It's About Time!

Enjoy

We met in Buenos Aires shortly after my mission in 2015. My sister Kayla lived there with her family so my mom and I got to visit them. We were at the church helping set up a baby shower and Diego just happened to be there. Once we left, he was kind enough to help me, my mom and sister, Kayla, catch a cab. After that I remember seeing him at church and then at a FHE (Family Home Evening Activity) for young single adults. I was just hanging out by the food... alone (because food is always there for you). Finally, Diego came and started talking to me. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was witty and kind and it made me want to hang out with him more. I got the "in" with one of Kayla's single friends - Cielito. She took me out to show me around Buenos Aires. I really wanted to go dancing and Diego came! He paid for everyone. I danced with a random guy who ended up kissing my neck because that's how tall he was and he thought it was okay. After that, I basically forced Diego to dance with me. It was magical. I don't remember what anyone around us was doing. From then on I wanted to hang out with him until I left Argentina. He was such a gentleman, funny and spoke to me in Spanglish, as I did him. Once I left Argentina, I added him on Facebook and he messaged me shortly after saying I couldn't stay away from him... TRUTH!

Conoci a Rosita un Sabado, volvia de una cita y tenia una reunion con el obispo. Al llegar a la iglesia, estaban con un babyshower y una persona me pregunto si podia ayudar a unas personas que eran de EE.UU a conseguir un taxi. Asi que fui y pregunte si querian tomar un taxi y Jamie se rio de mi. Esa fue la primera vez que la vi. Al dia siguiente fui a otra reunion en la iglesia que sabia que ella iba a estar, y me encanto como sonreia y me dio muchas ganas de conocerla. Asi nos hicimos muy buenos amigos y durante el tiempo que estuvo en Argentina compartimos varias salidas.

I graduated college and moved to Utah for work. Diego flew out to surprise me December 2017! I was so happy to see him. I was so nervous and unsure what he was doing... Was he trying to confess his love to me? Are we just friends and I was a great excuse for him to come out and visit Utah? He took me on our first date - Jazz Game in Salt Lake - So fun! Overall, it was good to see him but it was not a great trip... We hung out, but it didn't feel like the right time for anything more. We kept in contact as always but now I knew where he stood and he knew I was playing the field. April 2018 - I flew to Buenos Aires to be with him. We took a trip to Iguazu Falls where we had our FIRST KISS. So romantic I could’ve died. By the end of that trip it was like we had known each other forever and been a couple forever. At the airport he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said YES! Distance is hard. I broke up with him in June 2018. I missed Diego so I asked if he was still planning on coming to my sister Jenna's wedding reception in Utah August 2018. I knew I sounded ridiculous, but I wanted to see him. So he came a week later, met my whole family – It was such a fun trip! We went to a play at Tuacahn in Saint George. He told me he wanted to marry me and then asked me to move to Argentina with him. I said yes! I quit my job, packed my bags and left for Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2018! What a leap. This was going to determine whether or not I was going to marry this man!!! Moving to Argentina was so fun. I was basically on vacay for 5 months with Bae! We went to countless beaches, traveled to Uruguay, crashed a family members wedding and I found a love of puzzles. Argentina is where I fell in love with Diego and I knew he would work hard to create a happy life for our family. Though it seemed to be a dream, I couldn't stay there any longer. The lack of a job and responsibility was too difficult for me. I left and moved to Washington DC where I live now.

Con el tiempo nos volvimos muy buenos amigos y compartiamos todo lo que pasaba en nuestras vidas, y un dia sin decirle nada, despues de dos años, en diciembre del 2017, decidi ir a vistarla a EE.UU. Fue muy lindo el reencuentro. Tuvimos nuestra primera cita y fuimos a ver los Utah Jazz. Sin mucho exito, me volvi a Argentina y al mes siguiente, ella me dice que en abril quiere venir a la Argentina. En Abril fuimos a Iguazu y alli nos pusimos de novios. Ella volvio a su pais y tratamos de mantener la relacion como pudimos a pesar de la distancia pero se fue volviendo dificil y ella decide terminar justo el dia que Argentina queda eliminada del campeonato mundial!!!! jajaja! Pero bueno, segui adelante y un mes despues, Rosita me llama preguntando si iba a ir a la boda de la hermana, Jenna que era en una semana. Me quede helado pero dije que si y fui a la boda. Lo pasamos muy lindo, compartimos muy lindas salidas y antes de irme, la invite para que viniera a Argentina a vivir por unos meses y dijo que si!! Vino para Argentina en Noviembre del 2018 y se quedo hasta Marzo. Fue una gran experiencia, Nos conocimos mas, hicimos viajes y Jamie aprendio que San Lorenzo es el mejor equipo de Argentina. Finalmente Rosita decidio volverse, y trabajar para volver a tener todo lo que habia dejado por venir a Argentina.

September 2019 Diego came to visit me in DC. I met him in NY and we went to visit my sister in Michigan for a fun weekend getaway. Regrettably, I didn't take off work so we had to race back Sunday night to DC for work in the morning. I was dog/house sitting for my cousin in Virginia and he stayed with a friend of his in Maryland. We spent the week eating, shopping hanging out and site seeing. We had been talking about marriage and whatnot and I told him he needs to ask my dad - Which I had told him that's a thing we do culturally but mainly family culture. He thought it was a recommendation... not a requirement. I assured him it was not, and he called my dad on Facebook messenger. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during that conversation! After a week of fun, it was time for him to leave. Flying out of New York, we took a trip and spent the day there. We had a picnic in Central Park on such a beautiful day! We didn’t have much time and he had to leave so he sat up and told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him!!! I asked "Wait, where's the ring?" He said "I left it in the car." As I was yelling at him saying "How could you forget!?! You knew you were going to propose now!!" He slowly pulls out the ring and just laughed. I was like "OMG!" He said, "Jamie..." I said "Get on your knee, Get on your knee!" fanning myself frantically. He laughs and gets on his knee, tells me again how much he loves me and wanted to be with me for the rest of our lives and then asks the one question I have been waiting for all my life "Will you marry me?" I said YES, we kissed and people around us started cheering for us! <3

