{ DATE #2 - Jace Mattinson }

Tonight I was greeted at my door by an extremely handsome guy with a beautiful yellow and orange rose.  I definitely appreciate any flower, but I liked that this one was a unique color.  The date was off to a great start as we easily fell into conversation.  I was immediately impressed by his calm confidence.  Despite the fact that I am 4 years his senior, Jace seemed to be right on my level.   He’s very driven, has long term goals, and due to the fact that he has a lot going on in his everyday life he only sleeps 5-6 hours a night.  Sounds a lot like me…

I was left in suspense as to what we were doing for our date as we pulled up to Pioneer Park, right across from the Mesa temple.  To clue me in, Jace gave me a word picture puzzle to solve, which I deciphered to be “Olympics”.  Apparently we were starting off with some friendly competition – bring it on!  First were physical challenges like shooting a basketball or throwing a football through a hoop.  It wasn’t just that simple though.  Jace added inhibitors like having to do it blind-folded and left-handed, or throwing it underhanded while on your knees.  The way to determine how I’d be throwing the ball, I had to pick one of four Mamba’s and one of four Mike n Ike’s, which were both color coordinated to the limitations.  I have to say, I didn’t fair too well, but I was impressed that Jace could pull off a basket even while blindfolded!  Apparently that shot on the application video wasn’t so lucky – this guy was legit and I was loving every minute with him!

The next challenge involved intellectual games – more word picture puzzles and maps of continents that we had to identify the correct country name for each outline.  We worked together to solve the problems, but the questions were split in half and each set’s score would randomly be assigned to him or I.  I loved this little twist.  It was still a competition, but it was in our best interest to work as a team to get as many correct as possible.  I carried my weight with solving the word puzzles, but it turns out that I do not know my European or Asian geography well at all…good thing I had Jace to pick up the slack!

I was excited when I learned that we were headed to Jump Street after the Olympic competition.  I’d never gone but had always heard good things.  I am not a gymnast by any means, but I was willing to give it a shot of course.  Neither of us grew up with trampolines so we were both a bit inexperienced, but Jace impressed me with his back flip.  I tried the front flip – the keyword is “try”.  I could do it into the foam pit, and I could do it on the tramp but couldn’t land on anything but my butt.  No matter though - we bounced, laughed, and enjoyed getting to know each other.

Our final stop was at a Mesa standard, Nielsen’s Frozen Custard.  When we arrived I wasn’t too surprised to see that the place had a lot of customers.  But as we got closer and entered the building I realized the entire place was packed!  We ended up getting a round of applause as we walked in.   I was totally taken back by all of the attention.  But Nielsen’s had posted a sign informing people of the filming that night, so it seems that some had waited around just to see who we were and what this whole thing was all about.  I was happy to have Jace by my side.  He was cool through it all, and was very nice to everyone we interacted with.  His interest in people was very apparent.  People are my greatest joy in life so it was fun to talk with someone else who shares the same passion.  It was clear that he looked at each as children of God, as I always work to keep in mind.

Jace was nothing but a gentlemen in getting me home, awarding me as the winner of the Olympic competition (though I know who really won), thanking me for a nice night, and giving me a kiss!  Don’t get too excited though, it was a HERSHEY’S kiss :)  I appreciated the respect even though I secretly wanted a real one.  It was a perfect end to an incredible date.