On June 30, 2012, Mr. Daniel Lyons Bride asked me to marry him and I said yes! That morning Daniel and I had plans to run (we are training for a marathon after all), but I realized a little too late that I forgot my running clothes in Ogden. Instead, we went to the Original Pancake House for a delicious breakfast, ran some errands, and then got back on schedule to go to an afternoon session at the Salt Lake Temple.
When we arrived at the temple, We saw big yellow signs outside the parking garage saying that the temple was closed. I pulled up next to Daniel (we were in separate cars because we drove separately to Salt Lake for work and were both headed home to Ogden after), and suggested we go to Bountiful instead. Daniel looked a little stresed out and he hesitated a little, but then he agreed it would be the best idea. He seemed a little weird, but I just figured he was tired since we both had not been getting much sleep lately.
After our session at the Bountiful Temple, I suggested that we take a picture together because my friends at work have been asking to see pictures of my boyfriend but I didn't really have any! Daniel liked the idea but suggested that we head to the East side of the temple - right where there was a huge wedding crowd. That sounded like a crazy idea to me, so I tried to convince him to go to the other side. He said "Do you trust me?" and asked me to follow. At this point, I finally got suspicious.
He led me through the crowd to a bench in a quiet corner in back of the temple. On the bench we found a journal. Daniel said "Hey! That looks just like your journal! Maybe it's yours." I agreed. It
did look like my journal, but I told him that it was definitely not my journal because mine looked a little more beat up than that one. He picked it up and said, "Well, let's just see," and began turning pages.
On the first page, I saw this:
Daniel said "That looks an awful lot like me! This must be your journal!" I had to laugh. This picture represents the day we met. We met at a church activity where a bunch of eligible bachelors shared their opinions and theories on dating. I remember that I was impressed that he said he didn't need anymore friends that are girls and that he was dating to find the girl he wanted to marry. I liked that he said this because I felt like he was saying that he knew what he wanted out of life. He seemed like someone who would be committed and loyal. The next picture was this:
This picture represents our first date. We went snowshoeing near Snow Basin, and we got a little lost. Daniel was so sweet while I was tripping all over myself and so easy to talk to and so funny! I really enjoyed his company. The next picture was this:
One day Daniel and I went on a 30-mile bike ride to the Brigham City Temple. We sat on the grass across the street from the temple and engaged in a DTR (that's Determine the Relationship for those who aren't up on the hip vocab). We decided we wanted to date exclusively.
This picture represents our first kiss. Yes, it was really that awkward. :)
This picture represents the first time Daniel told me he loved me. We went for a moonlit walk in the neighborhood and Daniel told a funny story and ended by telling me he loved me. As I kissed him and told him that I loved him too, we heard this strange Native American drum music coming from somebody's house. Now, we joke that it is our song!
Daniel flipped to this final picture. You can't tell from the jpeg, but it was actually a pop up! Amazing. And you'll notice that that is the Salt Lake Temple in the background, not the Bountiful. Poor Daniel, that's why he was sweating bullets. Daniel got down on one knee and said something along the lines of "This is the next page in the story of our lives. Will you marry me?" I think I said "YES!!!" before he even finished speaking.
I am sooooooo excited to marry my best friend!
