Happy May Day!!!! Snowing on the first day of May is definitely a first for me. It’s hard to not think of all the times that I would be in a sun dress and sandals and that I had already been to the pool in Texas by now. But I battle all of this negativity by remembering how July and August in Texas are miserable especially compared to Colorado. Needless to say, those are the days I’m looking forward to. 😉
So I LOVE MAY. This is mine and Nick’s month. We met on the 3rd, went on our first date on the 13th, became ‘official’ on the 31st, got married on the 19th, and found out Caleb was going to be a boy on the 19th. Obviously this covers different Mays of different years. So just get ready for lots of blogs about all of these things this month. Because if you know me at all, I love celebrating pretty much everything in life so I definitely love celebrating the man of my life. He is my favorite after all. 🙂
First we will start with how ‘Nick & Raven’ began. Let me introduce you to our best friends, Jarryd and Jessica.
This is such a poor quality picture, but apparently we are kinda awful at taking pics of all 4 of us together. So long story short, Jess and Jarryd are friends of mine from seminary. They served at a church outside of Fort Worth and after we graduated, their church got a new high school pastor. For about a year, Jess told me and Katie (my roommate/bestie) that one of us needed to date this new guy and marry him. Well obviously there was a slight math issue to deal with since there was 2 of us and 1 of him. So we blew it off until May 3, 2011. And that is when they had a housewarming party and we actually met Nick Jones.
I was pretty oblivious to the fact that he would be there. Nick however had apparently been Facebook stalking me and planned his best outfit for our introduction (his best hat and t-shirt of course). I was the one that answered the door when he arrived with his friends and that’s when we met. ‘Hi, I’m Nick.’ ‘Hi, I’m Raven.’ And that was IT. Our only other interaction was when Katie and I were serving the dessert which was one of our faves, cookie monsters. (It’s basically a muffin tin of freshly baked cookie with ice cream and hot fudge on top. Pure heaven.) So we were back and forth between the kitchen and living room serving them and I heard him say ‘These are like pazookies.’ (If you’ve been to BJ’s, you understand.) Nobody responded. So he repeated it. And again, no one replied. So I walked in the living room and said ‘YES, they are like pazookies!’ thinking this poor guy with his friends just ignoring him. AND THAT IS ALL WE SAID TO EACH OTHER ALL NIGHT LONG. Hence the sign that now lives in our kitchen…
So since Nick just had so much game, he decided to then tell Jarryd that he was interested. They discussed all of us going to a baseball game, but Nick decided that he just couldn’t wait so he took matters in his own hands. With Facebook.
Oh Facebook. Thank you for my husband and child. Without you, I may still be waiting for Nick to get up the nerve to talk to me in person. 😉
That Friday night we hung out for the first time at Starbucks (which is where Nick would later propose to me). I showed up dressed oh-so-cute and Nick showed up straight from feeding donkeys for a house that he was house-sitting for in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. It’s a miracle I was able to figure out this guy was actually into me because he then did NOT pay for my coffee. So younger girls out there, that means it was NOT a date. (He also ordered a smoothie because he didn’t drink coffee.. Until I made it my life goal later on to convert him.) But we sat for hours and chatted about our lives and it all felt a whole lot like a date. I was straight smitten. Basketball shorts and smoothie and all.
Smitten enough to then go on a group date.
Can we all just have a moment of silence for group dates? I understand how they are helpful and I’m all for the reasoning behind them, but in the beginning of a relationship they can be just SO DANG AWKWARD. (Side note: This is also the night I found out I was two months older than Nick and graduated a year before him in high school. And yet I still chose to date him even though he refuses to ever let me forget any of this.)
After surviving the group date, he called me (which was a huge deal because we are texters to the core) and asked if I would like to go to dinner with him that Friday night. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant and homeboy even called ahead so we didn’t have to sit in the long wait. HOW PRECIOUS IS HE. We then spent the evening chatting forever at Starbucks and after that it’s pretty much history.
By June, he was already going with me to visit my family and we took our first ever picture. Isn’t that funny how that was such a big deal?!
So young and in love. 🙂 Well he was. I waited an extra month to say it back. (Different story for a different time.)
Here we are on my 26th birthday. And yes, that is two months before he turned 26. And he even did so good and ordered flowers from a florist and had them delivered. Say what?!
And then he FINALLY turned 26.
And we even celebrated with a real pazookie..
And since we were dating and I really liked this guy, I took my non-sporty self to the batting cages to celebrate his birthday. If that doesn’t say true love, then I just don’t know what does.
In August, we went on a trip with friends to San Antonio to visit Sea World.
I’m not sure what I did over that weekend, but he says that’s when he knew without a doubt that he was going to marry me. 🙂 So thanks for the help Shamu.
It was months later in December when he got down on one knee and proposed (which I’ve shared that story before). So I think it’s safe to say we owe a huge thank you to Jess (& Jarryd)!!!
And that my friends is the super condensed version of how we came to be the Jones’.
And then we lived happily ever after. 😉
I sure do love you Nick Jones!!! I count it my joy to be called your wife and partner in this crazy life. Happy May to us!
Trying to Keep Up With My Jones' 