The First Guys Behind The Blog!

(Don't forget about the big Giveaway!)

I am so excited that Betsy decided to create another boys linkup! I love having Justin answer questions! So, without further ado, here he is!

Well, as a brief intro, I'm Justin. I married Tayler. I like all-you-can-eat fries, video games made in Japan that have terrible English translations, sports not named soccer, and making people laugh by telling ridiculously embellished stories about my life.

Since this is the first iteration of this link up series, I'll be kinda serious. This is the 3rd set of this kind of series I have been a part of, and I normally answer with funny GIFs and sarcasm.

1. Have you ever had a blog, or have you ever considered starting one?
Yes I had a blog. It was called Hypotheically Speaking. I'd recommend checking it out, but it has like 4 posts all within a 3 month period about 4 years ago.

2. If you could be a member of any band, which one would it be?
I'd probably be a member of The Black Mages. For the likely 99.5% of people reading this that have no idea who the Black Mages are, its a rock band started by Nobuo Uematsu, the lead composer for Square-Enix, the video game company responsible for Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, and countless others. The Black Mages pretty much just takes Nobuo Uematsu's best works from the Final Fantasy series and rock-band-ifies them. I'd be apart of that band simply to meet Nobuo Uematsu. If Koji Kondo had a band, I'd want to be apart of that one too. (He did Mario and Zelda games).

3. Valentine’s Day is on the horizon…are you the date-planner type or do you fly by the seat of your pants? Do you have anything planned for Tayler this year?
Valentine's Day, or as I like to call it, Valentine's Week, is a very hard time for me.

 First off, I spoil my wife. If we are in a store and she wants something, more often than not, I get it for her. So when it comes down to a holiday based on gift-giving, its hard to come up with something nice, something she likes/wants, that's also something I haven't already gotten for her already.

The reason I call it Valentine's Week is because her birthday is Feb 10, just a few days before Valentine's. When we were dating, I thought I would be clever and get her something for her birthday, take her out to a romantic dinner on the 12th of February (midway between her b-day and Valentine's, that way there's no traffic at restaurants), and then I would get her something on Valentine's. Little did I know, once you do something big, you have to at least match it every following year. So, now Tayler essentially gets gifts and romantic gestures pretty much the whole week.

So, long story short, Yes, I do have something planned for Tayler. For her birthday. I still have to plan out the rest of the week.

And despite my annoyed tone that I wrote this in, I love every second of it. Tayler means everything to me.

4. Tell us about a date-night-gone-wrong for you and your wife/fiancé/girlfriend. If it’s funny, all the better!
I have a hard time with this question, simply because I rarely think that things go wrong, they just go not as expected. Sure, I've had my plans quashed, but we always ended up doing something else that was just as fun.

5. And let’s cover all the topics…sports…who are you rooting for in the Superbowl and why? (if you post after the big game, then your guy could tell us if he’s happy with the outcome!)
*Begin football rant*

Alright. First off, I am not a fan of either of the contenders this year. I haven't liked the New England Patriots for quite some time, and I never paid attention to the Seahawks until recently (just like everyone else in the entire nation. No one was a Seahawks fan until they started winning). I dislike both coaching staffs. I dislike bandwagon fans, and the Seahawks are full of them.

That being said, I want the Patriots to win. For these reasons:

1.) Tom Brady is a phenominal Quarterback. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a bitter troll who probably is that 1 dislike you see on all of the really inspiring youtube videos.

2.) I know with all of the Deflategate stuff going on, their victory would be in question. Do I think they cheated? I don't really care. Does cheating happen in football? Absolutely. Just ask the Seahawks coach himself. He does it all the time.

And last, but not least:

3.) I want Richard Sherman to shut up. Richard Sherman is the star Cornerback for the Seahawks and he proclaims he's the best one to ever play the game. I don't really care if he is or not (I still think Deion Sanders is better), but it needs to be said that you don't brag about being the best ever. Jerry Rice is the best Wide Receiver ever, and he doesn't bring it up every time he's on TV. Sherman can never seem to shut up about it.

*End football Rant*

Sidenote: If you ask me sports questions, these rants tend to happen.

My First Kiss--Throwback Thursday

Today is yet another awesome Throwback Thursday, hosted by Bonnie over at Life of Bon.

Today's topic is:

In Mormon culture, we advise the youth not to date until we are 16. This is to try and protect our teens and to allow them to become friends before they worry about dating. The youth still have a lot of fun activities and programs for both genders. Strong friendships are created and parties happen all the time. When they are 16, typically we socially date--meaning we go do fun activities, we aren't serious in relationships, group dates are the norm. Sometimes, after age 16, teens do become a couple; boyfriend and girlfriend. That is perfectly ok.

And, sometimes, we "date" and "go out" and have "significant others" before we are 16.

I was one such girl. I had a "boyfriend" named Ben. He was barely a year older than me and we started "dating" when I was 14. 

"Dating"= calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend, sitting with each other, IM'ing/calling each other, holding hands, hugging. 

No more, no less. No dates, no physical-ness.

We dated on and off until I was 16. 

That year was hard for Ben. He and his father had some issues and so Ben was going to live with his Uncle for the summer, across the entire country. I was devastated and sad. This was my first love. I was 16. We had been on one date (on my birthday) and now he was leaving! I hadn't even had my first kiss!

Ben invited me over and his two "psuedo-sisters" (some of my best friends) and we watched the Bourne Trilogy. The whole time, Merissa and Amina were on the other couch, and kept sending me signals, and Ben separate signals. Ben and I cuddle and held hands tightly, knowing our time was running out.

Near the end of the 3rd movie, my mom came to pick me up. This was it. It was the last time I was going to see him.  

We all got up and headed upstairs, out of the basement. Amina and Merissa gave Ben a knowing look and rushed up the stairs. 

Holding my hand, Ben hesitated and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. We mentioned how much we'd miss each other and how much we meant to each other. Then, he said, "Tayler, I want to kiss you."

 Ben gently took my cheek in his hand and bent down to kiss me (he was much taller than me). But, he was shaking. I was his first girlfriend and his first kiss as well.

We kissed. Less than a second. It wasn't even quite a peck. 

And you think first kisses are awkward? I wasn't even sure that counted as a kiss. 

But, it was what it was. 

I beamed. He beamed.

Awkwardly.

And awkwardly, we headed upstairs to meet Amina and Merissa's devious smiles.

And that was my first kiss.

Also, don't forget about our super adorable GIVEAWAY!!!