Yep… we’re one of the select few who didn’t use Tinder to just get a NCMO or hook up and we like our story so much we thought we’d tell you about here. Really, we just get tired of explaining to people over the age of 40 what tinder is and since we’ve had to tell our story well over 147 times, we figured we’ll just write it and direct people here.

So one day Janie and I downloaded an app called Tinder.

Tinder: a dating app that helps you find single people in your area. If you’re attracted to them, and they’re attracted to you, both parties are notified. If one of you is attracted and the other isn’t, neither is notified. If both parties don’t’ find each other attractive, they both go on their ways, never knowing what the other thinks. Only first names, age, mutual interests and mutual friends are displayed.



Our Tinder photos:

When I first saw Janie and found out we were a match, I noticed her caption said “We talkin bout practice”. It’s a quote from Allen Iverson when he missed practice. Here’s the link if you missed the hype about a decade ago. So to get our conversation started, I finished her quote with “Not a game, not a game.” She liked that because she knew that I at least was familiar with basketball which she and her family are obsessed with. Those first words earned me some major brownie points.

After a few more weeks of chatting and mutual friends doing some leg work for me, I creatively convinced Janie to give me her phone number. I asked her out to go get some ice cream and she actually blew me off.

Janie here, when he says I blew him off this is only partly true. My parents were unhappy about me using tinder. When I went to Provo to hang out with a boy I had met on tinder I was then grounded because I had disobeyed them and their wishes of no tinder use. The weekend Chris asked me out I was grounded (yes, as a college aged student I was still grounded.)

After never hearing from her again, I received a text from a number at 8:16am about a month later. It was Janie but just to show how much I never thought I’d hear from her again, I didn’t even have her number saved in my phone. She asked me if I liked basketball…then it went on like this:

Basketball is a major part of my family and I couldn’t take someone who knew nothing about the sport or who didn’t care to watch a game with me and talk sports. Luckily, Chris isn’t a total nub when it comes to basketball but, I can beat him when we play one on one.

I thought she just meant like a party to watch the games but then I realized she meant tickets to the actual NCAA March Madness games at the Energy Solutions Arena so I hurried and changed my plans so I could go.

Little fun fact, Janie and I both were sort of dating other people at the time so we both approached the date more as just to have fun rather than potential partner interview.

Now the fun story is that Janie’s parents had actually told her to stop using Tinder. They didn’t trust it and didn’t like all the time she was spending on it. So when I arrived to meet Janie, she told me to not let her parents know that we met on Tinder.

When I first met her dad, the first thing he asked me, “you’re not one of those tinder boys are you?” and so to go along with Janie, I said no. The first words I ever said to my father-in-law were a lie. Her brother actually knew that I was from tinder and heard me lie, so he didn’t like me much from the start but has since become one of my most true supporters.

Needless to say, it was the best first date I had ever been on. We were laughing, dancing and just having so much fun together. I loved how easily I could talk with her and just feel like myself right off the bat. Here’s a picture of our first date:

After that date, we met up again two days later to see the next round of March Madness games. Janie had actually gotten all the tickets from yet another tinder boy from Arizona t. He was apart of the Arizona basketball teams staff and they were playing both the 1st and 2nd round in Salt Lake. He hooked her up with 8 tickets for our first date and 6 tickets for our 2nd. So I met pretty much all of Janie’s family the first two times I hung out with her.

Well that 2nd date was just as good if not better than the first and that night I kissed Janie for the first time. Like I mentioned earlier, Janie and I were both kind of dating other people when we went out so she let her boy know pretty quickly and it wasn’t too difficult, but for me it was a bit rougher. I was actually talking almost everyday to a girl who lived in Texas who I had met about a month before that. I had a plane ticket to fly out and visit her and so I had the huge task of letting her know that I wouldn’t be flying out there any more. I made that phone call not even one week after my first date with Janie. We both knew early that we liked each other and this would be something.

From there, we were together as much as possible. She attended school at the University of Utah and I was in my last semester at BYU graduating in advertising. I actually had an internship lined up in Chicago for the summer and Janie I met on March 21 leaving only a few months for us to date if this thing was going to go anywhere.

Well after dating for 2 months-ish, I took off to Chicago for for the summer (+2 more months that came after). I found out later that Janie was not 100% whereas I was pretty set on marrying her. Luckily her mom planned a trip for her to come see me for her birthday and that really helped seal the deal.

Countless hours texting, calling, facetiming, and skyping for those five months. The long distance really showed us how much we care for each other and how much we needed to be in each others lives. Also impromptu dance parties.



After being in Chicago for 5 months, I was given a job opportunity in Salt Lake and I took it. 2 weeks before I came back, I proposed to Janie at the place where I took her on our third date (the first date that I asked her out).

Our engagement story!

We were married on Jan. 17, 2014 in the LDS Salt Lake Temple and we are having a lot of fun.