A Quick Introduction

Home state: Idaho

Major: Construction Management, with a business management minor--graduating December 2009

Interests: wakeboarding, football, grilling, recording music, reading, and art

Thoughts about Lisa: She is very talented and successful. I have a lot to learn from her--the way she carries herself and the difference she makes in the lives of others. She is always optimistic and happy, equipped with an angelic smile and a christ-like demeanor, always building up and never tearing down. She significantly improves me and the quality of my life.

And now the bride...

Home state: Texas

Occupation: Director of Technical Writing at Imagine Learning, Inc.

Interests: children's lit, british lit, theatre, cooking, writing, and music

Thoughts about Ryan: He composes music on my piano while he waits for me to get ready. He's a skilled artist, talented writer, and avid reader. He still starts me on defensive line on the women's intramural team he coaches, even though I'm awful at flag football. And I've never tasted better steak or salmon than his.

Ryan is the type of guy you can't help but look up to (and not just because he's tall). He's patient, kind, and full of integrity. I'm hoping a little rubs off on me :)

How We Met (in 10 words or less)

Same apartment complex.
Same BYU ward.
Same FHE group.

The Proposal: Or, A Night at the Mental Hospital

Yes, that’s right. No fancy dinner or temple square for us. We got engaged at the mental hospital. An unexpected location and an even more unexpected proposal.

To be fair, we weren’t actually inside the mental hospital. Months ago, Ryan took me on a creepy hike behind it. As we explored an abandoned isolation chamber, a stone amphitheatre, and the shadowy mountainside, I felt fear, excitement, and, by the end of the night, the first inklings that I was falling in love.

So I probably should have seen it coming when we went back the night of September 10. He said we were meeting up with some friends there. Ok sure. Why not? We were walking around a pretty pond, watching fish and looking for the others, when he pointed out something shiny in the bushes. A silver fortune cookie.

As soon as I saw it, I stopped. Several weeks earlier, I had bought a silver fortune cookie for us to pass notes back and forth. Now, it was sitting in the bushes with cotton stuffing sticking out the edges--the kind of stuffing you'd expect would be protecting something very expensive inside...

I opened it, the anticipation growing more and more. Ryan had always said he wanted to pick out his future wife's ring himself, but I was sure he hadn't bought one already. No, no, not for a couple more months probably. In the middle of all the protect-something-really-expensive stuffing, I found... a fortune. No sparkle. No shine.

Not what I expected, but then again, if you had asked me that morning, I hadn't been expecting a proposal either. When I turned back to face Ryan, he knelt down on one knee and the (un)expected actually happened. He proposed.

And I said yes.