08.06 9:22 p.m. tearsa: just so you know, sharon and i are in provo right now, and adella will be here tomorrow. we have a few plans, but we’d love to spend some time with you guys. so let us know! (does it really take 20 minutes to write three sentences?)

10:24 p.m. bret: Awesome!! Tell you what, I don’t work Fridays…so let me know if you girls want to do something during the day like go grab lunch or something. Give me a call and we can discuss plans, my number is 801-xxx-xxxx

needless to say, i was ecstatic! i had his phone number and i could call him and we could do all sorts of things together and it will be wonderful and oh…i have to call him now. curses. at this point i really wished i had given bret my phone number and then he could deal with calling me. the next morning i got up the courage to call bret. i think it went well, but i cannot remember. we did establish that we would meet up sometime that day for lunch, and then we would decide what to do past that. after sharon did a few things, we went to the colony to see the guys. as we pulled up, bret and davis were outside. (ohhhh bret!!!!) we said hi, gave everyone hugs, and then a group of us went to an el salvadorian restaurant.

we played frisbee and random other things at the colony. memorable moment: the frisbee flew onto the roof, and bret volunteered to retrieve it. he was successful, except he scraped his wrist, and for a long time after that it looked like he’d been cutting himself. we went to bridal veil falls and either there isn’t a trail up to the falls, or we made our own trail. hazardous. bret and davis decided to go under the falls because they like cold things and attention. here is soaking bret:

afterwards, we played rockband. i’ve never played rockband, and it was a little out of my comfort zone. i stuck with the drums and guitar for most of the time, but then some of the guys (including bret) tried to convince me to sing. ughhh…what to do? what to do?? i can’t act lame and refuse! i decided to give in and sing. it didn’t go very well. but this is definite proof that i really really liked bret at this point. this would have never happened had bret not been there. (just to defend myself, i feel like since that time i have grown more as a person, and am no longer as easily embarrassed.) everyone wanted to go swimming, but the colony’s pool was closed, so we went swimming at the glenwood. the water in the hot tub was fine, but the water in the pool was rather murky, and there were signs saying not to swim, but of course we still did. bret even swam to the bottom, and it was so dirty that no one could see him. disgusting.

the next day we went to a byusa event. we played lacrosse and boules, and ate hotdogs and hamburgers. bret had other things he had to work on, so he was there only half of the time. sad. things went pretty well though, even when bret decided to throw one of the balls really far away, and then we were supposed to throw to match. never will i be able to throw that far. never. besides that (and the fact that bret was there only half the time), everything went really well. i was happy, life was fun, and bret was cute. we then decided to go see angels and demons at the dollar theater. nothing noteworthy happened, except i rode with bret and sat by him in the theater.

after that, we were informed that there was a ward dinner and talent show that night, and the guys decided that they wanted to participate. they googled some things, and decided on a “perfect” skit. also, at this time bret remembered that he had a wedding reception to go to that night as well. so he went to that, with the promise that he would be back for the talent show. (bret really was disappearing a lot that weekend.) we had dinner and then waited for the talent show to start. bret still wasn’t back. the girl i was sitting by (from bret’s ward), was like, “you should text him and let him know you are saving him a seat.” (really, everyone knew we liked each other.) at first i refused, since it was ridiculous. there were a ton of empty seats. it would be obvious that i just wanted bret to sit by me. i couldn’t be that bold!! buuuut…the girls were persistent (more had joined in), and so i did it. and when bret showed up late, he climbed over a mess of people to get to the center of the row where i was sitting. and then he gave me another of his adorable smiles. and then i melted. ohhhhh!! this may not seem like a big deal, but at the time, i was super nervous, and then super excited. i was taking chances, and they were working out! as for the guys’ skit…well that worked out too. bret was worried about what i would think of it, which makes sense . what they decided to do is call three people from the audience, take them out of the room, and then tell them that on their turn, they needed to go onstage, sit on a chair, and pretend to do something like bull riding, race car driving, etc. in the meantime, bret went onstage and informed the audience that each person was going to come out and give an impression of using the toilet (haha i know, really. how old are they? see why bret was concerned about what i would be thinking?) i remember looking at bret in his suit (wedding reception) and thinking how well he was presenting this–so professional for something so not professional. well…it was hilarious. especially when one of the people fell off the chair. as we were walking back out to our cars, and i made the second “bold” move of the night. because bret had come late, he had parked in another parking lot. he mentioned that, and turned to head to his car. i casually (heart pounding) said, “hey bret, do you want some company?” of course, he didn’t refuse, and i had him all to myself for a whole five minutes! also, i think that was the time that the front passenger seat became my official spot. and it still is.

