Our Love Story

HIS STORY

In September of 2010 I started working my first semester at BYU Idaho since my roommate Mosiah finally showed me how to get into a job. It was early morning custodial at 4 in the morning and was the beginning of a new experience for me. While there I met a girl named Caitlyn Talbot. When I first met her I thought she was really cute and stroke up a conversation when we worked together the first time after we were done. I found out she was from Orem, Utah and I felt she was really cute and wanted to get to know her. But being 4 in the morning work however might have drowned what was there of my social skills and so it began a good acquaintance at work. The rest of that semester I became consumed with the hardest class of my BYU Idaho experience and didn’t really have too many conversations with Caitlyn the rest of the semester.


It wasn’t until Winter semester that things started progressing. Mosiah and I came back to the Taylor and among the people I saw there that morning was Caitlyn again. It was great to see a familiar face and didn’t think much until my first class where Caitlyn came in and saw me sitting down. What I thought then is there may be interest there because she had a choice to sit next to Mosiah or me and she picked me. What really got me even more interested was when she smiled. It was the first time I noticed while not being groggy in the morning. It was majestic and she sparkled in my mind. It began to be a steady thing for a while where she sat by us in class and we talked a bit before or after class. This progressed a couple weeks until I turned to roommate Mosiah in my apartment one day and confessed that I had a crush on Caitlyn and thought she was really cute from how we were getting to know each other in class. He said I should ask her out and for a week he saw me coming home from class not asking her but freezing because I was so shy. After what seemed like two weeks of this and saying goodbye after class, Mosiah confronted me at work and said if I didn’t ask her out, he would ask her for me. This was the push I needed. I stopped Caitlyn in the hall at work and asked her out to dinner for that Friday right there. To this day, I thank Mosiah for giving me that push I needed.


The first date was great. I learned about her and found her very cute with the way she played with her straw. I was trying to act confident the whole time though I was scared out of my mind because of how first dates are. We talked about everything and in no time I knew I wanted a second date. While trying to be clever I tried coming up with multiple dating situations. What we considered was kind of a date was when I asked if she would go to Devotional with me the next Tuesday after walking with her from class (a routine I absolutely loved because it gave that extra time to be with her). Devotional went well and I asked for another date to the movies to see Megamind. It was at this point I was really interested in dating her on the boyfriend/girlfriend commitment level but had no idea how to go about it. After the movie she asked the question what I was thinking. She guessed what it was, and I stammered clumsily over my words to get it out because I thought she was so cute and that made me naturally ga gawed and stupid. When I finally asked her she paused. It seemed like an eternity. But she said we should take it slow and I agreed.

The next months were absolutely incredible. I learned of Caitlyn’s strong stance on issue and how she is able to speak her mind. That was so important to me to know she could be open with me and I liked her even more because of it. We got to know each other better through our Rexburg time by watching videos together and talking about life in general. A key part during this time was when I took her to Utah to the festival of colors. That was something we never did in those first months was a road trip for 4 hours of being able to talk. It was great. It was important to me to see we got along during this time and even helped each other during snow falling on the car and making sure I was awake since I hadn’t taken my nap. It taught me a lot about her character how she wants to help when she can. Another great quality I’ve seen many times since and adds to the many more reasons why I love her. The festival was great and was a great time to adjust to the time we’d spend in Utah together.

Dating in Utah was a dream. The whole summer was a blast and I grew closer to Caitlyn even more day by day. We found common interests through fishing, reading together, going to the movies, and many other activities. What really added to the summer was the genius of Caitlyns to do what we called ABC dates which took a date by the first letter of the alphabet. I loved these because it gave us time to be creative together. During this time, we learned that we had fun exploring the many wonders of Utah through museums and hiking trails along with roller-blading on the side. Some key dates that were way fun was when we went to Lagoon and went crazy with rides and prize booths and also the time we went tubing and survived the high river. It was dates like these I saw Caitlyn’s fun side while other dates like Oragami making and putting together puzzles that we found it was fun to just explore new things together.

When the summer came to a close we realized how much we did love each other and October 7, 2011 I asked her to be my wife. How I asked is a fun story too. We had bought the ring earlier two weeks ago but discussed and decided that we would wait before I would make it official. This being said it drew time to surprise her. How I surprised her was by sneaking down to Utah and getting in the back of her parent’s van by the time she got picked up. I made her scream when she saw cause she wasn’t expecting it. I loved it. I loved the scream I loved the fact that I was able to surprise her. What was left was finding an excuse to get into the more romantic setting at the outdoor mall in Provo. Drawing from my whim I said let’s go to subway and ended passing 3 on the way there. When I saw us passing them I thought she was totally going to figure out what I was doing. Luckily she didn’t. We got to the mall and I asked her. She said yes immediately and it was awesome!