¡Fui para New York donde Rosita fue a buscarme! Tuvimos un muy lindo reencuentro. Mi plan era proponerle casamiento ese mismo día en New York en el Central Park, pero Rosita cambio los planes y nos fuimos rápido de New York hacia la casa de su hermana Kayla para conocer a su bebe recién nacido. Pensé en hacerlo cuando volviéramos a D.C pero los planes iban cambiando todos los días, decidíamos hacer una cosa, me preparaba para pedirle casamiento y luego los planes cambiaban y así fue hasta el último día que estuve en EE.UU. El día anterior a pedirle casamiento, hable con Frank, su papa, para pedir la mano de su hija. Fue muy una conversación muy linda y me hizo sentir muy cómodo durante toda la charla. Al día siguiente nos fuimos otra vez hacia New York, fuimos al Central Park y mi anillo estaba esperando en mi bolsillo. ¡Había muchísima gente, buscamos un lindo lugar y le pedí casamiento… me dijo que tenía que ponerme de rodilla!! Así que me arrodillé y le pedí casamiento y dijo que ¡SI! Y la gente que iba caminando comenzaron a gritar y aplaudir! Jajajaj! Luego tuve que irme rápido hacia el aeropuerto sabiendo que tendríamos que estar distanciados nuevamente por algún tiempo.

January 2020 we had an engagement party in Argentina for all of Diego's family and friends. I flew down to help out wit some of the finishing touches with my mom but Diego planned and coordinated everything! I was so impressed with everything. It killed me not to help plan because I am an event planner professionally and at heart. He worked with Malena to create and fix up all the niddy griddy details and got help from Pablo, Creesitan, Virginia, Juan and so many more. I'm so grateful we had a night to remember with each other and all of his life long buddies. He is so loved and I'm so glad he is soon to be all mine!

November first, we sent in our papers for the fiancé visa. We heard it would take about 5 - 8 months to go through before the interview. We set a date to get married at the end of March. Lucky us, pandemic started JUST IN TIME! : / The petition was approved in March - 1 WEEK before President Trump announced the National Emergency we all know as "The Rona" (Corona Virus / COVID-19). What a trying period of our relationship. As if the rest wasn’t hard enough, let’s throw the government deciding our fate during a pandemic and an election year in there. We had three different dates for our wedding. I planned spring wedding for March, a summer wedding for July and a fall wedding for September. I was sure it would be before winter. I did not want a wedding close to the holidays. There’s always so much going on. My living situation was very interesting. I was living at a house that I loved with roommates that were awesome, but I sold my contact in July because I was sure I would be married by then. Turns out I wasn’t, so I moved into a different house and sublet a room from a friend of mine. I was there for about two months then moved in with a family. I have grown very close to the Essig’s. I remember having a really hard week, and surprised that it finally hit me how difficult it was being away from Diego. Luckily, we finally got good news! Diego called to tell me the embassy reached out with a date for the interview! December 14 was the magical date so of course we planned the wedding in winter. The one season I did not want. Of course, I thought December 14 was the date to be ready for but little did I know things changed and he showed up at my sister’s house for Thanksgiving!

Comenzamos los tramites a la semana despues de la propuesta. Tuvimos mucha ayuda de amigos para poder hacerlo de la mejor manera y la más rápida posible. Obviamente decidimos hacerlo de la forma más legal posible así que eso iba a tomar tiempo, trabajo y dinero. La primera parte tenía que estar a cargo de Rosita, tuvo que llenar varios formularios y conseguir todas las pruebas posibles de que la relación era verdadera. Trabajo por un mes y finalmente termino a fines de Octubre y envió los papeles. Sabíamos que podían tardar de 5 a 8 meses, pero para nuestra sorpresa para Marzo, en el tiempo mínimo, ¡ya estaban aprobados! ¡¡¡Que feliz nos pusimos!!! Ahora tenía que esperar a que la Embajada de EE.UU en Argentina se comunicara conmigo. Pero la pandemia de COVID llego para interrumpir y traer pruebas a todos de diferentes maneras y a nosotros con el retraso de todos los tramites. La Embajada cerro en Argentina y no había fecha de cuándo podría abrir. Los meses pasaron sin noticias y sin respuestas a los mails o llamados que hacíamos. Finalmente, en Julio me enviaron un mail en el cual me daban instrucciones de los formularios y tramites que debía seguir. Así que me lo puse a hacer y en dos semanas ya estaba listo, y me fui hacia la embajada a entregarlo. Luego la embajada comunico que no estaban haciendo entrevistas, así que paso Septiembre y a fines de Octubre me dieron una fecha de entrevista para el 14 de Diciembre. ¡Que felices estábamos!! Pero a los dos días - la cancelaron. No pude decirle a Rosita que la habían cancelado, la veía tan feliz y contándole a todos sus amigos que teníamos una fecha para la entrevista, que no quise decirle para que no se pusiera triste. A la semana volví a recibir una nueva fecha para el 5 de Noviembre, así que en silencio espere a esa fecha, fui a la embajada, todos los documentos estaban bien y pase la entrevista. Así que sin decir nada a Rosita, llame a Shana y juntos con Kayla planeamos para hacerle una sorpresa a Rosita.