I've been tagged!!

My good friend Susie has tagged me to do a post about my wedding day (for the friends that couldn't be there) and also for my "love" story. So far I haven't found the opportunity (or the reason) to scan my wedding pictures, but I figured that I could do a couple of my favorites!

Where we met
If you don't know this story then you may be surprised to find out that Matt and I are one of those couples that actually met on the internet! The way it worked was as follows: Matt came home from his mission in October of 2000. Most of his friends had moved on with their lives, his brother had gotten married, and his dad was dating his (now current) wife. So, there really wasn't a whole lot for Matt to do, so he spent some time chatting online. He had a few of his favorite sites, one being ldschat.somthin'. I on the other hand, had started chatting online for the first time a few months prior. I had actually just gotten back from Utah with some friends who went to conference, and I tagged along so I could meet a guy I met online who was going to BYU. (Candace, I know you remember this!) Nothing ever happened with that other guy. But when I got home I figured all this online chatting was silly, and there wasn't really any point to it. But, I ended up chatting a few more times. That is when Matt and I met...the story continues.
What was the first thing he said to you?
Something that is really common to chatters are these letters a/s/l (no, not "American Sign Language"), it means age/sex/location. Then, being on an LDS site we also added "rm?" to the "stats." Matt posted that he was 21/m/Anaheim/rm. The main reason why I started to talk to him on an individual basis is because I saw that he was from Anaheim, and my grandfather lived in Anaheim also. Silly, but hey...it brought us together!
When was your first date?
We met for the first time in person on November 30, 2000. I only remember the date because it is my mom's birthday. My young single adult ward would go to the temple every Thursday night, so I invited Matt to meet me in L.A. (half-way between us) to go to the temple. I figured if a guy that I met online could go into the temple, then he should be safe to meet in person. We met at 4:00 in the afternoon so we could have some time to get to know one another before we had to go into the temple where we wouldn't have been able to be really social. Afterward we went to Jack-in-the-box for a quick dinner and then we decided that we still wanted to "hang out." So we went and hung out in a well-lit parking lot just to talk...yes...talk. We actually didn't leave L.A. until 4am. Which means we had a 12-hour first date.
When was your first kiss?
I don't know when it was. It was only after we had been dating a few weeks, but since we were dating only on the weekends I guess you could call it our 3rd or 4th "date." We were watching tv at my house and I was just looking at him affectionately, and he took that as an advancement, so he reciprocated the unintentional advancement. It was ok with me though. :)
Courtship/Engagement?
Matt and I got married 1 1/2 years after we met. It was difficult to date long distance, so in reality we only saw each other on the weekends and an occasional "I miss you" visit during the week. My mom actually bought an air mattress for Matt to sleep on, and when I visited him, I simply stayed in one of the bedrooms. To be honest, I can't remember if we got engaged in January or February of 2002, but it happened and we got married a few months later.
When were you married?
Matt and I were married June 1, 2002 in the Los Angeles temple.
It was the first available Saturday after school ended. It is also the day before my baby sister's birthday. I loved having a June wedding, summer is the best and I got to use some summer-ish decor (i.e., lemons).
I made my own wedding cake... the hard part was that I had to make it right after attending my Grandfather's funeral (that is for a different post all together...just think 3 funerals and a wedding!)
I had my own full-sized bagpipe band (thanks dad)
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We spent the night in a hotel near LAX, then we woke up really early to catch a flight to Kauai, Hawaii. It was fantastic!! We had the privilege of staying in a time share condo right on the beach. Each morning we woke up and watched the sunrise. It was amazing! Then, Matt literally popped his eardrum while we were snorkeling. We really didn't know what to do, because we didn't know what happened, he just wasn't feeling well. So, we sat on our balcony and read to each other and we went for hikes. We pretty much had to stay out of the water after that. We made it home, then a week or so later (after a round of antibiotics due to the infection) Matt had surgery on his right ear to repair his eardrum. Now he hears better out of that ear then the other.

So now I would like to tag: Holly J., Aracely (even though I already know most of the story), and Jennifer F. Thanks for taking the time to read!