Hey all. Brice here. My blog entry will cover the proposal, and the story goes a little something like this.
Alec and I had talked about marriage as early as October 2010 but had at length decided that a formal proposal should wait until after school was over for the semester in December. Our student ward had a Christmas party at the Joseph Smith memorial building on Temple square on December 2. It was a beautiful night. The air was crisp and cold with a warm glow from the Christmas lights glinting off the snow. Dressed for the formal dinner occasion, Alec was the belle of the ball. She was beautiful and radiant in Christmas colors. Following the dinner we went to the top floor of the JSMB to look out over the lights on Temple Square. Since it was late the floor was nearly deserted. With no one around it was quiet and romantic. It was the perfect time and place to get engaged. There was only one little problem: The semester wasn't over yet and I had not talked to her father or purchased a ring. Those things didn't need to happen for another two weeks at least. On the way back to the car Alec said she thought that I was going to propose up there and that she was a little disappointed that I did not. My Brain exploded.
It occurs to me now that while she did say that she had no problem with getting engaged sooner rather than later she didn't say that we had to and the mad scramble that occupied the next seven days of my life could have been avoided.
The next day (December 3 for those of you following at home) was a Friday. I went to the mall and shopped at four different jewelry stores. Many hours later I finally found the perfect ring. One that I knew she would love and was in my budget, but it needed to be customized, so it would not be ready until the next Wednesday! With the ring purchased I set about the next phase of my plan: Finding the right time and place to pop the question. After Alec's comments following the Christmas party I thought that Temple square should be the place. I had a hot tip that the Tabernacle Choir has practice on Thursday nights that you can listen in on. Considering our shared love of great music I thought this would be not only a great date but a great excuse to get us to temple square with Alec none the wiser. But where exactly on Temple Square to do it? I knew I needed to go scope out the area, and better yet I needed to get feedback from Alec on what places she might like and I needed to get that feedback surreptitiously.
Sunday (December 5) was the first presidency Christmas devotional. We didn't have tickets but I told Alec that we should go down anyway just to see if we could get in. We couldn't. So we just walked around Temple Square. It was perfect. Thick fog covered Temple Square with the lights on the Temple shining through like a lighthouse beacon of the Lord. In our wanderings we ended up over right in front of the Church office building. There is a big fountain there. We love fountains. Alec sat on a little bench in front of the fountain shrouded in fog (Alec loves fog too) The moment was perfect. Alec looked up at me with a beautiful radiance in her eyes, smiled, and said "ok. I am ready!" I shrugged my shoulders, reached a hand into my inside coat pocket and said 'ok". Alec jumped off the bench in a total panic that I was seriously about to propose. (Remember, I had bought the ring but it was not done being customized yet. Of course she didn't know that.)
Wednesday December 8 I pick up the ring and finally talk to her father. She knows that I am keeping something secret but how she doesn't put together that I have a ring I will never know. I am pretty sure that she did know and was just humoring my desire to have some semblance of surprise surrounding our engagement. Thursday (December 9) we went back to Temple Square, and it is at this time that I start seriously second guessing if the Temple square thing has been way too overdone in the past week. We park under the conference center and go listen to the choir for a half hour or so before I tell her I want to take her on a carriage ride since she had always wanted to do that. On our way out of the conference center we walk over to the little alcove behind the waterfall that runs down the front of the building. Now THIS was the perfect place to propose. We were not just at a fountain, it was like we were IN a fountain. Just as I am thinking this Alec says, "It's too bad that you have not talked to my father and gotten a ring yet. You could totally propose" My brain exploded. Again. I simply could not think of a cool, suave way to segway into "Well, as a mater of fact...." Besides I really wanted to do it after the carriage ride. I figured that just in case she wasn't sure about marrying me, the carriage ride would clinch it.
The carriage ride was awesome. If you have never gone on a carriage ride, do it. If you have, do it at Christmas time. They actually have jingle bells. Seriously! What more do want from your romance?
