Monday, October 1, 2007

A brief history of Time

Oh Hey Everyone,
We are getting married December 29th in the Bountiful Temple. We thought we would tell our story here, so you can read it any time you want!

Jenni: It all started May 1, 2007. I decided to take psychological statistics, thinking that I might go into art therapy and I should get this math class over with during a shortened spring term. Little did I know I it was going to be twice as hard.

Heber: After a few year hiatus from school, I decided that I should go back to school and finish my long awaited bachelor's degree. January 2007 found me back at BYU full time. Wanting to explore the field of counseling, I declared a psychology minor during the winter semester. One of the required "psychology" classes was Psych301. Now, Psych301 is NOT a psychology class. It is a statistics class which happens to have the word "Psychological" in it's title. I protested, and tried to get out of it, since I had already taken 2 stats classes. However, I ended up going ahead with it since it would get me closer to a psychology minor and it would be an easy A.

Jenni: The first week, I knew I was in for major trauma (I'd probably need therapy later;).

Heber: The first week, I knew I'd found a class that I wouldn't have to stress about :)

Jenni: My prayers became serious and desperate. I needed help to get through this class. Incidentally, it was Miracle May for me (and I was finally praying seriously and with a lot of faith about getting married). The first homework assignment we turned in, we gathered in a group and began to check answers. Drew suggested having a study group, and I was desperately interested.

Heber: During the first week of class, I began to notice that there was a really cute, polite, and kind girl that sat close to me... I guess that mostly I just noticed that cute part and only later realized how wonderfully kind she was ;) When the group that included this girl began checking answers, I instantly decided to join. When they began organizing out-of-class meetings, I decided that I would attend to help out (and check my own answers ;)

Jenni: My mind was focused on Statistics, but I wasn't a new person. I was seriously praying for my husband to find me, and it felt right this time.

The class was so intense that we started doing study groups twice a week (8:30-11:30 pm or so). The class itself was 2 hours a day, and I studied at least 3 hours a day. But it was still so hard. The vocabulary was a foreign language to me. Heber began staying late helping me. He actually helped everyone, and he was such a patient tutor. He never made me feel dumb.


Heber: During these study groups, stress and worry was pretty high, so it became my job to review concepts from class and walk the group through many of the problems. Although I tried to be nice and help everyone, I found myself being extra attentive to the needs of the cute Idaho girl, who I found called herself "Jenni" :)

Jenni: I found out that my tutor, Heber, served his mission in Belgium, French-speaking. He was 26 years old, just 9 days older than me. He was extremely intelligent, the A+ student (I got a C+ on my first test), and I didn't think he was dating anyone. I started walking to study groups. I was light outside when I would leave.

Heber: When study groups ended, it was always dark outside. Jenni never had a car there, so I would always offer to give her a ride back to her apartment. She would always accept. Although I thought this was a good sign, I really didn't know what Jenni thought of me. I got really excited once when she mentioned that she would take me oil painting. I took her up on that, letting her know that I enjoyed art and would love to learn to paint. However, after she opened the invitation up to the whole study group, I still found myself wondering about her intentions.

Jenni: I was feeling really guilty for all the help I was getting from Heber, and not feeling that I could offer him anything in return so I decided to invite him to go landscape painting with me. I opened it up to the whole study group so it wouldn't look like I was too forward (but I hoped no one else would come). He was a natural, like me :)

Heber: Jenni succeeded in not being too forward. However, I think she was starting to crack at least a bit, because while we were painting, I was pretty sure I was feeling those good vibes that I was hoping for. Because the painting experience went so well, a few days later I decided to ask her out on a real date.

Jenni: Girls kinda think they're in a relationship all along, whether they go on dates or not. I knew that Heber liked me because he stayed late helping me with statistics,.. and what's not to like? ;) I was excited to go on a date with him. We had a lot of fun. We went out with his sister and brother-in-law to Los Hermanos and afterward went and played Pictionary at the park and made brownies. I was very impressed with how much his family loved each other and how kind they were.

