Don's Farewell and Move Day... sad!

Don started the Utah job in January... and at the end of the month, he came back to have a last party with us and to pack up and move out. There were many friends at both his farewell and move day. A good friend Sai, put together a slideshow of Don and friends over the years. Several friends and I put together a photo album of pictures and memories from several people of Don. Several people came to his place on his move day to help pack, load the truck, including his dad from Oregon. Several girls were there cleaning his place! Don is loved and will be missed by many, especially me!

Aspen, Christmas and Bad News! :(

Don had been laid off from his recycling job since earlier in 2005. Good news was that he got a job offer to be a Superintendant for a house builder! Bad news, was that this new job was in UTAH! :( Don was sure that the move to Utah was the right thing for him... and so we had the talks about if we were going to stay together or break up. I'd done long distance relationships before, and didn't want to do it again unless there was reason to. (an engagement in the near future!) Don couldn't propose, but could tell me that things are going "well and maybe would lead to something more".
I spent a weekend in Aspen with my family for my nephew Cayden's blessing and upon arriving home, I immediately flew to Utah to spend Christmas with Don and his family there. It was nice spending time with his family, but also I was very sad that he was going to be moving to Utah soon and left wondering where that would leave our relationship...

Officially Dating, The First 5 Months

Through the next few months as newly dating people, we did fun group activities such as BBQing, hot tubbing, karoake nights, I met Don's mom for the first time in August and we had dinner in Santa Cruz, went camping with the young singles ward to Camp Ritchie, country concerts (Don and 7 girls), game nights, Ghiradhelli Chocolate Festival in San Francisco, Corn Maize FHE activity, the annual Service Auction... only this time we were each other's dates! We also went to Disneyland, celebrated Don's birthday as a surprise my roommates had set up when we got back from Disneyland... and I went to Oregon for the first time for Thanksgiving with Don's family.

Rucker Lake, Father's Day... AND A FIRST KISS!

So the story continues in June of 2005... and there is finally a turning point! So, the annual Rucker Lake activity is an annual activity where the singles go up to a Girls Camp location and clean it up for the winter. I'd never been to this activity. I was still dating Eddie, but of course he couldn't come because of work... and I remember Eddie called me while I was there and I was super annoyed by him for some reason, ouch!
I was looking forward to this activity since I loved camping and of course Don was going to be there. teehee We did our service, picking up twigs and branches, etc. I can't remember what else we did... but we did camping stuff, like cooking food over open flame, slept in tents, rowed canoes, Don fished, etc. I think Don and I rode in a canoe together... and we got this picture together.
On the way home from this activity, we (all the singles from my ward) stopped off at my parent's house for dinner! A few days later... I had lunch with my parents, they said that they REALLY LIKED DON. I kinda confessed to them that I liked him too, but hadn't been sure... but because they said this to me... it was a done deal. I decided to jump in with both feet to go after Don. :) **SIDE NOTE, THAT I FORGOT TO MENTION** Merridon, my old roommate who had a crush on Don, moved back to San Jose and mentioned to me that she had heard that he and I were an 'item'... I said, well, we hang out now and then or sit together in church, that's it... Merridon told me, I think you two should date. I said NO! She asked me why, because of me? I said, well kinda... and I'm not sure if I like him like that... (all the reasons I mentined before) Then Merridon said to me, "Tiffany, you are a neat person, Don is a neat person, you two should date to see where this could go... and you can't worry about me!"
A week or two later, my family was going to go on a house boat for Father's Day Weekend... and I didn't want to take Eddie, I wanted to take Don... so I broke up with Eddie and invited Don! Don agreed to come with me, we spent the weekend with my family, and we had a good time AS FRIENDS. Don started inviting me to his place (a HUGE deal, since he never had people to his place normally) We would play rummikub game after rummikub game. We kept tally of how many games we had each won. (I was ahead!)
Father's Day fell on, June 19th, 2005 and just a few short days later... on June 23rd, Don and I had our first kiss and made our relationship "officially exclusive to see where it could go".
(sorry I dont have any pictures of dinner at my parents with all the friends, all the rummikub games or the first kiss... but that's OK!)

Abalone Diving

I had been abalone diving each year for a few years. A friend from work had property up there and would let people come and camp on the property, hang out, eat and dive for abalone.
This time I brought Jenny and Brianne since they wanted to go pretty bad. :) Girls trip, no boys! I was still dating that one guy Eddie... but he always worked and couldn't ever come. And if we did ever go anywhere, I always had to drive (most of the time) since he was always too tired from his jobs. Another annoying thing about him. Anyhow, Jenny, Brianne and I went diving in the freezing water, caught the abalone, shucked it, sliced it, pounded it, breaded it, fried it. YUM!

Winter Retreat, Non-Conference and Community Clean-Up

So... as I spent more and more time at this new Mid-Singles ward... I always looked forward to seeing Don at various activities... along with a bunch of other girls all hot on his trail! One of these activities was the annual Winter Retreat, which was the first activity that Don attended several years back after moving to San Jose, where sweet Merridon made him feel welcome. THANKS MERRIDON! :) At the winter retreat, we played games, I went snowboarding, since I like to do that... and needed to play 'hard to get' I think... that thought crossed my mind at that point! We had church services up there. It was a fun time! :) I only have one picture from that weekend of Don playing games with a bunch of friends... OH!! That was the first time Don made me an omlet... and boy was it yummy! I don't think he made anyone else an omlet! tee hee
Next, the "Non-Conference". This was Don's brain child. One of the reasons he didn't go to the Vegas Singles conference is because, how are you supposed to meet anyone when you are sitting listening to talks all day? So Don came up with the Non-Conference. We did several service activities such as writing testimonies in Book of Mormons, tieing quilts, speed dating, where you could actually meet people and talk with them instead of listening to speakers all day. I was AGAIN, excited to see Don there... but at this time, I was dating a guy. A guy who was waaaay interested in me and told me he loved me very quick. He was handsome, ran two of his own businesses, but I just didn't feel the same about him... he was way too mushy and something just wasn't right. Don crossed my mind a lot when I was dating that guy. Oh well. So there is one picture from the Non-Conference... guess who is sitting next to Don... all the girls HOT ON HIS TRAIL are surrounding him... but who is right next to him!?? ;)
Another activity where I looked forward to seeing Don was the Community Clean up activity. I think as I walked side by side with him during this activity, people started forming opinions about us... word started spreading.

Single's Conference in Las Vegas February 2005

My bestest friends from the young singles ward, Jenny and Brianne were headed to Las Vegas for a get away to visit Brianne's family. Brianne grew up in a little town north of Las Vegas, so we also spent time at the outlets and dancing.
This was the same weekend as a Singles Conference in Las Vegas! Don wasn't planning on going. I remember texting with Don a LOT on our drive to and from Las Vegas... I remember thinking, what a shame that he wasn't going to the singles conference! I think I might've even thought... I should've stayed home to spend time with him... but I needed to get out and have fun. Don showed a little interest, but not enough for me to know for sure that he was interested in onlly me. (even though a roommate at my previouse house said she over heard Don and another guy talking about me at church... I wasn't going to believe it until I saw it from Don!)
Jenny and Brianne were still attending the Young Singles ward and didn't want to go hang out with old people, but they dropped me off and I joined the OLDER singles for some dancing and late night eating.
The next day, I visited my grandma who lived in a nursing home in Las Vegas. LOVE HER!! Again, on the drive back home to San Jose... I texted with Don. hmmmmm