Part IV - How to have a successful long distance relationship

An hour into my drive to Henderson, Stephen called and kept me awake until I got to Aunt Rae's house in St. George. Since then, we have talked on the phone every single day. Usually for a little more than an hour, sometimes for more like 3 hours. Dad says I used more than 3200 minutes on my phone in May, and about 3000 of them were talking to Stephen. Good thing I was one of his "top ten" on his phone plan, so we could talk for free. We talked about everything, swapping stories and really getting to know each other. At the beginning of June, he bought a plane ticket to come stay with my family the week of the 4th of July. We had talked quite a bit about getting married, but we weren't sure if we should get engaged already when he came to visit.

The week he was here was amazing. We went to DC, we went to see Up! with Nicole, we spend a couple of days at the beach, rode on Grandpa's boat, watched fireworks, caught fireflies, and lots of other fun things. It was perfect. On the fourth of July, and continuing on the morning of the fifth, Stephen talked to my dad and asked if he could have permission to marry me. I had warned my dad that this might happen, so he did at least have a heads up. That night, we drove down to the DC temple grounds and Stephen asked me to marry him, and I said yes! Actually, he also asked me that afternoon while we were taking a walk because he just didn't feel like waiting a few more hours. After he asked me, we were the last people on the temple grounds. In fact, we were totally locked in. I kind of panicked, but then I was ok. We called my dad and the police and both were on their way to see if they could help at all when the security guard FINALLY drove up behind us. It was pretty funny. He wanted to know what on earth we were doing there, so we told him, and he laughed and congratulated us and let us out. It was quite a night.

We didn't make it official until after Stephen was back home in Utah, because we didn't know when we could reasonably get married and I didn't have a ring. But the day after he went home we both felt like we needed to set a date and make it our goal. Mom had mentioned that it would be very sad indeed if Rebecca wasn't there to see me get married, so we decided it might be possible to get married before she goes on a mission. We decided on October 24th, because I don't want to get married on Halloween, and the planning began with a running start. I got to spend a week in Utah in August, and that's the last time that we'll likely have together until a few days before the wedding. It all sounds kind of insane because it's happened so fast, but we're so excited and we know we are doing the right thing.

So, that's the story you've all been waiting for. It's kind of the long short version, but it's still the short version, I promise. Hopefully at least a few people read it and enjoy it, because that was a lot of typing my friends. I'll try to keep you updated on the wedding plans.