Now, to the Beginnings!
(Neither of us have been very good at keeping a journal of events over the past year and a half, so this is going to be a summary of how we came to be and the experiences we've had up to now. For a Chronological Layout of events, see our Chronology page.)
How We Met | Top
It began with the wedding of my friends Kyle Paredes and Bekah Kamau'u (now obviously Bekah Paredes). They were getting married in the Oakland Temple in the summer of 2006 (i believe). My other friends and I were going out to attend but didn't want to spend a lot of money on housing, so I asked my mother if she would call her brother (my uncle) Steve who lived in Piedmont, CA, and ask if we could stay there. My mother said I needed to call, so I did.
We went to the wedding, stayed with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary, and I was able to do some catching up with them. Unfortunately, my cousin Kristi was unable to make it up from Santa Clara for a visit, but we did exchange emails and started chatting almost daily. In the Fall of 2006 my roommate, Shawn, and I went to Tahoe to spend a weekend with Kristi. We had a load of fun and later, Kristi made plans to come visit us in Utah. Whilst making plans, she got in touch with an old High School friend, also attending BYU, and arranged to meet up with her during her visit to Utah. Kristi had an epiphany. "Why didn't I try to set you guys up sooner?!" she mentioned to me one day over the phone. This friend just happened to be Katie.
Over the weekend we did lots together. We went out to eat a couple of times, had a dance party, played games, watched a movie and much more. There was no apparent attraction between myself and Katie at the time, however, after Kristi left I "Facebooked" Katie and in a pathetic attempt to be 'smooth' told her I "forgot" to get her phone number.... yeah, real smooth.
I invited her to go babysit my nieces with me that upcoming Saturday, expecting full-well for her to politely decline such a lame excuse for a date. Much to my surprise, she accepted my invitation. We went to lunch at Mi Ranchitos that Friday afternoon (after-which she had another scheduled date) on our first official 'date'. It went well and much fun was had.
Saturday's date was a little different. (This is where our versions of the story begin to differ) Katie came over to my apartment in the evening and my brother (Joe) picked us up to take us down to his house. It was a pleasant trip and most of the conversation was comprised of questions from my brother directed to Katie, some geared toward my embarrassment. Babysitting went well. Apparently we did an amazing job as we were able to get the girls to bed before 9:00pm and had an extra hour and a half before Joe and Beck returned home.
We sat on the couch watching TV, chatting and waiting. After Joe and Beck's return, we continued to chat late into the night. I believe we left for home after 11:00pm. During the midst of conversation, Katie was sitting at my fee and I was rubbing her shoulders. At some point, she reached her hand up to her shoulder and our hands "accidentally" touched, which of course always sends chills up ones' spine. We held hands on the drive home...
Things were going pretty well. Second "official" date in two days and already holding hands. But it doesn't stop there. I walked her to her car and went to hug her. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to kiss her (I mean, come on... it was only the second date!) I hugged her and was giving her a kiss on her cheek when all of a sudden she turned just mere centimeters and locked her lips to mine. (She may tend to disagree on the details a tad) Anyways, it didn't last long and besides, things tend to move a little more quickly in Provo.
A short six weeks later I found myself in California visiting my cousin, with Shawn, and driving to Katie's parents' house to have a "chat" with her dad, Jerry.
The Proposal | Top
January 23, 2007 was a seemingly normal day to all but me. Katie and I had our usual schedules full of class and work (or donating plasma). I asked Katie to meet me for lunch as she had no classes on Tuesdays and after lunch I walked towards my building as she was heading off towards her car. As soon as she was out of sight, I turned back and made a break for my bike. I sent a text message to Katie telling her she should go home and get changed into something warm. She was a bit confused and I responded back that she had about 30 minutes.
I sped home, changed, readied the supplies and headed over to Katie's (arriving 1 or 2 minutes later than the 30 I had previously said) and we headed for a surprise location. She, by then, kind of suspected something coming. I told her we were going snow-shoeing. We went up into the canyon and after parking and packing on our shoes, trekked in a little ways through 1-2 foot snow. Katie was stepping on the backs of my snow-shoes which caused me to decide to walk behind her, which worked perfectly, allowing me to not obstruct her view. She asked where we were going and I replied "not much further."
We came up on a large bush tree where a glimpse of something caught her eye. She walked towards a table set up in the middle of the snow upon which sat a vase of a dozen red roses, a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider accompanied by two glasses, and lastly a Scrabble board with the letters strategically placed to spell out the words "Katie, Will you marry me?" She turned around to face me to find me on my knee with a ring in my hand. I repeated aloud the words, "Katie, will you marry me?" Her response "It's about time!" ... lovely.
**Special thanks to: Joe for trekking out ahead of us and setting it all up without a trace; Beck for providing the table cloth, glasses, scrabble board and pieces, and husband's time; Mari for the use of the table; and Shawn for the use of his car.
The Planning | Top
The Preparation | Top
The Wedding | Top
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