Well my dear friends, it is true. I am engaged! I cannot be happier. I get to marry my best friend. :) Stephen is truly the man of my dreams (except better than I ever dreamed). He is hardworking, loyal, smart, good at sports, loving, kinds, always includes everyone, thoughtful, does everything he can to make sure I'm happy, never argues, and pretty dang good looking! Obviously he is all those things and more, but you get the point. He is the perfect match for me and I can't believe I found him! I have so much fun when I am with him and laugh a lot! Life is just better with him, and I can't imagine it any other way. Most days I wake up and still can't believe how lucky and blessed I am. I don't know what I did to deserve him, but I am so grateful that the Lord blessed me with Stephen.
This is my beautiful ring! If you can't tell from the picture, the middle stone is not a diamond. It's a sapphire, and there is actually a pretty great story to go along with my ring. Stephen and I went to visit in Powell two weekends ago. While we were there we decided to tell my family that we were getting married at a family dinner on Sunday. I am so glad I did! My grandpa Don and grandma Ruth brought down some of my gems my great-grandpa had made (cut? I'm not exactly sure what it is called...but he worked with gems) and told me that if we wanted we could use one in my ring. We took them back with us and two days later my grandpa passed away. I could not have been more grateful that my grandpa got to know that we are getting married! Anyways, Stephen was surprising me with my ring, so he took them and did what he wanted with them. Well, one of the stones happened to be this sapphire! It is a light purple color, and I absolutely love it. My ring could not be more perfect. It is my great-grandpa's sapphire, given to me by my grandparents, in a ring chosen by my love. I really am so blessed!
It's crazy to think that I have found the man I get to spend eternity with. I cannot be more ecstatic. For journaling purposes, here's the story of us :) Feel free to not read it, or do. Whatever floats your boat!
Stephen was in my ward this last year. I remember really noticing him for the first time at FHE. I can tell you exactly where I was sitting and he was sitting. We were across from each other and I remember thinking how cute he was and that I wanted to get to know him better. I secretly (not so secretly to my roommates) hoped he would ask me out. But, I didn't really have control over that, so I figured oh well. The first time he asked me out I like freaked out! He called me and the weekend he asked me out I was going to my sister to see my nephew, Ethan. I told him that we should do something some other time cause I really really wanted to go out with him! (I didn't mention the really really part, just that thought it would be fun to go out). So he called me again the next weekend, and I was going out of town again except to my brother's for my nieces', Taybree's, baby blessing. Once again I mentioned how we should really hang out cause I thought it would be fun.
Thinking all hope was lost, I was surprised when he asked if me and my roommates wanted to go bowling. It was obvious that this was not a date and that anyone who wanted to go was invited, but I got to hang out with him nonetheless. (even though it wasn't a date, he did pay for me. isn't he the best?? :) So bowling was fun, and I remember being so nervous around him! He also took me on a motorcycle ride (I think it was later that night). A couple weeks went by and he didn't ask me out, so I got up the courage and asked him out on a huge group date my apartment was doing...and he said yes!! We carved pumpkins and ate dinner, and I still remember some of our conversation. (Funny story about this date. He called me about 30 minutes before it was supposed to start and told me that he was going to be about 20 minutes late because he was in Salt Lake. Before this he had also told me that he had to leave early, so I basically thought he was coming up with any excuse possible to make the date as short as possible. Later I found out that he really didn't mean to be late...and had plans already for after. I left that date feeling like nothing would ever happen after that.)
I think Stephen ended up asking me out within the next two weeks. He took me out to eat Indian, which is my favorite! I'm pretty sure he didn't know that at the time, but I loved it! I remember getting ready took me forever that night. I still remember what I wore and how I did my hair. I was SO nervous haha. (I really liked him and wanted to impress him...if you could tell). Dinner that night was wonderful, and I really enjoyed talking to him. I don't remember if we just hung out or went on more dates or what after that, but everything just slowly progressed! The first time he held my hand we were watching The Ultimate Gift. He asked me if he could hold my hand (how cute is that?:)). The first time he kissed me he saying goodnight outside my apartment. I walked inside and couldn't contain my smile. I was grinning ear to ear!
In January we broke up for a week, and man that week sucked. We still hung out (haha...don't ask) and that was super hard being around him all the time, but it was better than not seeing him at all. We went on a bike ride with his roommate and another girl and I rode with his roommate until we stopped half way and they told us that the girls were switching bikes. I was so totally confused and did not understand what was going on. Later that night he told me he wanted to get back together :). And after some talking I said yes! I'm so glad I did...for obvious reasons.
Well, the rest is history! We dated, had tons of fun, got to know each other better, and slowly fell in love. Stephen would surprise me with notes and flowers, and surprise visits. Every little thing he did just made me fall more and more in love with him. I knew he was the right person for me way before he knew. Patience was definitely required on my end. I was just waiting for the time to be right and that wait seemed like forever. We decided we were getting married but wanted to still let things grow for a while, and all it took was a week for us to know the time was right! We went to my house, he asked my dad's permission, we told my family, and he proposed a week and a half later!
On Tuesday I had class until 9:30 and we had planned to go running after I got out of class. When I called Stephen to tell him I was out of class he told me that he had actually just gotten to the JKB parking lot and would come pick me up. He showed up on Joe's motorcycle and I was like sweet! We went back to my apartment so I could eat some food, grabbed a couple helmets, and went for a ride. He took me up to a park that we had been before that kind of overlooked Provo. When we first got there the police came (which they always come wherever we are...I swear!). After they left and told us we were just fine we walked over the a fence and just leaned against it talking. We were talking about our future together when I thought I heard a mouse and began to freak out! After freaking out for a minute we decided to move back to the pavement :). Stephen was hugging me as I told him how I envisioned our future and I could feel his heart beating like crazy. I told him that his heart was freaking out, and he looked at me, smiled, and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :). Of course I said yes and immediately hugged him! I was so so happy. Eventually I realized I hadn't even looked at the ring and did and thought it was just absolutely amazing!
As I write this down, it really does just seem so perfect for me. All the little things that showed me how much he cared, the moments we shared together, the great amounts of love, all just added up. As I look back on the last eight months it makes me realize that our story truly is wonderful. I am living a real life fairytale :)
