I am sure many of you are
wondering how I came to be recently engaged to a certain beautiful young lady.
I better start from the beginning then. We had known each other for 7 years and after we both
completed LDS missions we started to date. Over the course of this summer I got to spend quite a bit of time with Cathy Hawkes and found she was a very nice young lady. Well, lets just say I was
impressed with who she was and what she stands for.
Well, the first steps in
towards marriage start with becoming engaged. I took her ring shopping,
and she picked out a few of the ones she liked. I went back a while later
and compared two rings shops. I then decided on a beautiful three stone
ring.
I then went to ask her
father. She was really nervous because she wasn't sure of his reaction to
who she felt. Her dad was really nice and said it was up to us if we
wanted to get married. He gave some advice and his blessing. After
that it was down the planning the fine details of exactly how I would do it.
During this time Cathy
kept bothering me for information regarding my impending proposal. She knew it was coming and told me more than once to "hurry up already!" She
wanted to know if and when I was talking to her dad, she wanted a picture of
the ring box, she wanted to know everything except the date and time basically.
I frustrated her by giving her contradictory information and wouldn't
tell her much. I know she was excited as I was during this time.
I had been planning on
asking her for about a month before it actually happened so I had tons of ideas
come to my mind. One of the ideas involved a sign she gave me a sign that said, "Better late than
never." I decided I would use this as she gave me the sign. The week i decided to propose I was shopping in Seagull Book and saw a sign that said, "Choose your love, love your choice." I decided it would also fit my need.
I thought I would print
a picture of the two of us and find a nice frame for it and give it to her.
I got it and then borrowed a picture of the Logan Temple from my Grandma.
My plan was finally set.
On Friday I went
down to Salt Lake and picked her up from school. We went and ate German
food and then she went to work. I then headed to where she lived in South
Jordan. She lives in a basement apartment of the Iverson family, whom she
met on her mission in Mississippi. I like the Iverson's and Sister Iverson was
kind enough to let me into the home to prepare Cathy's room.
I know Cathy had kind of
been expecting to get the ring before she went to work but I was very careful
not to commit to anything that day. I could tell she was extremely
nervous and just wanted me to ask her. I enjoyed seeing her nervousness
and was glad I waited. At the Iverson's I printed out a letter I had
written and a fancy paper with the words, "Cathy, Can I Take You
Here?" which I put over the picture of the Logan
Temple.
I went and got 11
balloons for her room, and Sister Iverson gave me the idea of getting pieces of
paper and writing down reasons I love Cathy. I taped the pieces of paper
to the balloons and her walls. I also got her a flower vase and some
roses for her room. I meant to get a dozen balloons, but only picked 11,
and I accidentally got a balloon that said, "Happy Birthday!" on it.
Oops. It was her birthday the previous Sunday so I hoped she took
it to mean a happy late birthday. I had taken small pieces of paper and written reason's I love her on them and stuck them around her room. Here is a picture of how her room
looked.
Well, that night Cathy
was working at Farr's Fresh in City Creek Center, located right across the street
from Temple Square and the Church office buildings, and I went to go be with
her at work for about 1 hour before they closed. I took my backpack in,
and "forgot" my book I was reading in my car. I then went back
out to get it. As I got back in with the book and backpack, her co-worker
started talking to me and we talked until they closed. I didn't mind not
reading as I used the book as a reason to have the backpack. Inside the
backpack were the things I was using to propose to Cathy.
After Farr's closed I
asked her if we could go for a walk. We headed across the street and
walked towards a round step in the middle of the block. If you stood on
it, you could take a picture of you with the temple in the background. I
asked her to take a picture of me and then I planned on taking her picture, and
then pulling everything out and proposing to her while she was on the step.
As I was starting my
proposal another couple came up and asked to take a picture of us if we would
do the same for them. We did, and then the other couple wouldn't leave
the area. I was not about to propose with people nearby, so I decided to
pull her over to an area closed to the temple. It is a circular path
surrounded by flower gardens. We stopped on a bench, and I leaned close
and said, "I have a few things for you." I reached in my
backpack and pulled out the first sign.
I said, "You know
Cathy, this has been a long time coming. I know how you feel and I feel
the same way about you. I want you to keep this to remind this that I
love you."
I pulled out the next
sign and said, "As I have gotten to know you, I have fallen in love.
I choose you, and I want to marry you."
The picture of the two
of us was next. "This picture was taken on my birthday, and we both look so
happy together. I think we can be even happier than this for the rest of
eternity."
And lastly, the picture
of the temple. I had taped the paper saying, "Cathy, Can I Take You
There?" to the front so she had to read it first then pull it back to see
the temple. We both want to get married in the Logan Temple. She
was almost crying by this time.
I proceed to get down on
one knee in front of her and pull out the ring box. I say, "Cathy,
will you marry me?" She is in shock at this point, and it like,
"Duh! Do you need to even ask?" I take that as yes and the rest
is history.
Something funny happens
as we are walking back to my car. We are passing another couple and I say
to Cathy, "You should tell them that I just proposed." She does
and the girl freaks out and screams, "Congratulations, you guys! I
am so happy for you!" They then ask questions and we tell them what you have
just read. We then talk about how Cathy and I had met, etc. for a few
minutes. It turns out that the guy is in one of Cathy's classes at LDSBC,
and they talked about class.
It was an amazing night
and one I will never forget.
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