Our Story

This is the story of us from our WeddingWire page. That won't be there forever, so here is the copy!

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Tricky and Liz met at the Rocky Mountain Triathlon Club during a club swim practice in the pool at Rude Rec Center.

Tricky had joined the tri club in prep for a triathlon he had signed up to do. Liz was there to make friends and get on a regular workout schedule.

They got along well. Swim practices. Track workouts. Post-workout dinners and gelato feasts with other tri club members.

Tricky kept saying to Liz that they should do something together sometime. Liz kept agreeing.

One day Tricky asked Liz to go for a bike ride on the road course for an upcoming race they were both doing. Liz thought

‘Aha! This might be a date!'

She wasn’t sure. Either way, she said YES.

They met at 6AM at Liz’s house wearing spandex. And (later) helmets.

Liz drove them out to the course, and on the way there she also drove around looking for coffee for Tricky.

After Tricky was fully caffeinated, Liz and Tricky rode 25 miles of hills on their bikes. (Tricky was actually on a borrowed bike.*)

Liz changed a flat tire for a stranded biker that morning.

After the ride they talked by the lake for an hour and a half before they realized
Liz was beginning to resemble a lobster.

Tricky suggested they get out of the sun and have breakfast - which they did.

Liz ordered blueberry pancakes. Tricky paid. Liz was sure it was a date...

… until he asked her out again (to dinner, this time) and said he’d just ride his bike to meet her.

Liz thought maybe Tricky just wanted

a bike buddy.

But really, Tricky’s car battery had died and the only friends around him drove hybrid cars! (Now how DO you jump a regular car from a battery operated Prius?)

Liz offered to pick Tricky up for dinner. He agreed that was a good plan.

Liz decided she was going to pretend Tricky wanted a date (not a bike buddy) so

she dressed up

before she went to get him. Lo and behold when she saw Tricky outside his house

he was dressed up too.

Hooray!

They went to dinner. They kept going to tri club practices. And out for more gelato.

Tricky came with Liz to visit her friends in Aspen and spent three nights sleeping on the floor. Liz let him drive her car over Independence Pass when they went back to Denver.

They went to Austin TX for the Livestrong ride. They got lost both ways and didn’t notice they had spent 37 hours in a car together.

Naturally Tricky joined Liz on her family’s trip to Italy (a full three months after they started dating) and met her relatives there. Liz met Tricky’s family in Florida soon after.

Both Liz and Tricky’s parents live in Florida, making the holidays very convenient. And the families like Liz, Tricky and each other - which works out splendidly!

The rest of that winter Liz and Tricky went skiing in Colorado. Tricky is a very good skier. Liz tries to keep up.

Spring and summer. More trips. Disneyland. San Francisco and Napa, where Tricky learned just how much Liz loves drinking wine - she must have had half the wine in Napa shipped back to Denver!

They went to Vermont, where Tricky shot his first turkey and subsequently didn’t shave his beard for months after so that he could keep the mountain man thing going.

More skiing back in Colorado. Liz was getting better at it. More crazy facial hair for Tricky through the winter. They bought a house together, which Tricky and his mutton chops moved into.

Tricky and Liz went on a trip to Olympic National Park where they camped (in a tent) on a bluff over the Pacific in a raging storm with driving rain and 90+MPH winds. As Tricky put it:

They MUST be in love if they can have fun during THAT!

While on that trip they found the two most beautiful places in the lower 48 – Rialto Beach and Lake Crescent – in the same day. Tricky didn’t propose...

… until they were on the ferry boat heading back to Seattle to catch their plane home.

And when Tricky proposed, Liz said no. Over and over! He couldn't figure out why she kept saying no.

(Really she was just worried that she, their borrowed camera or the very pretty rings were going to go over the ferry railing into Puget Sound.)

Tricky just wanted to get the ring on Liz’s finger BUT there were two rings in the box.

Tricky had both the engagement ring and the wedding band custom made, and he never opened the box when the jeweler sent them to him. He wanted Liz to be the first to see her ring!

Tricky finally figured out which ring was the engagement ring and got it out of the box and on Liz’s finger.

Liz finally realized what he was doing down there on one knee and she said yes - and nothing and no one went into the water!

Tricky and Liz were married in Florida on April 30, 2011, and Tricky put the other ring on Liz’s finger.

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* Many thanks to Dr. Drew, who lent Liz his road bike so Tricky could actually do the bike ride on their first date. [Tricky only had a mountain bike, but he asked Liz to go for a long road ride.]

When Dr. Drew gave Liz the bike he said "Now when you guys get married, I want everyone to know I supplied the bike!"

THANK YOU, DR. DREW!!!! :)