1st Kiss and Meeting the Parents

Our first date was on a Saturday, so the next day after church Nels called me. He asked if I wanted to go to a fireside that night. Of course, I said yes. He picked me up and then I don't really remember what happened next. But, the fireside somehow got cancelled. So we ended up going back to Nels' apartment. We talked for a long time again and then I had to go because I had class the next morning at 8. Nels had this big, huge bean bag chair which was actually called a love sac. We were both sitting on it and then I went to get up and Nels reached over and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. It was so quick that I barely realized he had kissed me! So, I said innocently, "What was that?" Then, he gave me a better kiss; don't worry, he's a good kisser.

From the day we met, we saw each other pretty much everyday after that. Nels had class at 8 in the morning, too. So, he would come pick me up at my apartment and walk me to class. We studied together, ate together and tried to spend as much time as possible with each other.

We like to say that it was love at first sight. And I guess that's the best way to put it. We just kept loving each other more and more.

Around February 12th or so, I mentioned that I wanted to go home to Idaho sometime ( I can't remember if I already said this or not, but we were both attending BYU) . My house was about 4 and half hours away. I wasn't expecting Nels to take me, but he quickly offered his assistance. So we planned to drive up on February 14th and spend the weekend there. Since it had been such a short time that we had known each other I wasn't expecting anything for Valentine's Day. I even told my roommate that I didn't think Nels would get me anything. Boy was I wrong!

When he came to pick me up for our road trip he had a bouquet of red roses and huge lilies in a vase and Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream!!!! That's the best gift ever!!!

I think we'll always remember our first drive to Idaho. We had a great time just talking. We made up a story together. I would tell the story for a while and then Nels would pick up where I left off and so on. We were so involved in telling this story that I didn't notice the exit signs. I totally missed the exit to my house. We looked up and I said, "These city names don't sound familiar." "Uh, oh!" So we were lost. I called my parents and said, "We are somewhere near Hamer (but I pronounced it hammer) ." My dad gave us directions back to where we should have been. Even now Nels will say, "Becky doesn't know how to get to her own house!" or whenever we're lost he'll say, "I guess we're in Hammer." Aw, memories.

Well, the weekend went very well. My family loved Nels. Another thing that we will always remember is that Nels ate all new things for the meals. I was craving some of my favorites and apparently they weren't normal meals. The first one was hawaiian haystacks. The second meal was breakfast with pancakes, but my dad does his pancakes differently. I don't eat them like my dad, but I wanted to "test" Nels to see if he would eat them like that. My dad puts butter and then sugar on his pancake. Then, he covers it with syrup and then pours milk over it. Nels actually tried it and didn't even say how odd it was. He just tried it with a smile. The third meal was my grandpa's enchiladas. I don't think very many people have tried these kind of enchiladas, but they are delicious. You fry a corn tortilla, then put a red tomato sauce over it, then lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheese. Then you put another tortilla on top and continue to layer with the other ingredients. On the very top you put a fried egg. Mmmm, good. Nels was a good sport and ate his. He even likes them, but doesn't crave them like I do. Okay, so last but not least was a pork roast. My mom was feeling bad for Nels and said, "Don't worry, tomorrow for Sunday dinner we will be having roast." So mom puts out the white pork roast. Before that, Nels had only had beef roast, (he was curious as to how the meat was white!) so that ended up being a new meal for him too!

If you are still with me I have one last important detail that happened on our trip. On February 15, Nels and were sitting on the couch and he said, "I love you!" I said, "I love you too!" And that's that!

1st Date

So I'll probably be writing this a lot this year, but 5 years ago today Nels and I went on our first date. I remember before he picked me up for my date I was a little worried. I couldn't remember if he was taller than me. (vain, I know) So before he came I had a code figured out with my roommate. If he was taller than me then she was going to say, "Have a good night and a lot of fun." If he was shorter than me she was going to say, "Don't have too much fun." Or something like that. I don't remember the exact words and I must have a short memory. Because he picked me up and my roommate said goodbye to us, but I couldn't remember my own code. So for the whole date I was wondering if I was taller than Nels. I even tried to get Nels to say that he was taller than me. I did this in the following way.

