About
Us
Jacob
& Amy...the FAST(ish) FACTS:
Jacob:
·
Born in Texas, lived
there until age 13, and then moved to Sparks, NV.
·
Earned a black belt in
Tae Kwon Do and worked as an instructor at the school
·
Served a volunteer
mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Florida
Tallahassee Mission (covering northern Florida and southern Alabama)
·
Went to college at
Brigham Young University, earned a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering with a
minor in Computer Science
·
Interned at Johnson Space
Center in Houston, TX during junior year of college
·
Moved to Seattle, WA to
work as a software engineer for Amazon for 3 years
·
Came back to Utah in 2015
to be closer to family and started a new job at Domo
·
Favorite things include
good sci-fi novels, choral music, math & science, family, fun games, and
good food.
Amy:
·
Born in Oregon, raised in
the Bay Area (mostly San Jose) since 2 years old
·
Bachelor’s Degree in
Psychology from Sonoma State University; Master’s Degree in Public
Administration-Public Policy at California State University-East Bay. Now
obsessed with Sonoma County and East Bay
·
Studied abroad in
Copenhagen, Denmark for 9 months. Now obsessed with Copenhagen & all things
Denmark
·
Served a volunteer
mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Temple Square
in Salt Lake City, Utah
·
Worked with children and
adolescents with special needs as a behavioral interventionist
·
Served with CSU-East
Bay’s Student Housing & Residence Life team for 5 years. Obsessed with
amazing framily she made there
·
In 2004, as a sophomore,
participated in a leadership seminar. Now known as EDGE Youth Leadership, this
non-profit organization has shaped many passions. Now obsessed with leadership
development. Continues to volunteer with the organization since 2004 and currently
serves on the Board of Directors.
·
Favorite "people,
places and things" include family, friends, leadership, diversity,
fitness, service, food, faith, education, travel, baking, EDGE Youth
Leadership, technology, manicures, the Bay Area, Denmark, music, languages,
sleep….and now Jacob Austin.
Our
Story
What
brought you both to Utah?
Jacob: I studied computer engineering at BYU and left the state
after graduation to work for Amazon in Seattle for just over 3 years. Living
there was great -- great culture, scenery, job, people. After a few years, a
great opportunity came up to work for a smaller, newer company and to live
closer to my family, so in 2015 I packed up all my stuff into a U-Haul and
brought myself back to Utah.
Amy: There are a lot of stories building up to my move to Utah (about
2-3 years of little nudges). And if you know me, you know if it took an hour to
live something, it may take me 2 hours to re-tell the experience. AKA, we don’t
have time to tell ALL the stories that led me to Utah...but I’ll try to
summarize.
I was working at California State University-
East Bay, in Hayward, California, for about 5 years. I had finished up my
Master’s program and transitioned into a role as a Residence Life Coordinator
on campus. I LOVED serving at CSU-East Bay. I loved my teammates, the students,
the Bay Area, being close to my parents (in San Jose). My work’s contract was
nearing an end in June 2017 and I needed to move forward with a path to my next
chapter of life. The most important reason(s) I moved live in Pleasant Grove:
my sister and her awesome family. She was due to have her third baby in the
summer and I had to live up to my title of “best Auntie”. FaceTime wasn’t
cutting it. I wanted a season of my life full of lazy Tuesdays, snow cones,
birthday parties, and niece/nephew cuddles. I also wanted to keep building my
passion for leadership development and higher education. I applied for a job at
Utah Valley University in their Center for the Advancement of Leadership as the
new Assistant Director. I loved the idea of working at a school with a
vocational pulse in a role that supported leadership development. After
weighing many options, drinking lots of cucumber water, and throwing caution to
the wind, I decided to flip my life for a 180.
Since moving to Utah, I have enjoyed being
surrounded by Nicole and her family, the gorgeous Rocky Mountains as the
setting to my backyard and daily commute, and all of the kind people I have had
the gift of learning from....and LOTS of summer snow cones.
How did
you meet?
Amy: I was at a funky place in life. For over a decade, I had
been in long term relationships with kind, respectful men, that in the end, for
a variety of reasons, weren’t right relationship fits for me or them. And don’t
get me started on the laundry list of first date stories. That’s a whole
mini-series in the making. With gratitude, I learned SO much about myself,
healthy relationships, respect, and joy. I was feeling discouraged, deflated,
and honestly, pretty over the whole dating scene. I was ready to swear off
relationships (you know, relationships are for “everyone else” and Hallmark
movies). I was at a great place with my own self confidence--probably could
have benefited from a slice of humble pie. I thought, “Welp. I’m amazing. No need
to make space for a partner. I’m ok enjoying my cucumber water in solitude and
peace. I’m pretty ok never meeting strangers for cheesy first dates ever
again”.
