How He Proposed

Well, it's hard to pinpoint one specific story because Kirk has probably asked me to marry him at least 20 times. Not that I rejected him, he just wasn't comfortable calling any of those "official". One of the first times he brought it up he said, "Some day I want to marry you." And I said, "Well, then someday you better ask me!"
There have been several other times where we were just talking and he would get all quiet and look at me with his gorgeous green eyes and say, "Laura, I love you! Will you marry me?"
And then I'd say yes, and then he'd say, "I'm serious." And I would say, "So am I." I can't even remember how many times we had that conversation.

Somewhere down the line he started believing me, and then we started talking about the logisitics and debating about how and when to make it work with his job. Once we finally settled on an approximate wedding date (a little backwards, I know) he felt more comfortable getting officially engaged. So we took a little trip to visit my family, he had "the talk" with my parents, and then about a month later he finally popped the question and gave me a ring (this afternoon).

One more after thought-- Even though it's "official" Kirk is still a little wary of the term fiance, so I've decided to call him my boyfriend who I'm going to marry. =)

Hiking in Aliso Wood Canyon in Aliso Viejo, CA
You can't tell from the photo, but we were mini-golfing

Day at the park

So we decided to play "picture truth or dare" one day at the park. Never heard of it? Basically you take turns taking pictures of each other, and the one with the camera gets to tell the other how to pose. You should try it some time, it's kind of fun.
First I made him drink out of the fountain (which actually sprayed straight up all over his face)

Then he made me do push ups.
Then I made him climb a tree.

About Us

About Laura:

Laura was born in L.A. and raised in a small town called Taft, California since she was two. It kinda looks like Kingman except with with out all the drug infested looking hippies. She has her masters degree in ESL (English as a second language) and works at a private college teaching Japanese students how to speak and write proper English (maybe there is hope that some day I can be literate too).

Laura plays the piano, is athletic and likes to run and play racquetball which is very sexy. She is independent and opinionated which is very good for a person like me but can make way for interesting fights from time to time due to the fact that we are both way too stubborn for our own good.

Laura cares genuinely about everything that she does. She is a perfectionist in everything she does (except household chores). She knows her weaknesses and tries to conquer them everyday. She cares for people and likes to go out of her way to make them feel welcome, which occasionally leads to nagging me about not caring enough. She is really fun to hang out with and will play games with me when I am in a playfull mood. All in all, she is the perfect girl for me and I know she will make me a better man because of the way she is.


About Kirk:
Kirk was born in Willcox, Arizona and was raised in Kingman, Arizona. He has been living in California for that past 2 years (by force because that's where the Marine Corps made him go).

He hates being "normal" and sometimes goes out of his way not to be, which sometimes is hilarious, and sometimes is frustrating. Even though he sometimes hates his job and has to deal people around him who couldn't care less, he takes it seriously and is passionate and dedicated to serving his country.

He's athletic, adventurous, and completely his own person. He's recently taken up scuba diving and even went sky diving. When I asked him about it he said, "It was ok." Who doesn't get a thrill from sky diving?! I don't understand that! I think part of it is because he's not one to show his real emotions to the world. For a while I had to deal with his "I don't know how to treat girls so give me a break" attitude, but he's finally learned that it's okay to be nice to people, especially me. He really is very sweet in his own way.

He's really fun, and a total kid at heart, which is probably why his nieces and nephews love him so much. He's a great listener and always encourages me and makes me feel better when I'm in a grumpy mood. Anyway, I like him =)

How We Met

According to Kirk:

The first time I ever saw Laura, a.k.a. "the piano girl," was at Base FHE. I could tell she was a runner and I said to myself, "Self, let's go ask out that woman, she looks hot!" The next Sunday I saw her again and she was playing the organ. (Reason for the nickname) I thought that was even sexier. Yes, I know, I'm shallow. Get over it, I have =)

So I decided to ask a mutual friend if she was dating anyone. She was and so I deployed to Iraq wondering if I'd ever get to hang out with Laura. When I came back 7 months later I went to base FHE and there she was by herself, single, with no loser boyfriend to get in the way. I decided a couple months later to ask her out and haven't been able to get her out of my head since. Very cool yet annoying at the same time.

According to Laura:
We casually met in 2006. Our church has a singles activity on Camp Pendleton on Wednesdays and I've been going for almost 2 years. I didn't talk to Kirk much, but he always stood out. I didn't know his name, so I referred to him as, "The one who always shows up in his cammies."

When he got back from Iraq at the end of 07 a mutual friend of ours kept telling me that Kirk liked me and that he was going to ask me out, and I just thought, "Yeah, right! He never even talks to me!" I would try to say hi sometimes, but he never seemed to want to talk to me.

On top of that, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go out with him because I had had a "bad experience" (to put it lightly) dating a marine the year before. The craziness with that guy made me uneasy about going out with another marine. But our friend kept pushing the idea of us going out, and I think that's a lot of what made it happen.

In January 08 my roommates and I hosted a dinner party and she brought Kirk along. It was the first time we really talked. He called me that night and sort of asked me out. It was something like, "Wanna do something tomorrow?"
I still wasn't sure if I wanted to date another marine, but I figured it wasn't fair to assume all marines were crazy just because one was... plus every time we did something I had a really good time, and I thought he was cute! So I decided to go out with again him and we just sort of kept hanging out.

Thanks Libby!