1. When did you begin playing basketball?
L: I’ve played since the second grade.
W: My dad is a basketball coach so practically since birth.
2. What led you to play basketball at Harding?
L: Scholarships, and I’m from Searcy.
W: Scholarships.
3. How did you meet? Did you realize when you met that you would eventually be spending the rest of your lives together?
L: A 9-year-old girl set us up. She was truly a prophetess of sorts. He’s a year older than me, so he was doing a basketball camp at Harding that she was a part of, and she just adored Weston. Well, once she realized that she couldn’t marry him, because of the age difference, she figured we’d be perfect for each other. So, I’m busy watching after her two brothers one day, and when I walk into the room to see what she’s doing, she’s talking on the phone to Weston…
W: She had gotten my number from one of my teammates.
L: So I walk in, and she throws the phone to me. So I’m like uhhhhh.
W: The conversation was probably 30 seconds long because we didn’t know each other. Real awkward.
L: Well I texted him after saying sorry that she called you, sorry that was weird, a double sorry.
4. How would you describe your respective playing styles?
L: We’re two different positions.
W: She’s a post, and I’m a shooting guard. She’s very aggressive with the ball. She’ll get the ball and go straight to the goal.
L: He’s more willing to pass it off to whoever’s open, or shoot from the outside; (he is) very particular about how plays are run and where the ball goes.
5. What’s something that he/she does on the court that you wish you could do?
W: If I had some of her height, that would be nice.
L: If we could figure out a way to do that, that would be fine with me. He is much better at ball handling than me.
6. How did you propose?
According to Weston, this is the “condensed version”:
-Flew from Cambodia to meet Lauren and the Paces in Perdito Key, Florida.
– Ate dinner at Gulf Coast Grill to “beat the rush” around 5 p.m.
– Paces called asking Lauren to meet them at a private beach.
– Weston used his “military pass” to get into the beach.
– The private beach was beautiful.
– Lauren had been “nervous” (but not really) that Weston was going to propose, and then told him he should do it now because it was so beautiful.
– Paces son was digging in a hole and found a glass bottle.
– It’s a message in a bottle!
– The message included their favorite song lyrics.
– Lauren kept saying ‘shut up’…
– Weston kneeled and asked her to marry him!
– She said yes!
7. What characteristics do you admire in one another?
W: She’s assertive, and very organized and motivated.
L: He’s a spiritual leader, someone who will do very well leading in the home.
W: We balance each other out very well.
8. What characteristics do you not admire in one another?
W: She whistles the same line from Jingle Bells since last May.
L: I love Christmas. But he doesn’t as much. He shrugs a lot and moves his legs side to side quite a bit.
W: Yeah I move a lot. Like we’ll be in church, and I’m just singing and moving.
9. Favorite memories as a couple so far?
L: We went to a cousin’s wedding in Connecticut and drove up the east coast through D.C. and New York.
W: We don’t do a lot of exciting things together.
10. What are your two most favorite things about him/her?
L: He can always make me laugh. I’ll be talking, very serious, and he’ll just pop in and quote a movie or TV show, or he’ll say a comment, and then I’ll just start laughing.
W: She cares so much for others. I love how she serves others.
“The Dating Game”
First date?
L and W: Toy Story 3.
Favorite food?
W: Lauren loves sweets.
L: Weston loves vegetables.
Chocolate or Vanilla?
W: She loves chocolate.
L: He loves vegetables.
W: No, I like vanilla. That’s kind of how we are in life though. She’s chocolate, and I’m vanilla.
Facebook or Twitter?
L and W: Facebook, neither of us have Twitter.
NFL or MLB?
L and W: Weston is NFL, and Lauren watches what he watches.
