Engagement

The Sunday Following my home coming I went with Ron to his singles ward. It was really interesting to be in a ward with only single people again. So fun to see everyone again, but most of all.. I had dreamed so many times of sitting in sacrament meeting holding Ron's hand and it had finally coming true. 

After Sunday school, we were standing in the hall waiting for all the classes to get out so we could all go to the 3rd meeting in the block. As we were waiting, all of Ron's friends gathered around us and started betting on when we would get engaged. I felt really awkward, I mean, who does that in front of the people they are betting on? Well, little did they know that at that very moment Ron had the ring in his suit jacket pocket. :)

We had plans later that day with Ron's family to eat dinner. But, they would still be in church for a few more hours. So, after we got in the car Ron asked me if I'd like to go on a drive. We ended up driving all the way up to Farmington Canyon where we had gone for our 4th date fourwheeling. Driving up, we both had forgotten the way and had to pull over and ask a police officer which way to go, Ron was really nervous to ask him, but it was a good thing we did! I don't think there is any way we would have found our way to the canyon if it weren't for him.

After driving all the way up to the top by Salten's Palace (The big building on the top of the mountain). Ron pulled over and we got out and looked over the valley, it was so beautiful the wind was blowing like crazy and there was no one around. 

After a few moments Ron pulled a letter out of his suit jacket, and asked me to read it out loud. In the letter Ron told me that he loved me and that he had missed me all those years when we were apart. He said that during that time we had written so many letters to each other and now he hoped that this letter would be the last letter he would ever write to me because he never wanted to be apart from me again.

When I finished reading the letter Ron knelt down and asked me to be his wife :) Such Bliss.. One of the greatest and best memories of my life. I said YES! Without any hesitation and after he put the ring on my finger he ran to the car and got a camera and a tripod. None of the pictures turned out very good because of the wind. But it was so worth being up there in the cold. We got in the car and starting excitedly talking to each other about how we would tell our families. On the way down the canyon there were a few people on the side of the road and Ron suddenly rolled down the window, grabbed my hand and yelled at them.... "She said YES"!!

 Telling our families was so fun! We ran from place to place only spending a few minutes at each of our destinations. Heather and Dan took a screen shot of us right as we told them our big new! They had already known the dates we were planning on so that they could purchase Plan tickets in advance.

Dates & Dates

Ron and I went on a fun Hike the week after my home coming. It was so fun to spend time together again, doing the things we never got to do before. Our 1st August together. This hike was located right above Weber State University. We didn't go very far on this hike because of some odd behavior of some old man hiking in front of us. So we ended up sitting on a huge rock on the side of the Trail and watching the sun set.

One of the next things we did together was attend the Ogden Temple open house. Such a beautiful Amazing Building. We drove separately from the Bitter crew, and on our way to the lines to meet them a bee flew bye so fast and stung Ron on the arm on his way. That was a pretty crazy experience. Of course Mom was prepared with her oils and it didn't give Ron to much pain after that.

I can't really express how much I loved being at the temple with this guy. :) It was so fun to see the sealing room and know what our next goal was. With Ron everything always just felt so right and came so easy. I never really had any doubts when it came to loving him.

Home Comming Talk

What a great and amazing feeling it was to be able to share all of the great and wonderful experiences I had on my mission with everyone I love so much. I remember looking out at our ward and being so overcome by how many people there were in front of me. I was so shocked at how different everything really is in America. It's so hard to describe exactly how it feels. Everything is so familiar... yet so foreign. After seeing everyone and being reunited with family and friends. I felt like I could finally take a breath.

After everyone left, Brooklyn & Chris invited us over to their house with Breanne to watch Jonny Lingo. Ron and I missed the entire show! :) As soon as it began we began to talk to each other very quietly about WHEN we were going to get married. There really is no better feeling than to know that you are going to be with the one you love forever. And that was the beginning of our planning that would take course over the next few weeks.

Our First Date

A week later after a fun family trip to Colorado, we were together again.. And this time I don't think either of us were willing to be apart any more. He gave me these Amazing flowers the day I got home and for weeks after I never tired of looking at them.

Our first date home he took me to a family reunion for the McDermott side. It was so fun to see his family again. We went on a drive later that night and as we drove Ron had me read aloud a memory journal he had put together of all of our dating experiences we had before the mission.

He stopped and parked at the West Point park and continued to listen to me read. I got to the part where Ron had written about our first kiss. As I finished that memory, Ron got out of the car, and walked around to my door, opened it, and pulled me out. There, he expressed to me how much he loved me and how glad he was that we were together again and kissed me sweetly. Its not hard to see why I love this man so much :) And that was the beginning of our Story after being apart....

Happy Reunion

The first time Ron and I saw each other after both serving missions in the Philippines was a day I will never forget. After 3 years and 3 months of being apart I often wondered if I would still be as in love with him as I was when we dated those 9 months be he left.

To my amazement, it was as if we had never been apart. With Ron everything has always been so easy and so perfect.

My first night home Ron held my hand as we walked with a few of my family members to an ice shack to get a quick icy. He was pretty quiet throughout the whole night, he was so intent on letting me soak everything in around me and trying not to overwhelm me. Later that night we stole away a few moments alone. As we sat on a shelf in the family room talking. I felt the weight of my eyes pushing them to close. I had almost been up for 38 hours. But those few moments of talking with Ron about anything we wanted to in person, felt so blissful it was hard to say goodbye.