that evening was a busy one. after the talent show, everyone decided we should go up the canyon and have a bonfire. people weren’t really moving, and bret was getting impatient. and then he decided he could use this as an excuse, so he said, “hey guys, let’s get going! tearsa, want to run with me to smiths to get some marshmallows?” smooth bret. but of course i went with him, and it was great. this was one of the first times we had to talk a lot one-on-one, and i think we were finally becoming a little more comfortable with each other. we talked about the basics, and this is when i learned that bret wanted to teach.

i don’t know if you have ever tried to buy marshmallows at smiths, but it is difficult. i think bret and i walked around the entire store looking for marshmallows, and we didn’t find them until we asked an employee. not that i was complaining. more time with bret! when we got back we almost immediately went up the canyon. a fire was built, and marshmallows were toasted. bret brought out his telescope (yes, he has a telescope. cute cute nerd ) he was showing me things, and of course no one else dared come over. previously (bret isn’t sure when), one of the guys had told bret he should put his arm around me. this guy kept glancing over at bret, and finally bret decided he would put his arm around me.

and then the sprinklers turned on.

(it was a month before i found out about this, but i was rather disappointed when i did.)

the marshmallow party was pretty much over once the sprinklers came on. it was around 1:30 in the morning by the time we got back to the apartments, but most people were still sitting/standing around on the porches and lawn. bret, however, decided it was too late for him, and that he needed to get some sleep. yes, it was late, but did he really have to leave me? really? i stayed up a little bit longer, but then went to sleep because it really was late and i was really tired…thank you bret for being responsible.

the next day we went to sacrement meeting, and then had to go back to zion. we said goodbye, and then left. no hug . and that was it. almost. after bret finished church, he started texting me. he felt bad about not properly saying goodbye (hug), plus he wanted to text me. we texted back and forth, and we determined that i should get an all sports pass with his group. and then i traveled too far into no-man’s-land of southern utah and i was again isolated with no cell phone service. but i was still happy. the weekend had been fantastic, i was getting to know bret, and i loved everything about him. things were actually working out with bret and me! i really didn’t think they would, especially considering our history, but they were! they were! YES!!!!!

i posted about this last year here and here and here.

at this point, i regret not writing things down sooner, because neither bret nor i can really remember exactly the order of events that happened that weekend. everything i wrote about did happen, but i’m pretty sure that the order is a little non-chronological.

we apologize.

the next day we went down to st. george. i was successful in managing to get in the same car as bret, but that was about it. right before we got to the entrance to the park, i was asked to drive so we could get in free (employee=free admission). i’d be more than willing, but the car was a manual, and i decided it would be less embarrassing if i just declined and said i couldn’t drive. (i promise, it would have been bad if i had tried to drive, since i haven’t driven anything but an automatic for years.) another girl drove, and i felt like curling up in a little ball and hiding. bret probably thinks i’m lame and that i can’t do anything!!!! (later on in the fall when we were dating, i asked him about this and he didn’t even remember it. so much for worrying.) as we continued driving, a weak conversation occurred between bret and the other guys and me about the type of music i liked. i failed at making myself seem like i actually had a personality, and also failed at explaining what music i liked. then the conversation switched back to just the guys, and i spent most of the drive smiling and nodding.

when we got to st. george we had some time to just sit around and talk before the concert started. this was both fun and not fun. i still was having difficulty talking to bret. the only thing that saved me was bret was trying to talk to me too. we discussed our cameras for a long time (exciting, i know, but at least it was a common interest). it was also during this conversation that bret showed me his bent little pinky fingers, which gave me a good excuse to touch his hand. other than that, we were really having problems. so much obvious awkwardness everywhere. i think these next two photos effectively illustrate how awkward we were (looking at these photos is soooo painful):

when the concert started things got a little better because all we had to do was dance/move around in a packed crowd of people. bret denies that he was following me, but he was definitely right next to me the entire concert. i know he was; i was paying attention, and i was moving enough that i don’t think it just happened out of chance. but he still denies it. on our way back to the car, we had a great one-on-one conversation about how sweaty people get at concerts, especially indoor ones, and how you have no idea if the sweat on you is yours or a hundred other people’s sweat. after a stop at in-and-out (nothing interesting occurred), car seating was being shuffled, and i made some excuse for why i didn’t want to sit in the front seat on the way home. my request was honored, and i got to sit next to bret the whole drive back to zion!!!! another girl was riding in the same car as me now, and she started a very interesting/strange conversation on dating and the differences between guys and girls (both in dating and in other things). i didn’t add much because i didn’t know what to say, there wasn’t much room in the conversation for me, and it was a ridiculous conversation.

