Seeing My Life Through A Lens: Our Story and Engagement

Two years ago this month (December 3rd, 2013) a very special guy asked me to marry him.

In order to truly know us you must know our story. I will start at the beginning:

I was a bright-eyed, just out of high school girl with big dreams. I was ready to get out of the only town I had ever known. I was tired of being at home and ready to start my new life. We packed up the small car as best we could and on September 12th headed off to BYU-Idaho. My mom, my stepfather Craig, my sister Sienna, and I drove all day until we arrived in Idaho Falls, Idaho. We spent the night in a small hotel room, and as my family dozed off to sleep, my mind wouldn't stop racing. I could barely sleep, I was just too excited to start my new adventure. The next day was move-in day; little did I know, it would be the day that would change my life forever.

We drove to Rexburg and found my apartment. I met my new roommates, we unloaded, and I spent the day with my family and roommates. It was a bittersweet goodbye to my family, but my heart was so excited to be in this new place. I don't think I have ever been more excited about anything before that day. That evening the campus was holding what is called I-Night (a campus-wide party to welcome freshman). My roommates and I dressed-up and headed out. There were so many activities, booths, and people. I looked around in amazement. I immediately searched for the ROTC booth/ROTC guys in uniform. My plan was to become a nurse, enlist into the United States Army and eventually marry someone in the military. It had been my dream for as long as I could remember. As we walked around, my roommates and I came to a stop at the speed dating. We were all single and in college, what better way to start our new adventure then meeting new guys?! One of my roommates had been talking to Scott, one of our freshmen orientation leaders, and he decided to meet up with us at the speed dating section. He walked up and said hi, then all of a sudden this guy comes out from behind him. Scott introduced him as his roommate Nick and he waved. I remember thinking how cute he was. We all walked up and started speed dating. I tried to focus on what all these guys were talking to me about, but I couldn't stop thinking about this new guy Nick. Him and my roommate Victoria were sitting right next to me talking about something that I don't remember at this moment, but I do remember hoping that he wouldn't be interested in her. Finally it was my turn to talk to him. We did't really have a lot of time to talk, but in that short time he managed to joke about the fact that I was from California and didn't know how to surf (I still have never been surfing. So sad!). I got done before my roommates did and so I waited at the bottom for them to be done. Nick came down and I asked if he was going to do it again. Without even stopping, he turned to me and said (very sternly I might add) no. I figured he wasn't interested in me, so I tried to ignore my feeings of disappointment. I later found out that he was there to meet up with another girl from his hometown working at one of the booths and was really focused on trying to find her. I still tease him about it to this day! Later on in the evening, he met up with us. He decided to not meet up with that girl and wanted to come find the mystery girl (me) that he met earlier instead. We were at this huge inflatable slide and everyone had paired up except for Nick and I, so we naturally just paired up. We raced up and down. I of course won fairly, even though he swears he let me win. After that we moved onto the dance floor and as we were dancing, I started to notice that Nick was looking at me in a totally different way. Let me just say it made me smile in a way I hadn't smiled in a long time. My roommates noticed and quickly left. Suddenly, a slow song came on. Not wanting to make it awkward, I pulled him off the dance floor, even though I so badly wanted to dance with him. Later, he admitted that he wanted to dance too and was a little bummed that I pulled him off the dance floor. Oops! For the remainder of the evening, we walked around, played on the various attractions, and talked. Well, I did most of the talking and that was fine by me. At the end of the night, he walked me to my door, which I thought was so sweet. After we said goodbye, had an a kind of awkward hug, and just as I was about to go inside, he finally asked for my number. And of course I gave it to him! I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter by the second. I giggled with my roommates and told them that I hoped that he would text me soon. Not even 5 minutes later, I got a text! I was so happy. We continued to talk late into the night, until we both could barely keep our eyes open(at least that is how it was on my end).

The next day, while I was making my first home cooked dinner with my roommates, I received a text from that cute guy I had met the night before. He asked if I wanted to meet him in the garden; he wanted to show me around the campus since I didn't know where anything was. I got all dressed up ( there was no way I was going to look ugly in front of this guy!) and headed over to the gardens. It took me forever to find it and I was really frustrated, but after a little bit of searching, I finally found it. We spent the evening walking around campus, me being my crazy self, and talking to our hearts content. He never took his eyes off of me and I felt like I was on cloud nine. We finally made our way to the soccer field and laid down on the grass to look up at the stars. We were talking about our lives and I suddenly said "Someone needs to turn off that big light over there so that I can see the stars." Laughing, Nick says, "No one can turn that light off." I looked over and it was the MOON! How embarrassing, I just made a fool out of myself in front of this really cute guy that I really liked. Ugh! Thank goodness he didn't hold it against me, and from that night on, we called the moon "The Big Light". That was the night that I truly fell for him and I was smitten from that moment on. Over the course of the semester we ate dinner and took walks together every night, took a trip to Yellowstone, went to devotional together every Tuesday afternoon, and so much more. We spent the semester falling in love.

On December 3rd, our semester was coming to an end and I was having a rough day of classes(worried about finals probably). Nick came over and started bugging about dinner. Honestly, I really wasn't in the mood, but I slowly got up and cooked dinner. He ate very quickly and immediately suggested a walk. It wasn't unusual, we walked every night since we met, so I didn't suspect anything. We bundled up and headed out. Normally, we took our time walking around, but Nick was in quite the hurry. I still continued to wander and write in the snow. Finally we came up to the soccer field. It was covered in snow and I started running around like a crazy person (because that is just me and I really love the snow). Nick called me over and I walked over to him standing in the middle of the field. I could tell he was nervous about something, but had no idea why. Then all of a sudden he gabbed my hand and started to kneel. I kept asking him "What are you doing?! What are you doing?!" It was like my brain couldn't process what was happening and just responded in a weird, crazy way. In 0 degree weather, in the snow, in the same spot we laid in the grass on our first date, he got down on one knee and asked if I would be with him for eternity. Well I think you know what I said! I took off my glove and he slid that ring on my finger! It was such a whirlwind and I just couldn't believe that I was going to get married and that it was the beginning of a hard, but beautiful road to the temple!

Little did I know that following the Holy Ghost's promptings to go the BYU-Idaho and throughout that semester with Nick would change my life so drastically and so wonderfully!

September 13th, 2013 was the day I met the man who would hold my heart forever

December 3rd, 2013, was the beginning of our road to the temple to be sealed together forever!

I love you to the The Big Light and back Nicholas Victor Johnson!