Nels took me to Outback Steakhouse. There was a 75 minute wait. So he asked me if I wanted to wait or if I wanted to choose somewhere else. So with a sly smile I said, "whoever's taller can decide." He gave me this weird look and said, "Right." But he didn't ever say, "well, I'm taller so I'll decide." So I was still worried about it, but I still had an awesome time. I definitely didn't let it ruin the night!

We decided to wait and eat at Outback. While we were waiting we went to Barnes and Noble. I don't think I've ever had so much fun in a bookstore. Nels was so eager to impress me and I wanted to see what this guy was capable of. So we were looking at yoga books and I said, "I do yoga. Can you do this move?" I pointed to this handstand that had the feet crossed. Nels decides to show me how good he is at yoga by doing a handstand in the middle of the aisle. I was laughing so hard. Then I told him that I actually don't do that kind of yoga. He thought that was funny. Then we read a personality book together. While we were sitting on the ground by the books he slipped his arm around me. Aw...How cute! We answered different personality questions and learned that Nels is the color blue and I think I was white.

We went back to Outback and had a wonderful dinner. I was excited because I hardly ever get to eat steak. So I ate almost everything on my plate. Nels barely ate anything. He later told me that he was too nervous to eat. After dinner we went back to Nels' apartment and he played his guitar for me. Then we just talked for the rest of the night. I believe we talked for almost 7 hours that night. We just enjoyed getting to know each other and laughing together. Needless to say, we were definitely falling in love with each other.

So we decided to splurge and celebrate our first date today by going to Outback Steakhouse. Mmmm good. This time though, Nels was not nervous and ate all of his food. We are enjoying reminiscing the beginning of our relationship. So I will probably be writing similar posts as the days, weeks and months go by. :)

5 Years Ago Today

Nels and I met 5 years ago today! Here's the story.

We were both attending BYU and it was an E-Business seminar. I was speaking with a recruiter from Cisco. Nels was there for the pizza, but eventually wandered over to the recruiting tables to get some free tchotchkes. After I was done speaking with the recruiter I turned around and started to walk away. Nels decided not to speak with the recruiter but instead came up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "So are you in the business school?"

With that question, we plunged into an hour long conversation. I still remember how good looking Nels looked in his Abercrombie long sleeved T-shirt and long highlighted hair. After talking about school, where we were from and other things I decided that I needed to go and said, "well, nice to meet you." I was a couple of steps up the stairs when Nels said, "Wait! Can I get your phone number." "No," I said. Then I changed my mind when I saw his sad, sweet eyes. I gave him my number and then went to the library. I didn't get home until midnight (because I was on a date with another guy). When I got home my roommate said that Nels had called around 4 pm which was 2 hours after we met! I called him back from the library the next day. After another hour long conversation, which was pretty amazing because the phones in the library are supposed to only be for 10 minutes, Nels asked me out on a date for that night. So that's how we met 5 years ago.

Middle of January

Wow! January is just flying by. I haven't posted lately because my new position at work has been keeping me extremely busy! I'm enjoying the change of pace. Although, I'm relearning how to deal with stress. Nels is back in school too. So we are getting back into a routine around here. It's freezing cold here and I keep telling Nels that I want to live somewhere warm like Arizona! I've always lived in cold places so I think it might be nice to live somewhere nice and doesn't get below 30 degrees.

Besides work and school, we haven't done anything too exciting. I think January is the hardest month to live through because it's cold and dark most of the time. I just feel like staying indoors wrapped in a quilt and enjoying a good book, (which is pretty much what I have been doing!) Well, we did venture outdoors and took some pictures while we walked around campus. Here's some pictures of a true Boilermaker. The statue stands outside the football stadium. It's huge.

The sky was nice and blue that day. It might look nice and warm....and don't let Nels in his T-shirt deceive you! It was still a cold day! Nels rarely wears a coat and thinks everyday is warm. It must be that Swedish blood!

And here's the history on the Boilermaker. I hope you can read it. The flash on my camera kind of makes it hard to read.

So that was a fun date on campus.

I was just looking at some other pictures. Before Christmas, Nels and I tried to take our own picture to send with Christmas cards, but it didn't turn out too well. We used the timer on the camera, but we don't have a tripod. So we stacked books on a chair and then the flash was messing up the picture. I didn't really like any of the pictures enough to send them out. But for laughs, here's what we ended up with.

Testing, one, two, three.. "Wait, Becky aren't you supposed to be in this too?"

