Tiffany's and my little (Eternal) get-together

I met a fun-loving Tiffany walking home from Church near her apartment where she had recently moved in with Erika, to whom I had been a home teacher. I received a calling in the ward to pass around notes which people in the ward had written to one another. I liked the calling for two reasons. First, it was a fun way to keep up on, and create a little, ward gossip. Second, it was an excellent excuse to stop in on a particular apartment, Chatsworth Center 7. In that apartment I learned to play speed scrabble, I watched a little bit of Pacers' basketball, and I learned about many types of grapes in a word search.

Most importantly, I found Tiffany to be an excellent friend and generally wonderful person. I loved her playfulness and funness. I loved how naturally beautiful she was and how genuine her personality came across.

The end of the Spring Term came and she needed a ride up to Salt Lake. We borrowed a car, Tiffany drove it up to her friend's house, and I drove it back to Provo. Then came a summer of a wonderful growing friendship. I checked my email three or four times a day to see what Tiffany had written, knowing full well that she worked long hours at Camp Belzer.

When we got back to Provo in the Fall we hiked up Y-mountain for our first real date, though no one paid for anything and Erika drove us, so some controversy has regrettably arisen on this point. Then we went on a few other dates and finally decided to date exclusively right after the dates that we had already agreed to with other people. We dated exclusively for a short time, were engaged for a short time and got married for a long time. I love that I have been so blessed to have Tiffany in my life. She brings happiness and peace and love into our home. She holds us together, and is the awesomest mother and wife I have ever known.

Halloween Memories

I promised my wife that I would write this, and though it is late, here is a memory. My parents attempted to make us less interested in trick-or-treating by having a family halloween party. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we made our own pinatas, filled them with candy and then broke them at our party. Then we would watch a scary movie like boogie man, or Charlie Brown's Halloween special.

Later on in life, I grew back into trick-or-treating. By this time the goal was to cover the maximum amount of ground in an optimal time. Costumes at this stage had to be complimented by roller-blades to be able to move faster. I also carried two pillow cases: one to show how little candy I had, and the other to hold all of the candy I had. We especially liked to get to the houses that wanted to go to bed but still had a lot of candy that they were getting rid of.

How Erika became a Pike... in 10 minutes or less

So it was Fall 2003 when I ventured from NYC and the land of people full of themselves to DC and the land of people just a little less full of themselves. When I arrived at the Barlow Center (home for all non-married Washington Seminar participants), the Sister Missionary (Missionary couples run the show there) told me and one of the Rachels that had already arrived that two boys were already there. One was someone I don't remember and the other was Mason. Why do I remember? Because she told us how she remembered. Mason Pike was his name and he brought a bike. So he was "Mason Pike with a bike"... get it? It rhymes, people!

Later that evening I went down to the basement with ?Rachel? and sort of met Mason for the first time. About a week into the semester I had a small crush on Mason Pike with a bike as he had joined my crew on numerous outings in the D.C. area. We attended the NFL kickoff together, with a bunch of other people, but Mason had the inside info on how to get closer up, so he and I ended up together without any of our fellow interns. Hmmm, I wonder how that happened?! ;)

So when I couldn't see over people's heads and Britney Spears did some move that everyone gasped at, I asked Mason Pike with a bike what happened. He said, "I'll tell you when you're married." Little did he know he'd really have to.

Mason was healing the wounds of sending a girl he wasn't really in love with on a mission and I moved on to other crushes. We maintained a friendship, though, and Mason says he started liking me a little bit at the end of the semester.

I text messaged him Happy Birthday when I was in Indiana and he was in Illinois over break. He didn't respond. He apparently even CAME to Indianapolis, but "forgot" his cell phone - so he couldn't call. Not that he would have anyway since he was with his brothers who still didn't think it was cool to hang out with girls. He did call me before we got back to BYU to ask if I could turn in his final paper for him as he had so wisely planned to fly in the day AFTER it was due. Oh, I'm so glad Mason has changed his ways (even if I had to force him to do so).

The winter semester began. All of us who were back in Provo from DC got together. Mason liked Erika. Erika liked LOTS of people. She went on a really weird blind date with Tiffany's math teacher. She also asked Mason out on a date - the evening started off as just friends (well, Erika didn't know Mason liked her), but by the end Erika leapt into Mason's arms. Okay, really, she slipped on ice when they were hugging goodbye and fell into his arms, but still... there was a connection :). Mason finally asked Erika out on a date and then they just kind of dated. Erika dropped the other crushes, but Mason was a super sleuth in making their "dates" feel like two friends hanging out, so Erika was confused. Thus the blind date with the math teacher was arranged. After that AWKWARD date, Mason and Erika went down to St. George together for Mason's favorite mission comp's wedding (I would explain that whole thing, but I'm really trying to keep this under 10 minutes people.... so read faster!). And that's where they got together (I just realized I switched to 3rd person... weird). So thankfully when the math teacher called back the following Monday, Erika was able to say she was dating someone. Awkward math teacher's response: "That's kind of fast." Ha, but it really wasn't :).

So we dated and had fun and then Mason was all up in Erika's business about marriage (okay, really, he wasn't pushy, but the real story isn't nearly as entertaining). Erika was cool with it at first, then she freaked O.U.T. No clue why. After she came to her senses, seriously, they were all the way down in Hurricane, Utah. She had to go and get them. Once she came back with them, it was a done deal. Other than the fact that she had planned a five week trip to Europe and didn't want to get married in August. So the wedding was set for October, a week after Mason was to take the LSAT. And thus it was that Erika became a Pike.