And So It Begins...

Hey everybody! Enough people have been asking how Collin and I met or how he proposed, I figured this was the best way to tell the stories. So here goes:

How we met
As many of you know, I go to Brigham Young University in Provo, UT which is a religious school. After Christmas, a new semester started and Collin moved into the apartment complex across the street that was within the boundaries for my congregation at church. Collin told me that the first time he noticed me was at church the first Sunday back from break.

Now anyone who is not familiar with the LDS church will need a little more background for this to make sense. The first Sunday of every month, we have a meeting where members of the congregation can get up and share their testimonies of the gospel with each other. I had just gotten back from visiting my parents who are in charge of all the missionaries who are sharing our beliefs of the church in the Berlin, Germany area. Having been with them and the missionaries, I had missionary work on my mind and shared my testimony of the great blessings that come from missionary work. Collin heard my testimony and his interest was piqued having just returned from spending two years in Chile serving his mission for the church. He thought, "Hey, I could talk to this girl about missionaries!"

That night, we our congregation gathered again at what we call Ward Prayer which is followed by Munch & Mingle. Munch and Mingle always takes place in different people's apartments from the congregation and it's a chance to help us get to know each other better. That's when Collin and I first started talking. We talked a lot about missions and how awesome they are and then we said our goodbyes.

The next Sunday, there was another Munch & Mingle and we started talking again. This time, part way through, he asked me on a date. We decided to bowling and out for some food.

The date went great and the rest is history.

How He Proposed
School letting out in April did not deter us from seeing each other despite our distant homes. Collin is from Montana and I'm from California. When the semester ended, Collin drove with me to California and met my sister Lisa, her husband John, and their little girls Mia & Norah. He stayed in the area for a week and got the full tourist treatment with trips to 6 Flags and San Francisco.

I was not happy to see Collin leave, so at the beginning of June, I flew out to Montana to spend some time with him and his family. We had started talking about getting married and I had a pretty good idea that he was going to propose to me while I was there. (Ok, so I knew he was going to. Entirely. That just made me all the more excited to go to Montana to see him!)

My second day in Montana, he gave me the grand tour of Frenchtown and all his old stopping grounds. That night, he said there was one more spot he wanted to take me too. As we were getting in the car, he pulls out hot chocolate and blankets and I know he's going for something romantic at this point. He took me to the top of a hill overlooking all of Frenchtown valley. We laid out the blankets and watched the sunset while we sipped hot chocolate and talked. The sun went down and the stars came out and it was starting to get cold. Collin then stands up and pulls me up into a hug and starts saying really cute things about how much he loves me and stuff like that. Then he says, "What would you say if I found you a star?" I was a little confused and said, "That'd be cool I guess..." and he says, "Well I found one (and points to the sky) but it got caught on my finger." He had the ring on his pointer finger. Then he pulls it down and get down on one knee and asks if I will marry him. Of course I say yes! Then we only managed to stay out there for a few more minutes before the cold got to us and we went back to his house to tell his family. It was so sweet! Perfect.

So....We're getting married on August 6th in the Oakland, California LDS Temple! Woohoo! We are both super excited to head back to BYU in the fall and kick start our lives together!