It's that time of year when the world falls in love

During the Christmas season, we found plenty of festive ways to spend time together. We went to Salt Lake to see the temple lights, bought holiday sweaters from D.I., and Jacob bought a real tree for my apartment which we made decorations for.
One night, we made a grocery store run with Kami, Devaun, and her boyfriend, Michael. Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You came on and we girls blasted the music and sang along at the top of our lungs. Jacob and Michael pretended to be unimpressed--annoyed even--but secretly they were enjoying it. I figured if Jacob could handle this tiny glimpse of the ol' Smith charm, he could handle being a part of the family. I knew I was rubbing off on him when, over Christmas break, he told me how he made his family sing along to the sing-along version of "Mama Mia". Yes, he'd fit in just fine.

More Concerts

One night, we went with one of Jacob's mission friends on a double date to Salt Lake. After eating a Paradise Bakery, we went to a Matt Nathanson concert (who I had never heard of). While there, I saw a poster for The Hotel Cafe Tour which included a lot of artists I liked. Jacob could tell I wanted to go, or maybe (probably) I just told him I wanted to. He got us tickets pretty soon after.
After the concert, the boys surprised us with a sleigh ride around the city.

A few weeks later we were back for the Hotel Cafe concert. I had broken my toe the day before, so I was scared of it being stepped on. Luckily, we got a place to stand right up by the stage, and Jacob made sure no one got near my broken toe. He was also the only straight guy there (I'm pretty sure the title of the concert actually had the phrase "Ladies' Night" somewhere in it). What a trooper! He also got me this Christmas CD they were selling of all the people on the tour. I think it's been in our truck's CD player ever since.

Meet the Smiths

For Thanksgiving Break, I went down to Arizona with Devaun and her friend. All I remember was listening to "Single Ladies" hundreds of times (it had just come out) and being REALLY excited to be back in AZ. and a little bit nervous about meeting the rest of Jacob's family. I got home, unloaded all my crap, and called him immediately to come over and meet the fam. I think I had given him several disclaimers about them before hand so he would be well prepared. Ok, now I can't really remember many of the details except...

1. Marinne saw him and exclaimed, "Natalli, I didn't know you were dating a Mexican!"

2. 10 minutes later the same sweet child said something about Jacob not being as cool as Kami's boyfriend--who the fam was also meeting for the first time--because James had a DC shirt.

3. When my mom met Jacob, he had only spoken maybe 8 words to her before she pulled me aside and whispered, "He is SO sweet, I just love him!" And, by the end of the visit, telling me I needed to marry him.

4. I think most of my family felt the same way pretty quickly

5. Seeing him with my family and how surprisingly well he fit in made me like him more

When we met his family, it was kind of awkward. I'm not as good at first impressions as he is, and there weren't a bunch of kids running around for me to play with. It was just him, his 2 sisters, and his parents and all I could think about was how quiet and normal they were. And his sisters though I was shy. Ha.


Then he went to Rocky Point with his family for the last few days of break, and I missed him.

My "Mexican" boyfriend.

Sunday Dinner

Every Sunday after church, Jacob would go over to his grandparents house for Sunday Dinner. I was pretty jealous that he got a real, home-cooked meal every week. Then one week, he invited me to come with him! I was excited and a little nervous, because a lot of his extended family would be there and big groups of strangers make me feel awkward. Plus he tried to make me more nervous by saying stuff about how this could be really weird and stuff.

I think it was not very awkward at all, but Jacob reminded me that it was probably because his Grandpa wasn't at this particular dinner. The next week when we went to Sunday Dinner, his grandpa was there and made most of the dinner conversation focused on me, my life, my family, my goals, etc. That was a little awkward. The food was always fantastic though! With time, I got used to the family and started feeling more comfortable even though his grandpa would often pose deep questions for me to answer. I've learned how to respond pretty well.

Oh except one week after maybe a month, we were cleaning up and grandpa pulled me over to the fridge and pointed to each of the pictures and quizzed me on whose family was in each of them. Really, a pop quiz. Then he was like, "ok so who's missing?" I was a little confused so he said "We had 5 kids, so who's missing?".
"Oh, um Jacob's dad?"
"That's right" he said looking at me very seriously. And then he walked away..or maybe I did. Super uncomfortable. But nothing too weird after that one.

Baby, it's coooold outsiiiide

O.k. everything's pretty jumbled up in my memory, so I'll just share whatever random anecdotes I can remember and try to keep them in order. This one is probably my mom's favorite.
One Sunday probably in October or November, Jacob and I were walking home from church and it was starting to get pretty cold and cloudy. He said something like "It's definitely going to snow tonight", and I was like "ahhhh no! It's not". And then he kept teasing me that it was going to, because I was terrified of walking to work at 5 am in snowy snow town. So then he was joking about waking up and driving me to work in the morning which just seemed ridiculous (it was only a 15 minute walk).
Somehow this joke turned into reality, and sure enough Jacob was waiting for me every morning at 4:45 in his truck with the heat on full blast.
Now remember the 2nd or 3rd date when I told him about my job and he said he could NEVER get up that early.
Now that's dedication.

October 31st

As Halloween drew near, Jacob mentioned that his sister had lots of costumes we could look at or she could make us something. Well as a true Smith, I could never pass up an opportunity to play dress ups. So we planned our first official visit to Shannon and Craig's (there would be several hundred to follow). I expected to be one of many girls he'd brought over, but was excited to find out that I was the first!
It was only a little awkward when Shannon made me try on hundreds of costumes and model some for Jacob and Craig. Ok, I thought it was really weird. I'm not very good with strangers. But within the next 4 or 5 visits to figure out details on our costumes, I started feeling right at home. I also liked how cute Jacob was with his niece, Vivianne.
Our costumes turned out great! On Halloween, we went to a party at Brittany's house. We ate carmel apples, watched Young Frankenstein, and played Mafia. I like playing games with people I don't know very well, because everyone's true colors come out. So this was probably the night that I started liking his friends more. And I'm sure I was liking Jacob more every day too.

We take a road trip.

Every Monday night, Jacob and his friends would all meet up to watch "Prison Break" at Jake Monsen's house. Fortunately this didn't last long before it changed to Thursday night viewings of the "Office". So it was a Monday or a Thursday. I can't remember which, but that hardly matters. We were waiting on some people and Jake's girlfriend, Brittany, started speaking of Disneyland. Since I can't pass up an invite to Disneyland, I joined the conversation. Worked like a charm. "Oh you and Jacob should come!". Now I just had to convince Jacob, which was surprisingly easy. We were going the next week!
It wasn't until we were on the way up that everyone decided we should all just stay in one hotel room. Scandalous. That night we were watching TV, and Jake and Brittany fell asleep in the same bed. I thought of waking them up so we could switch. Instead, in an act of benevolence, Jacob made himself a bed on the floor. That's probably when I started to think that maybe he wasn't a player/man-whore after all. Maybe he actually cared about me.
The next day we went to 6 Flags and had a fantastic time. I don't remember too much about it. We spent the day after that at Disneyland. I had always thought it would be really fun to be at Disneyland with a boy I liked. Maybe I ruined that by going with a boy I kinda liked, but didn't know well enough to really like. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast. I just felt a little guilty that Jacob had spent hundreds of dollars on me (yes, he paid for everything) when I wasn't even sure about him.
I got car sick on the way back to Utah, and Jacob seemed genuinely concerned for me and did everything he could to help me feel better. Along with being a fun break from school, our trip proved to me that Jacob really was a good, kind person who really did care about me. But that might have scared me even more.

Us at Disneyland. Obviously.