there was plenty of space to wait in the bar.  I think people were scared it would be busy and steered clear.  It worked in our favor and was so well worth it!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

Nope, just one-on-one time with my husband.  After the craziness of the past few months, that would be perfect.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Communication is everything, which is something I have to work on daily.  Both people have to clearly define their expectations.  If I tell him to do something and he doesn't do it, it's his fault.  But if I expected him to do it and never communicated that, I have no room to get upset if he doesn't do it and vice versa.  Assumptions are never a good thing.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.