Valentine's Day: Our Love Facts

I don't know about you, but I am loving all of the sappy, lovey-doviness on the Internet today.
I know a lot of people don't like Valentine's Day, but I am not one of those people.  I happen think that it comes at the perfect time each year.  Right in the middle of the February funk when we all have the winter blues is this perfect little day to celebrate one of my favorite things - love!

So, I thought that in honor of this sweet little holiday I dip into my bag of sappiness and share some Ben and my's love facts.

How We Met

Ben and I met backstage at the JayDoc Benefit Concert.  His roommate was playing in one of the bands and I was there to see Ultimate Fakebook.  A drunken little man at the bar put a press pass* on my neck when I was walking past him and said, "Here, you'll have more fun with this than I will."  Looking back on it, I'm pretty sure that little man was Cupid.  So, totally against my nature I decided to be a rebel and use it to go backstage.  That's when Ben and I walked past each other in the hallway.  We both stopped and turned around.  His pick-up line, "Heyyyyy!" (He may have had a bit to drink, lol).  We started talking and exchanged numbers.  He called my number as I was standing there because he thought that I'd given him a fake name and number (no way, I thought he was the most handsome thing I'd ever seen!).  Anyway, we didn't talk until seven months later, but after that first text message we were hooked.
*And I still have that press pass.  I kept it because I knew that night was special.

Our First Date

By the time we started talking, Ben had moved from Kansas City to Wichita, KS to finish up his last two years of med school.  So, after two months of texting and writing each other messages, he came up to Kansas City for the weekend.  Since it was October, we started out the day by visiting my family's pumpkin farm.  That's right. First date and he met pretty much my entire family, except for my parents.  My little cousins were following us around giggling because we were holding hands and they saw him kiss me down by the lake.  That night we ate dinner at Chili's and then went to The Edge of Hell Haunted House in downtown KC.  It was like we had been dating forever and I can honestly say that I knew on that night that he was the man I was going to marry.

Our Next Big Date

Over the next year and a half, one of us would drive either to KC or Wichita each weekend to see each other.  We only missed two weekends that entire time which I think is pretty incredible.  I'd love to know just how much we spent on gas.  Anyway, back to our next big date...on our third weekend of visits, Ben came back to KC and was a total trooper by going with me to a theatre benefit.  That was where I was introduced to his amazing dancing skills.

If I wasn't already head over heels for him, this did it.  I always said that whoever I married would love to dance and would be as silly as I am on the dance floor.

Our First Vacation

Our first vacation was to Vegas where we clearly had wayyyyyy to much fun at Madame Tussaud's wax museum...

The Big Proposal

Ben proposed to me on October 20th, 2010 by using one of my favorite things.  He was staying at his parent's house in Leavenworth to complete an away-rotation which worked out perfectly since my weekends were busy with the haunted house.  He invited me up for dinner, saying that his parents wanted to take us out to celebrate the end of his rotation.  He told me to dress up because we were going somewhere nice.  When I got there he covered my eyes, led me through the house and and out onto the back porch.  He kept me turned away as he told me how much he loved me and then he turned me around to see this...

He had carved fifteen pumpkins to pop the question!  Of course, I said yes and started crying.  We then went back inside where he had a table set up with candles, roses, wine, cheese, and my favorite chocolate covered cherries.  We slow danced to Michael Buble and then went out for a romantic dinner on Zona Rosa.

Speaking Of Michael Buble...

Michael Buble has always been a part of our relationship.  Before our first date I would constantly listen to this song.  Then we listened to some of his music on our first date.  Ben surprised me by taking me to his concert that Spring.  When he proposed he had put together a playlist of Michael Buble love songs because he knew they were my favorite.  Then during our wedding, Michael Buble (and other swingsters) made up our dinner music.  And to top it all off, McCartney loved it when I would listen to Michael Buble in the car and would kick her little heart away!

However, Our Wedding Song Was...

Carried Away by George Straight.  Ben requested that it be our first dance song because he said that it described how he felt when he saw me.  *melt!*

Anyway, Valentine's may be a silly holiday to some people, but I love it mostly because I love him.  He's the hottest, funniest, most caring guy I know.  So, tonight we're gonna celebrate that by lighting some candles, playing some Mario Kart, and perhaps doing a little slow dancing in the living room.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

~ Kelly Jo

PS: