Brad and Heather

Alright, so a lot of people are asking how my fiance and I met. It’s a question that I am happy to answer. And boy it is quite the story! It might have to consist of several episodes due to lack of time and just for fun!

Episode One: The Meet-Cute (Heather)

It all began  four years ago, in March, when I was going up to Utah for my fifteenth birthday. I had been spending time with my sister, Holly, who was a freshman in college at the time, and she invited me to go bowling with her and a couple of her friends. One of her friends happened to be Brad, who at the time had been interested in her (they had gone on a couple of dates) and he had red hair (something that I never saw myself being attracted to).   So, I was stuck with two guys who were interested in my amazing sister…sigh… But, despite this sad turn of events, I had a good time and sorely lost the game; Brad won.

Episode Two: Courtship / Dating (Brad)

Heather invited me over for homemade lasagna.

End of story. 🙂

No but seriously, that’s how it all started.  It wasn’t bad either – I’d take it over Stauffer’s anyday.  Actually when I came back from the mission I still had her email address, and she still had mine.  For some reason she sent me an email to ask me a question.  Soon enough she was added to my Skype list and we chatted every once in a while.  I could always count on stimulating conversation when Heather was online ;).  I found out that she was here at school and told her we’d have to meet up sometime and catch up, as I hadn’t heard much of anything from her or Holly in forever.

But we never did.  I was up in Salt Lake working over the summer and only made it down to campus every once in a while, so those plans just kind of fell by the wayside.

When I did come back to school for fall semester, I happened to be online once on fast sunday and started talking to Heather.  I then began one of my favorite activites: moaning and groaning about how absolutely famished I was, how I felt like a starving African refugee, how I had no food in the closet, how I was probably on my deathbed, and how she really needed to invite me to dinner that night.  And you know, that’s why I love Heather.  She said to stop complaining and forget it. 🙂 No actually it went something like this:

“That’s too bad… I’m feeling very service oriented today – can I bring you food?”  I relayed this information to my roommates (that a girl was offering to bring me food… to my doorstep no less) and got very favorable response from all.  They liked her.  I liked her.  I could tell we were going to get along.

It didn’t happen that Sunday.  Or the next.  All of that potential looked like it might be fading into the sunset ;).  No actually it was my fault because I was either home teaching every week or I was headed to my uncles’ or whatever.  Busy stuff.  Little did I know that the lasagna was going to be so good.  Or so moist.  Or so incredible savory in every possibly way… (+10 points for Brad).  Eventually it did happen though.  I stopped by Heather’s apartment on the way out of town one afternoon and consumed the wonderful Italian cuisine.  But not before I had laid eyes on this beautiful Texan goddess… who had definitely grown up a little over the last three years!  Actually at this point there was very little inclination in my mind that we would be anything but friends who give each other food sporadically.  Or even just “normal” (as if that were ever a possibility) friends.

But we continued to talk online (she even sang to me once on video chat :)) and after a few weeks she informed me that I was too busy and stressed and I need to take some time for myself (and incidentally, for her).  We decided to go bowling.  We bowled and I won even though I sprained my wrist and had to bowl left handed, and then we talked for about three hours or so.  (addendum by Heath – she bowled left handed as well so that it would be fair.  So I didn’t really win that handily)

Who would have thought that someone as completely awesome as this Heather girl could stand to just chill with me all night.  I wasn’t even very entertaining – I was doing homework for crying out loud.  But hey, I wasn’t complaining.

After that night it seemed like everywhere I went, there was Heather also.  Not because I brought her with me, but because she was stalking me.  🙂 No actually we just kept seeing each other all over campus in very random places.  That was fine with me.

One day she commented on my shirt (which was absolutely amazing) and the following day she decided to dress over-the-top retro 80’s.  That same night I happened to be producing a short film for a television production class and on a whim invited her to be in it.  She was on campus at the right time and stopped by.  Little did she know she would become the leading actress in the culminating scene.  She did a terrific job, I saved her life, we rode into the sunset, and the flick was great.  Well that was sort of the plot line anyway.  I’ll have to post the video up here just for kicks, it’s not bad at all :).

Not long after, she invited me over for calzones.  I was a willing subject.  They were good.  Our relationship was progressing wonderfully. 🙂  We didn’t eat in her apartment so she actually had to meet me on campus to show me where to go.  I had had a pretty rough day (and wanted to milk it for all it was worth), so I told her I needed a hug.  I really did need one too – and what can I say, she looked like she was a great hug-giver.  My suspicions were confirmed!  It was this night that Heather began to exhibit a marked interest in… well… me.  That following weekend was general conference, and since we had a projector screen and surround sound in our apartment (and we all know how riveting GC can be on one of those), I invited her over.

She came.  Half way through conference, I noticed she was getting pretty close on the couch.  Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never regarded general conference as the ideal place to pick up on the opposite sex.  But hey, I’m can be persuaded if you make a good enough argument.  Heather made a pretty good one.  Somehow during all of this her head ended up on my shoulder.

“Uh… huh.” I thought.

Again, I didn’t argue.  Heather says I even might have encouraged the whole situation by making up a story just so I could put my hand on her knee.  And then I left it there.  My memory’s a little hazy at this point, but she insists it wasn’t all her doing.  Which is probably true.  Probably.

After the little conference episode, I was kind of at a loss as to what to do next.  I felt good about pursuing a relationship with Heather, but there was a lot of things to think about.  I prayed about it and still felt the same way, so I left it up to her.  I really wanted to make sure this was a conscious decision she was making also.  We talked about it the next day and bam.  We were a thing.

For the next month or so I pretty much spent every waking moment that I could with her.  Amazingly enough I still got pretty good grades last semester as well!  That was probably the real miracle of the whole situation.  We took long walks (and I mean long walks) just about every night, and really got to know each other.  I found I could talk to her about just about anything and had a hard time getting bored.  Anytime it seemed like I was getting tired she would just pull some physically improbable face and I was good to go for another hour or so.  Since Heather doesn’t really sleep (I found this out quickly), I usually burned out before she did.

And that’s about it.  Since then things have been absolutely wonderful – I don’t really know what I did in the pre-earth life to deserve her, 😉 but I’m glad I did it!

Episode Three: The Engagement (Brad)

We were up in Idaho for the weekend and I knew it would be perfect.  Away from the stress of school and all that jazz.  So we were visiting with her grandparents all weekend, and I couldn’t ever get away to call her dad and ask for permission.  When I finally did, he never answered! So I ended up calling like three or four times with the same result.  So I was pretty much starting to panic.

So yesterday (Monday) I woke up at 5:30 and waited until about 6:45 Idaho time… and called her house.  Of course her dad had already gone to work.  So I got the number from her mother and called him at work.  And of course he wasn’t at his desk so I left a message and went back inside.  I figured it’d be a while, so I might was well take off the stubble for the day.  I started lathering up with shaving cream, and of course my phone starts ringing.  About five seconds later I was standing outside with no sweater, shaving cream all over my face, asking her father for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

He said yes.  And my plan was back on the table.

And here we go – I had told Heather the day before that we needed to leave a little earlier from her grandparents’ house, to which she showed more than a little disappointment.  What she didn’t know was that I was going to take her for a pit stop by the temple on the way out of town, and that we’d soon be back to her grandparents’ home.

Right before Heather came out of her room in the morning I started chatting with her grandma… and I told her my plans (after I asked her if she could keep a secret).  And she did a great job – not a peep or even a hint all morning.   She played it off perfectly and acted as if we were really leaving as we pulled out of the driveway.  As we drove off, I was definitely going the wrong way, and she definitely noticed.  It’s impossible to get anything past Heather… gah.  Luckily I had predicted this exact reaction and had a ready response.

“Oh, I didn’t get a chance to really look at the temple – my family and I always take pictures of the temples wherever we go.  Do you mind?”

She didn’t – which was fortunate, because I was going whether she liked it or not. 🙂  So we got there, parked, walked around the back of the temple and I said:

“Look at that gorgeous window in the middle – that’s the Celestial room.”

“IIIIIIII know”, she said.  (“Come on, Heather”, I thought.  “Wait and see where I’m going with this.”)

So I pointed out the windows on either side. “And those are the sealing rooms… I want to take you there someday.”

“I want you to take me there someday” she said, smiled, and gave me hug, pinning my arms at my side.  The only downside to this was that I kind of needed access to my pockets about that time.  Once I wriggled free, I got out the box and took a knee.

“Heather, will you marry me?”

She flipped out.  She ran away.  She covered her face.  She hyperventilated.  All not necessarily good signs.  But I thought I heard a “yes” in there somewhere, so I asked her if I could take that as a yes.  *sigh of relief* And indeed I could. 🙂

And that was that.  The rest is yet to come!