Our Story - Day 5 of Meme Week

Where did you meet your husband?

Summer of 1996: via letters from the MTC. My sister Camie was in his Spanish class and arranged the whole thing. Elder Funaki and I wrote letters to each other on and off for the next few years (letters were totally neutral…we never imagined we'd ever meet!).
February 2001: we talk on the phone for first time; he lets me know he is coming to Utah and would like to meet me.
March 30, 2001: he shows up at my house at around 11:00 pm, after I'm already in pajamas and have washed my face. Brilliant.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?

[from my mouth:] Hi! [pause, trying to register what was happening] Wow. [pause] Come on in.
[in my mind:] What the heck?! Why are you here so late? And who is the chick with you? Why is she wearing fishnet stockings?

Where was your first date?

Since we didn't have the traditional meeting, we didn't have a "first date" either. We basically spent that whole weekend together, then saw each other just about every single day after that until getting engaged. Like most couples in Provoland, we liked going out to eat and to movies. We would also go window shopping and create a virtual life for ourselves. :) But mainly we hung out with our family and friends.

Where was your first kiss?

That first night we met. We had stayed up talking for hours until my crazy downstairs neighbor Phil came to the door around 2:00 AM. Thinking he was going to tell us to pipe down, I quickly opened the door ready to apologize. He blurted out, "Have you ever seen an Aurora?" What? "Uh, no." "Well then come out here and check it out!"

We followed him out to the front yard, where in the sky was a beautiful aurora borealis (or "northern lights"), red and green lights streaking across the sky. He left us alone after a few minutes, and Aki and I stood there gazing up at the light-filled sky, enjoying the perfectly quiet night. Then Aki put his arms around my waist and told me he should probably be going. So, we woke up girl-in-the-fishnet-stockings (who was his ride), she got in the car, then just as he was going to get in the car, he quickly leaned down and kissed me and whispered, "You're beautiful." I don't know if it was the crazy natural phenomenon going on, or the fact that it was so late, but I was in la-la land, dizzyingly in love.

Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

Oh, short everything. We met face-to-face for the first time on March 30. We were engaged on May 31 and married on August 11.

Where did you get engaged?

We got engaged on a Southwest Airlines plane, somewhere in the sky between SLC and Phoenix (we were going to AZ so he could meet my parents). Aki was blabbing on about how he always wanted to be a pilot and even went to flight school, but he had realized there was something more he wanted out of life. When he said, "I want to be a husband and father," my ears really perked up. I started actually listening, then quickly realized he was about to propose. I was all kinds of excited and loved wearing the ring. The best part was the high school baseball team sitting behind us, spying the whole time. They let the news out that Aki had just proposed, so we scored some free drinks from the stewardess. Can't beat that.

How was the honeymoon?

Short and sweet. Since Aki's family had come all the way from Tonga, arriving the night before the wedding and staying only a week, we couldn't just take off for days on end (Aki hadn't spent more than a couple days with his parents in nearly 6 years). So, we spent the weekend in St. George at a bed-and-breakfast. Let's just say it was fun and functional. :)