Heber: Okay, so this part is gonna sound a bit crazy, but by this time I was really impressed with Jenni and was starting to think to myself, "Self, this is one great girl". Of course, I agreed with me. In my mind I think that I was already realizing that Jenni was the type of girl that I could get along with and even potentially marry. Because of this thought, I really wanted her to meet my brother who was leaving on a mission just 4 days after our first date. All during the date, I tried to steer the conversation towards Tyler (my missionary brother), in hopes of being able to very casually invite her to go to Bountiful and hear him speak the next day. Well, the occasion never really came up to invite her during the date. As I pulled in to drop her off, I started thinking of how I could work it into the goodbye. I couldn't think of anything (and kinda just chickened out) so I didn't invite her. As I drove away from Campus Plaza, I started wishing that I had asked her, but didn't think it would work to go back and invite her. As I was thinking this over, my phone rang.

Jenni: I had such a fun time on the date that I wanted to let Heber know. I decided to call him and remind him to pick up his suit for church the next day in Bountiful. I felt kinda silly, but wanted to show my interest.

Heber: When Jenni called on the phone, I girded my loins and gathered my courage and invited her to come to Bountiful the very next day to hear Tyler speak. Jenni told me that she would think about it and call me back the next morning.

Jenni: I was trying to stall because I didn't want to go. I didn't want to drive all the way to Bountiful and meet his family. But,.. I did like him and he was being forward, and I did appreciate that, and I thought that if I took Ryan with me, I wouldn't feel too uncomfortable. Boy, was I wrong.

Heber: Well, Jenni called me the next morning and told me that she would be coming and bringing her brother. I was excited by this and went to church looking forward to seeing this girl that I was starting to get to know.

Jenni: Alright, I'm sick of writing like this, so now we're going to just finish the story quick together.

Heber: Right-o, Cap'n

So, Jenni did come to the farewell, she did bring Ryan, and she was sure right about him taking all the attention off of herself. Ryan was the life of the after-church party. He didn't know anyone there but Jenni, yet made himself at home (which is an entirely different story). The bottom line is that I was really impressed with Jenni (and was very aware that she was a really cute girl).

The next weekend, I met Jenni's Colorado family who were in town. That was a lot of fun and I felt comfortable with them.

We started dating in earnest and finally held hands while hiking down Y mountain.

I went with Jenni up to Burley for her mom's birthday, and had a great time there.

Once we started talking about marriage, I felt really excited and blessed.


The mornings of September 24, 25, and 26, I went ring-shopping. I finally found one that I really felt good about and asked them to get it ready. They said it would be ready on Friday (September 28th) after 5pm... Friday couldn't come soon enough. On the 28th, Jenni was at work (completely unsuspecting of anything). I told her that I would pick her up at 5pm. I called her father as I drove to the jewelers to pick up the ring. The next stop was my apartment where I borrowed a roommates guitar and printed some music off the internet. After stopping at the Flower Patch to get some pretty roses, I drove to Rock Canyon park and laid the blanket and flowers under a tree and went to pick up Jenni. Jenni was ready to be done with work and anxious to do some shopping for Shelley and Ryan's birthday. However, I asked if we could stop somewhere to show her something. We drove to Rock Canyon park. I knew we were kind of in a hurry, so I asked if I could play her just one song on the guitar. We walked to where the roses were waiting. Jenni was pleased to get roses and didn't think that I could possibly be proposing. She was in denial :) After playing a warm-up song (because my hands were shaking), I played Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle. The chorus of this song includes the words: "I've looked around enough to know that you're the one that I want to go through time with". Jenni looked absolutely terrified (she was in shock AND denial :) After the song, I put the guitar away, got on one knee, gathered my courage (again) and asked Jenni Morgan to marry me.

She said YES!!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! mom

Jessica said...

That's a VERY sweet story. I am so excited for both of you.

Cyndee Bodily said...

Thanks for sharing that fun story. Yipee Jenni!!!
cb

rachel said...

I loved your story...I found myself, laughing out loud, smiling, crying! It is so wonderful! I'm so excited for you guys!

Unknown said...

Well...Auntie Barb bawled her face off...I'm so emotional!

I can't even say the words to express how supremely excited I am for both of you!

You two "go together!"

It proves to me that the Lord is mindful of all of us and if we just hang in there...our dreams will come true! bb

Unknown said...

I have always heard that if it is too good to be true, maybe it isn't. But in this case I am really happy for both of you. You make such a cute couple. The Lord does hear and answer prayers. I feel like mine have been answered.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! gma