The Engagement

After countless emails, phone calls, text messages and facebook messages asking about the engagement story, I've decided that instead of having to tell and re-tell the story, and for the sake of not missing out on any important details, here's the story of how the most incredible man I've ever met asked me to spend forever with him! Here we go....

For those of you who don't know, Matt and I began our journey on the modern fairytale-maker, Facebook. Actually, it started about three years ago when Matt's aunt and uncle started telling us about each other. Needless to say, neither of us gave it a second thought....that is, until last February when Matt sent me the first message over facebook. We emailed back and forth for two months and had our first "phone date" on April 2. On May 25, we decided to meet in person in Denver, Colorado. The day started out with coffee, followed by indoor skydiving and dinner and ended with a walk under the sea in an aquarium. And so began our monthly trips to and from Salt Lake City and Oklahoma! That trip was the deal maker for him, but even before we met in Colorado, I had an idea that this was the man I was going to marry!

On March 1, Matt had flown into Salt Lake to perform a wedding for his cousin, Ryker, who was getting married that Friday. Wednesday afternoon Matt and my dad had gone out to lunch, where Matt had asked my dad's permission to marry me. (For the record, my dad said yes!) He was scheduled to preach at our youth group on Wednesday night (which he did, and was so awesome!!), and afterwards we were going to meet up with Ryker and Heather to make sure all things were in order for the wedding. They lived up at Daybreak, and before we left to go up there, his Aunt Rhonda had called to tell us that Ryker and Heather had had a big fight so they were taking a walk around the lake to cool down, and that's where we were going to meet up with them. (I later found out that the "fight" was just a cover story for what happened next!)

(And let me hurry and mention that Daybreak Lake was where we had our first kiss!) When we got up to the lake, and got closer to "our" dock, I noticed there were candles lit up all around it.

I just assumed it was something Daybreak had done, and didn't think any more of it. Well when we got up to the dock, I looked over and saw my best friend, Whitney, with a video camera. I looked over and there was a red velvet carpet rolled out with rose petals scattered all over it and candles all around the edges and floating in the water. He brought me to the middle of the carpet and said, "The candles represent the light that you've been in my life. There are 1,500 rose petals, one for everytime that I think about you during the day, and this carpet represents the way I want to treat you for the rest of my life." Then, he got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. Through my tears I managed to answer, YES!!! The whole night was so perfect, and I felt like a princess! Every detail that went into it, right down to the fact that my best friend was there to record the whole thing, was absolutely perfect!!! I wouldn't have changed a thing! Even my ring was more than I could have asked for. He knew I had always wanted a different color stone in my ring, so he had two rubies put on the inside to represent the blood of Jesus. It was so special! We both know that it was God who brought us together, and it is God who's going to keep us together. Our relationship started out and is being sustained by Him. As long as we keep Him at the center, we know that even though difficult times may come, we have the God of the universe on our side! And all we can say is thank goodness for the love and grace of Jesus in our lives!!

So a special thank you to Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Randy, my best friend Whitney, and most importantly, thank you, Jesus, for bringing us together! I not only get to marry the first man that I've ever loved, but I also get to marry my best friend and the one who challenges me the most to be a better person!! I couldn't be more ecstatic!!