also, i was a little upset. sure, i knew that talking for a few seconds and writing on each other’s facebook walls doesn’t really let you get to know the other person at all, but i had really felt like bret could be more than a friend. now i was even doubting that we could even be very good friends. so far, there was nothing that i didn’t like about bret, in fact, i still really liked him, even more than before. i just felt like there was no way that he would ever like me. i was just too awkward and socially inept. looking back, it was awkward because we didn’t know each other at all, and we had barely ever talked to each other in person, yet we both liked each other. and everyone else knew we liked each other too. does this not sound like a recipe for awkwardness? plus we were both self-conscious and were having difficulty believing that the other might actually like us. the experience did end on a hopeful note, however. we were invited to provo (because it was now our turn to visit). i immediately decided to go: a. because i wanted to get out of southern utah, and b. i would be with bret, and even though things weren’t looking good right now, i wasn’t ready to give up!

when the guys did come, i spent most of my time away from them like i had planned to (and it wasn’t hard. i was working). it wasn’t until the night that they were leaving that we all finally met. i was in the front desk/gift shop area, and they came in to buy food/drinks for the drive home. i looked them over and decided who was cutest (isn’t that the first thing you do??), and i came to the conclusion that one was pretty cute. too bad i hadn’t been social. they talked with us a little bit and introductions were made. the cute guy came over to me and started asking the basic questions (name, hometown, school, major, etc.). we were still talking when one of the girls came over and interrupted us, handed bret a paper, and said, “here’s a list of all the important people, so you guys can add us on facebook.” of course, i wasn’t on the list since i hadn’t been hanging out with them at all. my initial reaction was wow that was rude, but then bret looked at me, turned the paper towards me, and, with a really cute smile, allowed me to become one of the “important people.” AHHHHH!!!! NOW I HAD A CONNECTION WITH THE REALLY CUTE BOY!!!! WE COULD BECOME FACEBOOK FRIENDS!!!!! and that’s about all that happened. the guys left right after, and i probably spent a grand total of 45 seconds talking to bret. oh, and also i sent an email to my mom saying i had met my soulmate. (really, i did. but it was all a joke.)

shortly, bret added me as a friend on facebook, and i was more than pleasantly surprised when he wrote on my wall. (you have to remember, i am in the middle of nowhere, really isolated, with no guys to flirt with.) here’s what we said for the next few days:

07.13 bret: how goes the photo taking?

07.14 tearsa: the photo taking is going swell. in our 50 second conversation you failed to mention anything about you and photography. i’ve been looking around your site and you have some really nice photos there. i also really like your space & landscape images. (really, they’re amazing. you should look at them: bretlittle.com. also, i was super impressed that he hadn’t mentioned his photography. as soon as they find out i’m a photographer, most people tell how they really love taking photos or how their sister’s aunt’s husband is a photographer, and it just gets a little annoying.)

07.15 bret: hahaha, sorry…honestly though…i just checked your blog out, i don’t think my stuff compares. so are you generally pretty busy all day taking photos for guests and such? you ever get a chance to go and take photos around zion?

07.15 tearsa: actually, i’m hardly ever busy taking pictures of guests. so unbusy that they have me working housekeeping a lot of the time. i actually haven’t taken any pictures of zion yet because…i’m not much of a nature photographer. i know, it’s a pathetic excuse, but it’s the only one i have.

07.17 bret: hey, i don’t have flickr…so can’t comment on them directly, but these are awesome! you ever use photoshop with your work…or is that cheating

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2086/2137572518_9218a34c17.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2044/2136791287_88eba8817b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/2310762293_31ef639ac8.jpg

07.17 tearsa: thanks bret. photoshop is probably on of the greatest things ever. i definitely use it.

07.19 bret: hey, i hear there is a sweet concert happening in st. george this weekend. we are all thinking about coming down for the party!!

07.20 tearsa: yes! come! it’s going to be awesome. (oh please please please come!!!!!!)

07.22 bret: so it is official! we are headed down and will be there late tomorrow evening! see you all then!

and the rest is for post #2–the second (and really awkward) meeting.

=good.

drey is…an anomaly.

waiting for priesthood session to finish is sooo boring. enjoy the fruits of boredom: