If You Like It Than You Shoulda Put A Ring On It (Part 5)

Hi everyone! This is Hayley's roommates and Jonathan--we're guest posting part 5 because we know a bit  more about it than Hayley does.

It all started when Homeboy/Jonathan came to Sarah J. and said he was going to propose to Hayley pretty soon. Oh man, those were some giddy days. We were so excited! Later, he told all of us that he wanted to propose in our apartment because that is where everything has happened, and that he was thinking about doing a sort of a timeline of all of the things that he and Hayley had done together since they first met, with a station for each thing. We were so excited and it was really hard to keep it a secret, but somehow we all managed it.

A few weeks later, Homeboy called the ring place and found out that the ring would be done on Thursday. The sneaky rascal told Hayley that the ring would be ready on Monday, and then a few days later he asked Hayley on a date for Monday night. Hayley came in after he asked her and said, "Homeboy needs to learn how to be subtle." She simply could not believe that the dummy would practically tell her when he was going to propose. We did our best to be sympathetic but we all knew the truth--Homeboy was a lot more wily than she realized.

This was the plan: On Thursday morning, we were going to clear out our living room of all of the furniture while Homeboy went and picked up the ring. Then we would help Homeboy set up each of the stations. At five, Sarah J. was going to waltz back up to campus, act like she was coming from school, and pick up Hayley. That part was important, because Hayley has been known to come home at the most inconvenient times. It took a lot of work to commit her to that one. Once Hayley came in the door and had time to look at the timeline, Jonny would come down the stairs looking dashing and BAM! Make all of her dreams come true!

Well, the day finally came. Thursday morning arrived and Homeboy went to pick up the ring. We all felt that class and work and other responsibilities came second to the greatest day of Hayley's life, so we sent Hayley off to school and spent the rest of the morning getting ready. We cleared out all the furniture and then Homeboy arrived in a blaze of glory, holding the ring in his hand. We screamed and cried and you'll understand why when you see it--it is gorgeous. Good job, Homeboy. We set up the stations next. There was one for the first time they met (with a picture of them in their football gear, a football, and some cleats), one for the first time they cuddled (a mini fort made of our couch cushions), water guns for every time they have ever had a water fight (which is pretty much every day), and etc. Rachel, the domestic goddess of the apartment, had made bunting to hang around the room that showed the dates of each activity. The timeline ended with the date of the proposal--Thursday, March 22nd. We hate to brag, but the whole room looked dang good.

Well, 4pm found all of us sitting in the middle of the room, surveying our handiwork. The room looked dang good and we were all so pleased and feeling so leisurely--after all, we still had an hour and a half before Hayley was due.  But all of a sudden Homeboy got a look of pure terror in his eyes and started saying Hayleyhayleyhayleyhayley. We looked at the window and there came that wretched woman, prancing down the sidewalk and chattering away on her phone like she owned the place. We panicked. Rachel threw herself against the door and Homeboy, Sarah J., and Meggie hit the deck. Hayley started to unlock the door, but Rachel kept stalling for time and turning the knob while we thought of the plan. What we finally came up with was this: Send Sarah J. around back to distract her until Homeboy could get a suit on and grab the ring. Little did we know that we would regret that plan for the rest of our lives.

Sarah J. went outside to stop Hayley and this is what we heard:

Hayley: The door's stuck... I can't get in... what's wrong?

Sarah J: Nothing's wrong.

Hayley: What's wrong?

Sarah J: ...There's been a terrible accident.

Hayley: What's wrong?

Sarah J: ...There's been a murder.

Obviously that was the stupidest thing that anyone has ever heard and we all know it. Hayley finally decided that something was up and went to the neighbor's to await her fate. In the meantime, Homeboy sprinted home, threw on his fancy clothes, and then ran back up our stairs. Finally everything was ready and we went and got Hayley. 

She walked in and saw everything. We were all waiting on the top of the stairs, patting Homeboy on the shoulders and whispering good lucks, so we could hear her, and she was making some happy noises down there. Finally, the time came. Homeboy went down the stairs, shaking violently all the way, and gave her a big hug. He told her that she was his best friend and that he wanted to be with her forever. And then he got down on one knee (Hayley: "Are you serious??") and asked her to marry him.

And you know something? She said yes.

Hold My Hand (part 4)

Skip the add and venture on to our song :) I'll give homeboy all the credit for this one. I figure you can listen to it while you continue to read the drawn out story of us.



"Have you ever thought of us getting married?"
"I'm a girl, of course I have..."

Let me back up and preface this conversation a little bit.

Every day in California was perfect. We were able to tour San Francisco which I had never been to before. I loved every second of it! I went to the beach, ate Karen's (homeboys Mom) amazing homemade meals, got to know his family, met his ward and friends, saw the Oakland Temple, saw the Redwood forest, and answerd a million "name three things you learned about fill in the blank here" questions from his dad. (His whole family will know exactly what i'm referring to, and I swear to this day all those questions sealed the deal that I wanted to be a part of that family forever-no joke).

The Sunday we spent in California we went to his ward where I got to meet their hilariously amazing friend Loke. Let's just say she was quite a catalyst to the marriage talk (Jonathan can feel free to thank her for it for all eternity). After Sacrament she pulled out her snacks from her bag, knowing full well that we were not going to go to Sunday school or Relief Society, and began her interrogation. I loved it, she talked like we were getting married, even to the extent of telling him that he should feel free not to come home ever again if he doesn't bring me along. I could tell homeboy didn't quite know how to handle her marriage comments. We had never talked about it before and it was pretty obvious that he was uncomfortable- I thought it was funny to watch him squirm. I know it was his squirming that prompted the conversation later that night- thank you Loke, from the bottom of my heart, I'm glad at least someone was brave ;)!

His question caught me off guard that night. Being a girl, the second anyone hears you are dating someone they are all over the marriage question. So of course I had actually thought about it, and probably confessed the possibility of marrying him to a person or two. But no way in this world had I confessed it to him! After talking for a bit we both concluded that the possibility was real, we definitely wouldn't mind it, but it was too soon to tell. On that note we dropped the subject for a week or two.

We got back from California and knew my pending trip to Uganda this summer was rapidly approaching. Realizing that I was falling in love, while knowing that I was committed to a summer abroad, my brain was all over the place. Everyone was asking me if I was going to back out of Uganda, they have no idea how tempting it was. I really do feel like I am leaving a huge part of me behind, and lets be honest, I am leaving a huge part of me here, but I'll be back. I had to keep telling myself that I needed to make the decision on my own, but now this decision involved someone else which was definitely throwing a kink in the plans.

If i've learned anything, it is that plans change. I may have been too stubborn to let my Uganda plan change though. After weeks of emotional turmoil about what to do, Uganda/no Uganda? Marriage/no marriage? If marriage, Aug or Dec? The decisions seemed to be endless and I seemed to be making them alone. I knew where Jonathan stood on the whole thing, he made that very clear. At least one of us can make decisions! But he left my side of the decisions clearly up to me.

Prayer, fasting, talking, crying-rinse and repeat. That seemed to be the theme of my weeks. I knew I loved him, I knew I wanted to marry him, I knew I was really involved with Uganda- and yet, I confused myself into thinking that I knew absolutely nothing.

Once Jonathan told me that he wanted to get married in August, I put him through the worst few days while I tried to sort out my mind. Luckily he was patient enough for all the fog to clear, until I let reality hit that i've known my answer all along. I knew I loved him, I knew I wanted to marry him, and I knew I was really involved with Uganda. I just needed to figure out that I knew it- all on my own.

When that realization hit, and the peace flooded into my body, I have never wanted to tell someone something as bad as in that moment. I would have yelled it from across Provo that I KNOW I WANT TO MARRY YOU, if I knew he would hear me. But I kept it in until the second I saw him. The emotional roller coaster I had sent him on that week was hopefully worth the news at the end.

From that second on it became game time, like plan-wedding-in-turbo-mode kinda game time. No joke, the next weekend we found my wedding ring, and my wedding dress, getting engaged was irrelevant at that moment- we knew that we had a very limited time together before I leave for the summer and return 11 days before the wedding.

I guess the order of things is irrelevant when love is the name of the game. I'm okay with that. We do love in our own kind of way.

My love waits there in San Francisco (part 3)

Where did we leave off?

Football...check.
girl code...check.
fall in love... uh let's begin there.

I've never been in love before (well other than now of course). I've dated some people, been through the ups and downs of dating, felt the hopelessness that comes with the crush that doesn't like you back, ya know, i've made the rounds.

Falling in love though? I think I could do that all day every day. And lucky for me, I get to. It is fun to fall in love with someone the more you learn about them- the quarks, the good, and the bad.  It is worth the wait, worth the journey, and so worth the ups and downs.

Ya know the whole rhyme, first comes love, then comes marriage...you know the rest. Well I feel as though they left out a pretty big part... What happened to the courting?! (and no that word is not just for the 70 year olds)

So, let the courting begin!

Lots of hanging out led to...

...my post about the fort. Remember that one? Well there is a picture I left out... ta-da! Jonathan!

Surprise! It was not just me and my roommates making that fort. We had some help, from an eagle scout, who may have helped our success in a big way... And just my luck, that fort was just small enough that of course I had to be right by him, and of course the only place for his hand was right in mine :)

I guess that gave him the courage to ask me on a date cause homeboy (which is what my roommates and I call him) finally asked me on one...three weeks after the infamous football game. But somehow he didn't need three more weeks to get up the courage to kiss me because it sure happened that day. And let's be honest, first date and first kiss in the same night? I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

After that point it becomes a blur for a few weeks.

Lots of time together+finals+my reluctance to say yes to officially dating him because I was scared and lame and wanted it to all slow down+going home for Christmas vacation=what happened to the month of December?!

I do remember sitting on the floor with my sister-in-law talking about marriage late at night over the break. We talked as though I was going to marry him even though I was not even technically dating him. But it felt natural. So natural. Intuition is a beautiful thing.

So I came back from Christmas break ready to be officially his.

More dating, more learning about each other, basketball camp outs, intramurels, and water fights got us through the dreary month of January.

Then February came, and February became the month that officially changed my life.

One of his friends was heading to Northern California over President's day, and invited him to come in order to split the gas money. Well seeing as that is his home, it made sense. To be honest it totally caught me off guard when he invited me to come along though. We had only been dating, technically, for one month, it wasn't very serious yet, and meeting his family seemed like a big step. I was really excited to go though, and we decided that it wasn't going to be a big deal, just a fun vacation from Provo. Little did we know, it would be the vacation that proved that we loved each other. And would love each other for then, and forever.

His family is amazing but I was really REALLY nervous to meet them. I've never been in that situation before, especially when I was going to be sleeping at their house for a weekend. I didn't know if they would like me, or tell him to break up with me, or think that I was not good enough. And hello, anyone seen Meet The Parents?? So many things could go wrong! Burning the house down, breaking someones nose, breaking a vase of a dead persons ashes, so many possibilities.But, at least as far as i'm concerned, it was one of the best weekends of my life.

Yeah, it was just what I needed to prove that the things I was beginning to feel in Provo were true...

And one night after a picnic in the Redwood Forest, we were laying on the couch in front of a fire when he, out of no where says, "Have you ever thought of us getting married?"

To which I responded...