First off, you may not know the story of how Dave and I met. Well….
HOW WE MET
One week before training, I got an e-mail asking me to be an R.A. (resident assistant) I had in my own mind concluded that it meant a certain plan for my life. Boy was I wrong. During training I became friends with David Eldredge, he was a peer mentor. He was a very nice person, fresh off the mission, and just a lot of fun to be around. Usually people who work for housing don’t have roommates but he did. I would often ask him why and he’d tell me it’s because it’s not good for a man to be alone and he’d always tell me that David Payne (his roommate and my now fiancé) was perfect. He’d ask me, “Why wouldn’t I want him as a roommate?”
The first time I met Dave was at FHE. It’s interesting why I was there. It was the ward I was supposed to go to but I was hesitant to go. I was going to go to the ward with a friend I had planned on living with before I got the job. But when I found out David Eldredge was in the ward I decided to go to that one. So at FHE I was talking with 2 people: another RA and, as I would later find out, Dave. We were talking about how the RA had just broken up with his girlfriend. He told me, “She was good. But she wasn’t the best.” When he said that, my heart stopped. I suddenly had a desire to be with the person that was best for me. Little did I know he was right next to me! So we were talking and I finally asked his name and he said he was, David, the other David’s roommate, to which I exclaimed, “Oh! YOU’RE the perfect one!”
The next week I went up to the David’s room to talk to them. (OK I’ll be honest, I went to flirt with David Eldredge haha). I talked with both of them for about an hour. It was just really fun and lighthearted and I felt really comfortable. They were talking about how they were going on a double date on Saturday but David Payne needed to ask someone. I promised him I would find a girl for him the next day. Well, an hour after I left their room my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but I answered it anyway. It was David Payne asking me out for Saturday!! I already had an afternoon date planned so I told him I would check how long it would go and then get back to him. But the next day I realized I didn’t want to go on that other date so I cancelled and went on the date with Dave.
Best first date ever. I’m usually very shy at first (surprise, I know). But I was always comfortable around him. I wasn’t my completely crazy self, but it wasn’t awkward at all like I tend to be. We were sitting on a bench waiting for David Eldredge and Dave exclaimed how beautiful everything was and how much he loved the gospel. I knew I had found someone special.
I fell for him hard and fast but he was a fresh RM and took things slow which was good. We went on dates every few weeks and I went on dates with other guys but I could never get Dave out of my mind. SO we kept dating. He took me on the best dates! He took me to an Opera and a musical, but we enjoyed going to basketball games and watching the Olympics. He was exactly the kind of person I always knew I wanted.
So our relationship progressed to the point where we both finally admitted that we wanted to marry each other. I waited 3 months for the ring from when we decided that we would get married.
It was totally worth the wait.
THE PROPOSAL
He set it up well. He had me guessing whether it would be Thursday or Saturday. I wasn’t positive but I knew he had been excited to take me on the hike for a while. He had a full back pack and he hiked up to the waterfall up Bell Canyon. It was a nice hike and the waterfall was amazing. We took a few pictures there and then went down to some flat rocks and he pulled out a blanket and set up a really cute little picnic. He had sandwiches on bread he had made, the only kind of salad I will eat with my favorite dressing, brownies, and sparkling peach cider. He even had fake candles! He pulled out a CD entitled, “Our Story” and as it played I had to guess why he put each song on it. There were songs like the song we had our first dance to and “All I Ask of You” because he almost held my hand while we were watching Phantom of the Opera. It was really a cute CD and I’ll admit, I cried.
So then the sun was setting and he wanted to take some pictures so he set up the tri-pod. We were taking a bunch on the timer and in the last one he got on his knee and pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him.
THE RING
He picked it out completely. I told him I wanted the band to be silver color. I didn’t want it to catch on anything, it needed to be original and something I’d want to show off. That’s it. He got a custom ring that I love. I doubt anyone has as cool or as original ring as I do!
So there you go!
The wedding is August 24, 2010 in the Manti Temple. We will be having the reception on the 25th in my backyard.
