Couple's Tag--about Amanda and Me

So, I got "couple's tagged," where I'm supposed to tell all about how my spouse and I met and got married and such. So here it goes:

Ours was an arranged marriage, as many were at the time. We did not have the freedom that modern relationships had. I first saw my bride on our wedding day. A chaperone brought her to...

Wait, that wasn't it...Hmmm...I'll just answer the questions others have:

Where did you meet?
We met in October of 1995, when Amanda got a job at Cinnabon in the mall. I'd already been working there a few months. Amanda remembers that I helped her put on her apron on her first day, but you'll have to take her word for it--I wasn't interested in some silly 16-year-old...

Where was your 1st date?
Our first date, as with many (most?) dates after, was to a movie. Our first was to "James and the Giant Peach." Here's a musical journey from our first date to the movie date where we finally held hands:


Where was your 1st kiss?
Well, once we held hands, it wasn't long before we kissed--only a week or so (OK, 8 days later, to be exact). We were out in the carport, and at first our kisses didn't line up lip to lip, but we eventually worked out the mechanics of that after further practice sessions, study time, and any other school-related terms we could substitute for "making out."

How long did you date?
We dated for about 10 months, then were broken up for about 9 months, then dated again for about 10 months before getting married. The broken up time was very sad. But it all turned out OK.

When/where were you married?
We were married on July 3, 1998 at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork, UT. It was hot. And sunny.

How did the reception go?
The reception was held in the spacious backyard of my Aunt Elaine's house in Provo. It went smoothly, excedpt that I spilled a chocolate strawberry on my bride's wedding dress, creating a stain that has pretty much ruined her dress forever.

Honeymoon?

We went to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon, staying at the All-Star Music Resort. Amanda took me on scary rides like the Tower of Terror and Thunder Mountain (making me ride a roller coaster for the first time since I was 5.) And of course the now-gone Alien Encounter, which was awesome but gave me nightmares.

I took her on rides like "It's a Small World" and the "Hall of Presidents," which gave HER nightmares (when she fell asleep during them).

I'll end with another movie about us, that I made (along with the holding hands one) for Valentine's day a few years back:

Flu, Lily, and Halloween

Geez, over a month with no blog entries--what was I doing?! Oh yeah, animating 2 films for online contests!!!!!

And guess what?!?!?! I WON the FLU FLIX contest with my film "Norton Fears the Flu!!!"



So that means my eldest brother, who suggested the title change from "Catches" to "Fears" has earned himself a sawbuck or two, and it means we can pay some bills and buy some Christmas presents. That's of course assuming that our car doesn't break down the week the check arrives, which is what typically happens when we get any extra $.

Next, I entered the Project: Direct competition http://www.youtube.com/projectdirect

Here's my entry for that, "Lily" which contains the 3 requirements for the contest:
-a person doing something beyond his/her maturity level
-the line "I demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?"
-A character passing a photo to another character.



Originally, I was going to do this cut-out style, like "Conqueror Worm" but that wasn't working out how I'd hoped, so I switched to hand-drawn animation, which I added some effect filters to to give it a feel of being finished, even though it's just rough animation (I had to make the deadline somehow!!).

What else happened in October? Ahh--Amanda and Abraham had birthdays--one turned 28, one turned 2--you figure out which is which.

And of course we had Halloween: Here are the kids:

Joel as Audrey 2, the man-eating plant from "Little Shop of Horrors"


Maddy as Molly from the "American Girl" books:



And Abe was Mickey Mouse:



A lot of people thought Joel was a dinosaur, people didn't know who Maddy was except when she had her doll in hand, and Abe didn't want to wear the costume until he saw how cute he was and that people would give him candy if he wore it.

The kids got lots of candy, and it brought back memories to watch them dump out their bags and sort their candy. But I hate Halloween, and I'm glad Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here.

Wheww!--enough blog for you? I'll try to update more often, now that I'm notr feverishly animating contest entries.