With a tinge of angst, I turned to the ever
saturated internet dating world for two reasons/ intentions:
1. Create opportunities to practice being kind to
people in dating situations before I meet the ACTUAL man I would eventually
meet on an arranged date my friends would probably set up for me in California
once I moved back to the Bay Area.
2. Free dinners. (Which I would of course offer
to pay for initially) (I’m terrible).
That’s what Jacob was to me before I met him:
practice date pawn & potential dinner donor. I was WAY off.
He seemed nice enough. Kind eyes, friendly
smile, and a tagline that said something like, “I’m a simple guy. Originally
from Texas. Likes board games. Engineer. Looking for someone to whisk away from
Utah”. YES.
We matched on a dating app for LDS singles
called “Mutual” (kind of like Tinder but with an LDS flavor). We casually
started chatting back and forth. Pretty basic stuff. “How was your weekend?”
Blah blah. Sorry if you were looking for a juicer, more serendipitous first
encounter.
What
was your first date?
Jacob: When we were
chatting on Mutual, it came up that I’m originally from Texas, and Amy asked if
I’d been to this BBQ place she’d heard about called BamBam’s. I’d never been,
but after chatting a little longer and deciding I wanted to ask her out, I
suggested we try it. So we did. October 17. Dinner went well enough though that
Amy suggested we get some dessert, and we ended up at another place in Provo
that does chocolate tastings. So our first date ended with a really fun
experience. We decided we wanted to go out again. This first date was on a
Tuesday and we decided we’d go out again that Saturday. But by the time I got
home I had decided I wanted to see her sooner than that. So I called and left a
message saying I was free Thursday….
How did
the second date go? *wink wink*
Amy: I love this part of our story. Jacob called about 10 minutes
after we parted ways on date 1. His voicemail is my favorite: “Hey Amy, it’s
Jacob”. He went on to say something like, “If you’d like to get together before
Saturday, I’d love to. Maybe Thursday or something? If not, no worries.
Saturday works too. [*Jacob thinks to himself: play it cool, man*] Whatever is
best. Give me a call”.
I called him right back and we arranged to
meet up Thursday night. When we talked about what to do, I suggested a few interests,
“autumn-y things, good food, nature (but nothing too cold), activities…”. We
ended up making caramel apples for friends, an ice hockey game, and then I got
hungrrrrrry. We ended up going to a charming “board game cafe” where we
selected games from a wall of over 600(!) selections, munched on crepes and
quesadillas, and laughed our heads off. We MAY have found (and briefly played)
Sweet Valley High (similar to Dream Phone: see the section about Nicole
Robertson below for details on Dream Phone game play instructions). We laughed,
quipped, and gently eased into getting to know each other. At the end of the
night, I thought, “hey, this guy seems kind of special”. It was the next
morning when I first started learning about the character and integrity that I
am now in love with.
Jacob called the next day and asked:
J: “did you happen to pay last night? I don’t
remember us paying”
A: “I thought you did. We were talking to all
the staff members and they asked if we needed anything. And then they wished us
a good night. So we left”
J: “That’s what I remember too. But if you
didn’t pay, and I didn’t pay, I’m just gonna head back there and take care of
the bill today”.
It wasn’t more than a $5-10 difference. And
the location was about 20 minutes away. I was so grateful for (and impressed
with) his honesty. It’s one of my favorite qualities Jacob has.
When
did you become boyfriend/girlfriend?
Jacob: Well after the first few dates we were seeing each other nearly
every day, and we were having a lot of fun: delicious dinners, reading books,
go karts, grocery shopping, pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating with her
sister’s family. So I decided to check in pretty early on and see where this
was going. (And our whole timeline is accelerated, so when I say early on, I mean
after a week or two of dating!) Amy wanted to wait to have any sort of
“boyfriend/girlfriend titles” and give ourselves a good month of getting to
know each other before we became any sort of official. So a little while later,
after a road trip to Vegas and booking flights for a trip to Denmark, we became
officially "boyfriend & girlfriend".
Wait,
you went to Denmark together?!
Amy: A few important things you’ll need to know for this story to
work: 1) During the fall, I was gearing up to head out to my friend Heidi’s
wedding. 2) in the autumn of this year, I started taking violin lessons again.
I used to play for about 5 years when I was younger and decided to pick it back
up.
When I told Heidi about my new violin passion,
she asked if I would be willing to play a song at the reception. ABSOLUTELY.