I love Caitlyn with all my heart! When getting to know her I found myself falling in love with her whit and humor. What struck me the most and made her so special though was her ability to be speak her mind. I love that about her. I know I can always turn to her and know how she feels. Along with that is her love for the gospel and to raise a righteous family. I was looking for that in particular for a future spouse and she fits the bill. Her testimony is amazing and I know it’s strong. The fact that she wants to be a mother and do anything to make sure our future children will be well cared for was extremely important too. What I love about her as well is how she can always put a smile on my face. Whenever I am having a tough day, I can let her know and she is always there for me to just talk and to listen to me. That is so important to me. Not enough words can ever express the love I have for her and I have to remind her everyday how very much I do love her. She truly is my angel and I love her with all my heart and am so excited to get spend the rest of my life and eternity with her!





HER STORY


I first met Jon during Fall Semester, 2010 when we worked early morning custodial together in the Taylor Building at BYUI. We worked together once and chit chatted a little bit but it was early in the morning and so for the most part there wasn’t too much communication. Then Winter semester not only did we work together again, but when I walked into my first class on the first day of school, I noticed him and his roommate sitting there. I thought, “Well, this is awkward because I know who he is but I don’t really know him, and if I don’t sit by him we will awkwardly not talk all semester, and if I do sit by him we will have awkward small talk all semester. No matter what I do it will be awkward.” So I took a chance and sat by him and there was indeed awkward small talk for the next several classes. But then it got easier and easier to talk to him and we started flirting more at work and talking more in class (to the point that the teacher noticed and made us sit apart at one point). Then one day at work as we were passing each other in the hallway he stopped me and asked me to go to dinner with him that Friday night. It was kind of funny because our supervisor was in the middle of talking to Jon, and I was with my coworker, Ashley, and Jon just interrupts our supervisor and asks me out in front of everyone. I’m sure my face was bright red. But I said yes and gave him my phone number.


So that Friday night we went to Da Pineapple Grill and got to know each other better. I have a really weird sense of humor which is pretty unique to only my family but for the first time in a long time, I had met someone who actually got it! Jon laughed and laughed and totally understood my humor and his laugh is contagious so when he started laughing I would laugh. I just remember there being a lot of laughing on our first date. Then he walked me home and said he wanted to do it again sometime and I couldn’t have agreed more! The rest is pretty much history. We went to devotional for our second date (Jon fell asleep during it. I laughed at him.), then to a movie for our third date. I thought he wanted to hold my hand so I made sure to make my hand available during the whole movie because I wanted to hold his hand too. He didn’t take my hand though. Then when we were walking home I thought maybe he wanted to hold it so I thought I would help him out. I asked him what he was thinking and he hemmed and hawed for 5-10 minutes before finally blurting out that he was wondering if I would be his girlfriend. It kind of took me by surprise because it seemed like he just skipped a few steps. It was cute though. I just thought he was so honest and shy and cute that I couldn’t resist saying yes. And I’m so glad I did!


The next 8 months flew by. We dated the rest of the semester and then we both moved home for the summer because I graduated in April and he was off track for the summer. The summer was perfect, commuting nearly every day between Orem and Riverton. We spent the summer going on ABC dates (For A we went to an Art Museum, for B we went to Build a Bear, for C we went to the Cinema, etc.).


Then Jon moved back to Rexburg in September but we still visited every other weekend. We hated the weekends when we couldn’t see one another. One Friday in October (a weekend when Jon wasn’t supposed to come down to visit) I got off work and my mom came to pick me up. I got in the car and all of the sudden Jon pops out of the back seat going “HI!!” It surprised me so much that I screamed. Ha ha. Then we got in Jon’s car and he said he wanted to take me to Subway. So we drove and passed like 2 subways and I was like “What subway are we going to?” and he said we were going to the one down at the Riverwoods mall in Provo because we had gone to that one before and really enjoyed the hilarious staff down there. So we drove down there and he parked far away from the subway so we had to walk through the outdoor mall in the rain with our little umbrella. Then all of the sudden he hands me the umbrella and gets down on one knee! I don’t remember a whole lot of what he said because I was so in shock, but it didn’t really matter because I knew what he was going to ask so I threw my arms around him and said yes! Since then we have still continued to call and text each other every day while he is in Idaho and I am in Utah, and we visit almost every weekend. We are getting married on December 30, 2011 in the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple and we couldn’t be happier.


I love Jon because he is so patient and understanding with me. He listens to me when no one else will, and he doesn’t judge me by what I say or think. He is so smart too! He is such a hard worker and he has such wonderful goals and the very best intentions. I love how easy going and optimistic he is. I know he is going to be a great husband and a wonderful father. I love him with all my heart. He is my everything and I can’t wait to be sealed to him for time and all eternity!