Who Knew?

   It's crazy to think that I would've been out on my mission for almost 4 months now if I had gone! My life sure took a turn. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I never would've thought that I would be one of those people to get their mission call and then decide to get married instead.

   I guess you're all wondering how Brooks proposed, so I'll tell you! It was so sweet, and very well thought out. It was on November 20th, which was the day that marked a year since we've been in a relationship. He told me he was planning on taking me out, and told me that he would pick me up at 6 that day. But to my surprise, it was actually my cousin Noelle who picked me up! She had a list of clues written by him that took me to certain places that held memories. Each place we got to had a note that Brooks left that talked briefly about that specific memory. Then at the last place, a park, Noelle left and Brooks met me there (poor guy was freezing waiting for me to come--it was in the teens that night!) and took me to a pavilion. He had decorated it with candles and made it look so beautiful! He handed me note saying:

Well here we are.
A place that doesn't hold too many memories but hopefully will.

After I read that, he gave me another note that said:

Roses are red, violets are blue

I'm on one knee and asking you...

   I of course was ecstatic when I turned to look at him and watched him get down on one knee! And that was when he asked me to be his forever--to marry him. And I said yes.

   I can't believe it's already been a year since we have been in a relationship! And I'm so excited for many more years to come. It's been a long journey of doing long-distance for 5 months (and currently am and will be doing 3-4 more until we're married), and struggling to figure out what my path was (going on a mission or getting married), but it's all worth it. I'm so excited to be marrying the love of my life (I know it sounds sappy, but it's true) and starting a new chapter!

   Let me share a brief summary of how it all came to be:

I wasn’t even planning on coming to BYU-Idaho. I wanted to go to Provo. But, to my great displeasure, I didn’t get accepted there. So, naturally, I chose the “second best” (which I now believe to actually be most definitely the best of the best) and came to BYU-I.

I lived in Barnes 260, with my cousin and two other awesome girls. We all immediately clicked, and became best friends. We went to church together, and found out we were in the 33^rd ward. Later, we found out our FHE groups, and I absolutely loved it. It actually felt like a family. And there was one person who caught my attention. Yeah, I liked him.

I spent time at this guy’s apartment quite a bit. And eventually we started a relationship. I found out that my first semester there was his first time being there off-track (he had winter-spring and I had fall-spring), and later I found out that he came here during that semester for certain reasons. Some of which didn't quite go as he had planned, which is okay, because he found me as his other plans fell through.

  

As I was going through this relationship, I was planning on serving a mission. However, hesitations arose. I went home in winter semester and made the decision to serve, started on my papers, and received my mission call in spring. But then, out of nowhere, at the end of that semester, I got very sick with mono and tonsillitis. I had surgery, in which the recovery for that plus mono would postpone my mission. Little did I know I would be doing more than just postponing.

  

Looking back on everything that got us to this point, one could say it was all just a coincidence. But I like to think that it was all meant to be. I came to BYU-I when I wasn’t even planning on it, he came for fall semester for the first time, some of his plans didn’t work out, which led us to our relationship, we were not only in the same ward, but in the same FHE group, and I got mono, which kept me from leaving on a mission when I was originally called to leave.

And look where I am now.

I’m getting married!!!