Just A Couple of Weirdos, I Guess.

So, Derek and I have been thinking of all the quirky things about ourselves. Here is what we've discovered. We hope you enjoy these...

Derek's Top Ten Quirks:

1. When he has a song in his head, he changes the lyrics all around (some of them are not such nice lyrics...)

2. He can't stand the feeling of his hair touching his ears. Once the sides grow long enough to where they touch the ears, it's time for a haircut.

3. I've never met a single soul that can speak better & faster Piglatin than Derek. It's amazing. It sounds like a whole new language! If you can keep up & understand him, you are one in a million.

4. It is nearly physically impossible for him to suck on a candy or a sucker. He must chew it. This is also amazing to me, because if I did that, I swear my teeth would break!

5. When using the microwave, he always pops stuff in for 35 seconds. Not 30, not 60- just 35 seconds. It always seems to be just right for him. If not, another 35 should do.

6. Derek is an Otter Pops connoisseur, so naturally, he eats them in the shower. He has done this for a long time. When we dated back in 2005, he told me he did this. Still goin strong!

7. He always seems to catch the clock at 12:34. Either A.M. or P.M. I think it weirds him out.

8. Every now and then he gets this urge to throw a chair across the cultural hall in sacrament meeting. It's the Tyler Durdon in him, I suppose. (For anyone who's seen Fight Club. Don't worry, we have the Clean Flicks edition.)

9. He won't eat a pickle to save his life. He does not like anything with a vinegary taste.

10. When eating a Kit-Kat, he eats off all of the chocolate, then eats each wafer individually.

Lauren's Top Ten Quirks:

1. The feel of suede makes me want to choke.

2. Now this one is weird. It's yet to be confirmed to me that anyone else in the universe does this. Whenever I have a hangnail, I snag it across the seems of my shirt, my garment linings or my shoe laces. Weird, I know. My great-grandma Slade made me a wubbie when I was little. It was lined with silk. I always rubbed it in between my fingers so I think that's where this weirdness came from. Anyway, old habits die hard and here I am at 23 years old & still doing it.

3. I had no idea this was strange until a couple of years ago but I'm always standing on one foot with the other foot touching my opposite knee. So basically, I am constantly standing like a flamingo. Come on, someone tell me you do this, too...

4. I'm always reading things backwards or trying to find words within other words. My name backwards is Nerual Arokis Evorgrah. Just in case you were wondering.

5. I memorize numbers. I have my VIN NUMBER memorized. Don't ask. When working at the radiology center, I'd be trying to go to sleep at night, but some old lady's name and social security number were running through my mind. If she only knew...

6. I'm not the average female. I have no interest in diamonds, chocolate, stuffed animals or flowers. Oh and I'm not a big phone talker.

7. I DO NOT eat the folded chips in the bag. Uh-uh. Nope. I either pitch them back into the bag or I break them before I eat them.

8. I like the smell of Titan's binky. Baby's breath is so pure.

9. When I sleep, I have to have it cold enough to use my covers. I can't sleep without them. And once I'm all covered up, I stick one foot out. ONE FOOT ONLY. Usually the left one. And I'm pretty much hanging off the side of the bed when I sleep. This is probably another habit that dies hard because in high school, one entire side of my bed was piled with tons of school books and my backpack. So I'd never even roll over to the other side. I sleep like a hotdog and turn only in a confined space. And I can usually only fall asleep on my stomach.

10. I can't eat a meal when the kitchen is dirty. I'll do all the dirty dishes before whipping out a clean one to make a meal.

The Top Five Quirks of Derek & Lauren As a Couple:

1. We cannot staaaaaaaaaand when our eggs and syrup touch each other. In fact, our sweets and salties cannot touch each other at all when on our plates.

2. We drive all the way to Las Cruces to eat at Dion's Pizza.

3. We speak to each other in accents, usually a British one.

4. When eating a meal, there is typically only one cup out. We're always sharing our drink.

5. We eat peanut butter on our waffles. I grew up thinking this was normal but I have been proven otherwise as an adult. Try it though, it's good & it makes your meal stick to your ribs better so you're fuller all day!

Derek & I went to Albuquerque this past weekend to visit my best friend, Jackie! We took pictures of some of the places that meant a lot to us when we dated back in 2005. For example:

This is the church building where we met for the 1st time. We met on Father's Day. This is the Eubank Chapel and we attended the singles ward there. Derek was a salesman for ADT security systems over the summer while taking a break from BYU and I had just graduated high school, getting ready to head to Eastern Arizona College a few months later.

This is the house that I lived in while dating Derek. Uglier than sin. It was a 4-level house. 4 bedrooms on the 2nd floor, the kitchen & living room on the 1st floor, another family/living room, laundry room and garage on the -1st floor and 2 bedrooms and a huge food pantry on the -2nd floor. Weird? One night Derek and I had our ice creams from Sonic and we grabbed Colin's skateboard so we could sit on it & ride down the hill together while eating our dessert. It was fun. We had a lot of fun memories here!

This is Derek's old apartment, where we hung out for the 1st time. It was the same day we had met at church and we went to his friend's apartment to play "And It Came to Pass", an LDS card game that I'm not sure I ever picked up on. We'd also watch LOST with his roommates and other ADT salespeople here. This is when I found wet wipes in Richard's bathroom and asked why he had those there. Oh, little did I know... He gave this analogy: "If someone walked up to me and wiped mustard all over my arm, would I want to wipe it off with a napkin and still have remnants of mustard on me or would I want use a wet wipe?" Hmm...interesting analogy.

This is the arroyo Derek and I spent much of our time in as well. We'd sit here for hours while the sun set and it got dark. We'd talk about the future. In this very arroyo he told me that it was a Japanese belief that if you fold a thousand cranes, you're granted one wish. I asked him if he would remember me in the future and tell me if his wish came true or not. He replied with, "I'm pretty sure you'll be there when that happens". I had no idea what he meant. Then, 3 years and a lot of events later, he proposed with a ring around a paper crane labeled "Crane # 1,000".

We also spent a lot of time with my grandparents, which are Titan's GREAT-grandparents, and with Jackie and her family. Lest we forget also, we went to Dion's Pizza and Boba Tea (no tea in our drinks, just a fruit smoothie with tapioca balls). Mmmm...

And even though we had lots of fun this weekend, there is just no place like HOME.