When I shared I had been going out on dates with Jacob, she then said, “invite
him to come to the wedding”! Me: “really? I mean, I guess I could ask if he
wants to come along”. After she learned that Jacob also plays the piano, she
asked if we could play a duet.
So, fast forward to Copenhagen. There we were.
Jacob & Amy. Two happy campers. Playing a piano/violin duet in Copenhagen,
literally less than 2 months after meeting each other. On paper, it was
ridiculous. In reality, it was beautiful. So sweet. So natural. And ridiculous.
During one of the flights on our way over, I remember looking at Jacob and
saying, “what are we doing?” With so much sincerity, he looked at me and
quietly said, “we’re falling in love”.
Last
question: tell us how you got engaged!
Amy:
I’d say after about a month, my entire family
LOVED Jacob. He’s so incredible. And as I mentioned before, I’ve dated a
variety of men who were all so respectful, so kind, and treated me well. When
Jacob entered my life, it was like a cheesy movie. I started breaking all my
rules. I usually like dating people through all 4 seasons at minimum. And
definitely NO internet dating site guys-- the pool there is full of weirdos.
The more my family learned about him (and the more they saw how I acted around
him), the more they started adoring Jacob.
In mid-December, just a day shy of 2 months of
knowing Jacob, my mom and I were out for a drive. Calmly, in her wisdom, she
turned to me and said, “Amy, you and I both know Jacob is your guy. What are we
going to do about it?”
Amy: “Mom”.
Mom: “Well. I’m just saying. Think about it.
Talk to him. See what he thinks. Plus...just as an aside, the Oakland Temple is
closing in February for renovations until mid 2019. If you wanted to have a
wedding service there, you can book something now. I mean, you could always
cancel your appointment. Why don’t you talk to Jacob and see what he thinks”
Amy: *commence ‘I know my mom is onto
something’ tears*.... *wipes tears*... “we COULD always cancel the appointment.
I’ll check in with Jacob to see what he thinks”
Jacob:
Well the next day Amy calls me and says,
“Listen, here’s a wild idea. You know the Oakland Temple is closing in February
for about a year and a half. What if… we booked a sealing in February? You
know, as a placeholder. We don’t have to decide right now. And we don’t even
have to do a reception then, that could happen later, maybe in the summer. What
do you think?”
I wasn’t as shocked by the idea as I would
have thought. My logical brain accepted it as a really solid plan--we could
always cancel later. But in my heart it already started to dawn on me that I
could be married to Amy within the next few months, and it felt so right.
So I agreed to book the temple the next day,
and we ended up being able to book a sealing on February 17, four months (!) to
the day since we met. And just like that we had a hypothetical wedding date.
We laughed about the ridiculousness of that
for a few days before deciding to really talk about whether we were really
going to go through with this.
Amy:
December 20. After a day of intentional
prayer, paired with fasting for a day, we came back together to check in. I was
(to my enormous surprise) so calm, so confident, and so assured that Jacob was
the man who I would continue to build a beautiful life with. Every time I would
pray, my thoughts and feelings would center back on this idea that no matter if
Jacob and I chose to date for a few years, months or weeks, I would still end
up with Jacob. He’s my guy.
Jacob, on the other hand, with a little more
“feet on the ground”/ measure twice, cut once approach.
J: “Amy, as much as I love you, I am going to
need some time to really think about this”
A: “Please do. Honestly, we can date another
year, two years, part ways if it’s not a good fit, whatever’s right. I think we
both just want to do what’s best for both of us. I have no idea why I feel so
confident about this, but I do. How about this, let’s come back to this after
the holidays”.
December 24 (Christmas Eve):
·
Jacob & Amy play
piano/violin duet at retirement home.
·
Attend Jacob’s family
congregation for Christmas concert.
·
Attend Amy’s family party
(the Harmer side) with matching Christmas t-shirts, singing jingles, and
merriment.
·
Attend Jacob’s family
party (Amy’s crew tagged along) with delicious fondue (an Austin family
Christmas Eve tradition)
Jacob & Amy get in the car to go to Amy’s
sister, Nicole’s, place. THIS conversation happens:
J: “Hey Amy”
A: “Yes, Jacob?”
J: “I’M IN”.
A: “What are you “in”, Jacob?”
J: “You know….what we’ve been chatting about”
A: “You’ve got to say it out loud”
J: *sighs* “I do, Amy. I really do want to
marry you. And I’ve known it. And it’s way faster than either of us planned
for, and wild, and beautiful. I needed some time to process. But it is so
right. And it is so fast. And I don’t have a ring or a plan. But we’ll figure
it out. Together. So, I guess, will you marry me?”
A: “Of course”.
Fast forward to now: WE’RE IN.
I love our love story.
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