Tommy and I met when we were 15 years old in EFY in Provo! We were in the same EFY group and Tommy and his best friend, Jordan, were the first boys to "escort" Brooke and me that week. When we all discovered we were all from Arizona, we had to be EFY friends! We thought that Tommy was a lot like my step-brother, Sterling, (who he's actually not really like at all) and we decided we wanted to set him up with Emily. Then I decided that Jordan would be my C.O.W. (crush of the week) and we were all best friends. We even sat next to each other on our flight back to Arizona and talked about The Format (our favorite band). We hung out sporadically the next few years, mostly going to birthday parties and playing truth or dare. The first time we hung out, Emily and I talked Tommy and Jordan into letting us dress them up in makeup and do their hair (he'd probably be pretty embarrassed that I am sharing this shame with the world).
Tommy left on his mission in 2010 to Curitiba, Brazil and I was a lame friend who didn't write him....I know, I stink. haha. But Tommy got back in October and came up to Rexburg to check out BYU-I (where he'd be going in January) and stopped by Provo on his way back down. We set up a hang out with Tommy, Emily, Sam, and me, and we just kind of hung out and Samily's, catching up and learning about the mission. Tommy and I went and watched a movie at our friend Justin's apartment and quickly came to the conclusion that our friend feelings had definitely changed and we wanted to start dating. Of course, Tommy was living in Arizona for the last three months and just moved up to Rexburg, but he has come down to visit me a lot so we could spend time together.We officially became "boyfriend and girlfriend" on November 17th (Baby Carter's birthday!! *shout out to Brooke's baby*). I went down to Arizona with Tommy for the week before Christmas and got to meet his family. Luckily, they were very sweet and welcoming to me and also very entertaining, which put me completely at ease. Tommy has gotten to sporadically meet members of my family throughout the last three months, though he still needs to meet Craig, Rebekah, Cy, and Brett.
Tommy proposed to me on January 15th (today). We were driving back to Rexburg after visiting my family in Malta and we stopped in Idaho Falls for some lunch. Tommy wanted to go to Barnes and Noble just to look at books (one of our favorite pass times), so we were in the Young Adults' section and Tommy grabbed a Twilight copy and said "Look at the typo in the introduction!" I quizzically opened the book and found a cut out box inside the book with the ring sitting inside of it. I looked up to find Tommy getting down on one knee :) It was adorable and perfect and we are super happy!! I can't wait to put up wedding updates and ideas and to continue telling our story :)
P.S. This ring is actually a temporary ring...my dad is giving Tommy my mom's ring for him to give to me, which is going to be very special for us; it's something that I've always wanted. Until then, though, we have this beauty to let every one know that I'm taken!