Oops I cut my head off, there's a huge light by me, and what is that....oh my fake smile!
Nels is thinking, "Are we almost done? How many do we have to take?"

Nels is thinking, "Maybe if I smile really big, we can stop taking these pictures!"

Oh well. We gave up after about 15 tries. Oh, I forgot to mention. Over Christmas break the MBA students had a competition for the best mustache. So a lot the students grew beards over break. Then they had judges decide who had the best mustache. Nels liked his beard so he decided to keep it and didn't shave it into a mustache. The school newspaper wrote a piece about it. Here's the link. Nels humored me and let me take a couple of mug shots of what his beard looks like today.

Well, I think that's about all. I'll post again when we do something exciting...which may be a while. : )

Barbeque!

The other night Nels decided to grill some hamburgers and pineapple. He loves to grill. We only have a little tiny one, but eventually we will get a nice big one for him. So it's January, snow's on the ground, it's freezing (like 2 degrees F), and Nels is outside grilling hamburgers. He's a die hard! The burgers turned out spectacular like always. Mmmm good!

Koldormer and Danish Pastries

So over New Year's weekend we were with Nels' family. His dad made Koldormer which is an authentic Swedish meal. Koldormer is a meat mixture (usually hamburger and rice with other stuff...) all wrapped in cabbage leaves. We helped wrap up the meat mixture and tie them up in the cabbage leaves. After that you fry them and bake them. They actually tasted pretty good. Here's a picture of what Koldormer looks like:

The best ones were the ones with green cabbage leaves instead of the white ones.

The Nyborg's (mainly Mom Nyborg) makes danish pastries every Christmas. They take forever to make, but taste extraordinary. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of all the hard work that went into making them and the final product. Quick summary of how to make them: 3 days of rolling them out, letting them rise, and letting the dough sit, before finally putting the filling in and baking them. All the hard work is worth it though when the light fluffy pastry melts in your mouth.

As you can tell the Swedish heritage that Nels' great grandparents brought with them to America is still going strong!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Better late than never to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We had a fun and wonderful holiday. Nels and I went up to his family's home in Valparaiso, Indiana. We enjoyed celebrating Christmas with them. Nels' sister Kierstin came from Portland, Oregon so the whole family was there. For Christmas Eve dinner we enjoyed filet mignon that Nels' dad made. All of the food was delicious, especially the homemade apple pies. (made with sliced fresh apples and not canned apples.)

The Nyborg's have some fun family traditions. One is to make sugar cookies for Santa. So we all decorated sugar cookies and put them on a special plate for Santa. Then all of us wrote letters to Santa. Anna-Lisa is the youngest at age 16 and Nels is the oldest at 31, but we all dutifully wrote our letters to Santa. The letters mainly consisted of an accounting of what we did this year and if we were good or not. Another tradition is to read the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas" before going to bed. Nels' dad reads the book out loud and all of the kids gather round. In the morning we all read our letters that we wrote for Santa out loud to each other and then magically Santa had replied to our letters so we read his response also. I think that is a fun tradition. Then Nels' dad reads the Christmas story about Christ being born. After that it's time to open presents, which is done one by one youngest to oldest.

But wait! One last tradition that is my favorite. The treasure hunt. After the presents are unwrapped from under the tree, Nels' dad says, "I think Santa left a message on the computer." The youngest, Anna-Lisa, starts first and the message is a clue. The clue leads to several other clues around the house until the last one leads to a present. Everyone has a treasure hunt and we follow each other when the person on the hunt is looking for the next clue. Nels' treasure hunt gift was a leather Samsonite briefcase, I received a Breadmaker! Yippee! I have been wanting a breadmaker for a long time. I am so happy I got one for Christmas. So those are some of the Nyborg traditions. We thoroughly enjoyed being there. Here's a couple of pictures.

Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

Reading the Christmas Story before opening presents on Christmas Day.

Sven, the family dog, was involved in all of the celebrations too. I think pictures were taken of him the most. He's very entertaining! Even though Sven and I don't always get along he does keep things interesting.

I even got a video of Sven opening a present. He was very excited about his gift.

What would Christmas be without music? Anna-Lisa plays the cello. So I played the piano and she played the cello and everyone sang Christmas carols. It was a lot of fun and really brought in the Christmas spirit.

Besides napping and eating, we did play some Settlers.We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! I'll write more about the New Year celebrations later.