After the carriage ride, I figured that even though she really tried to ruin the waterfall it was still the best place to propose, so back to the conference center we went. The guest service missionary guarding the door didn't want to let us in because they were trying to clear the building after the the choir was finished. I asked if we could just cut through the building to the elevators where we parked and he reluctantly let us in. I cut over to the alcove, totally oblivious to the fact that Alec had no idea where I was going. Duh. Back in the alcove I am watching the hall like a secret service agent waiting for it to be empty so I can make my move. Finally it clears out and we are completely alone. Not knowing how long our privacy might last I seize the moment and ask Alec if she likes me. (This is really sweet and funny and important to our story. Kind of an inside joke.) She says yes. "Do you love me?" I ask. "Yes." She replies. "Are you in love with me?" "Yes." "Well then I just have one last question for you." Dropping to one knee and fumbling to get the box out of my coat. "Alec Havens, will you marry me?"
Stunned ecstatic silence. A brief pause that drags into eternity. Finally a quiet yet exuberant "yes".
Tune in next time for something completely different.
-Brice Sherratt
Friday, January 14, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
When We Met...
Alec's version:
Once upon a time, Alec graduated from high school. And as some will relate, she was desperate to get out of her home ward. So Alec went on a quest to find the best student ward there was! She searched long, and she searched hard, (and by that, of course we mean she went to the U of U institute and looked at a sheet of paper) until she finally found it! The best student ward in the world!! Which just so happened to be the home of our dear Brice Sherratt. It was magic the second Alec entered the chapel. A choir of angels started singing as Alec looked across the room to where Brice was standing. The lights dimmed except for a single ray of light that illuminated him. It was love at first sight. A symphony of music arose as they ran in slow motion towards each other. They embraced and the next two years floated by like a dream in sweet romantic memories of the dating years. Until one fateful December night when their lives changed forever, but that is another blog post entirely.
Brice's version:
Once upon a time, Brice graduated from high school. Then he went on a mission to Florida and had miraculous wonders brought about in his life. He came home prepared to find his eternal companion. (He was completely unaware at the time that he needed to wait 8 years for the love of his life to blossom into an eligible bachelorette) He figured he could give a try at college so he headed to SLCC. Unfortunately, there was no one near as awesome as Alec there, so he went to work in real estate. While in this adventure, he was also able to buy a house in Lehi, but there was still no fair maiden to be found. So he sold his house and moved to West Jordan and found the 16th ward. Finally! There were some women of real potential there! He tried dating a few, but it never quite clicked like he felt it should. Feeling quite defeated, he moved back home. Days, weeks, months passed and he made friends with many different girls.
One Sunday in particular, a pair of very young girls came up to him and complimented him on his three piece suit. He didn't think much of them. One was only 17 and the other had braces (what an ugo). More time went by and by and by and he came to be friends with the two odd girls. Imagine his surprise when he found that the ugo was actually kind of cool. She listened to awesome music, could hold a decently intelligent conversation, and could recite the alphabet backwards while solving a Rubik's cube. She still had braces though, and was 8 years younger than he, also she was super awkward 83.6% of the time. He decided he needed a test to see if she was really close friend material. He invited her over to watch Anime. Turns out, she was really into it, despite her inability to read subtitles. After a month of testing her every day, he figured he could at least give her a pity date. Soon after that, she got her braces off and Brice was shocked to find that underneath the ugo brace-face was a half decent looking woman. Brice was conflicted with these new feelings of love towards such an odd girl. By the next time he saw her, though, she had a boyfriend! Suddenly Brice was overwhelmed with how much he missed hanging out with such an awesome, if peculiar, girl. Luckily the relationship did not last long, and Brice leaped at his chance to try once more with Alec. After many more nights of analytical hang outs, he finally decided: I must kiss this girl! (*cue little mermaid music "sha la la la don't be shy, come give a try you want to kiss the girl woah woah"*).
So one fateful December evening, he braved it. He kissed her and things went smoothly for the next few months. They even started dating exclusively. But the more they dated, the more Brice realized that Alec was being controlled by aliens that lived inside her brain which made her act super wishy washy. This worried him, as it should have. How was she supposed to handle life if she had aliens in her brain? So, as a clever plan to vanquish the aliens, he set her back out into the world to struggle through the summer of non-stop dating. By September, Alec seemed to be alien-free, and Brice decided to make a second grand entrance to see how things could work out. This time things went even smoother than before, but Brice was still convinced there was part of an alien inhabiting Alec's brain that would take over if they were to get married. It took the words of a wise sage to get him to understand that all girls have the potential of aliens taking over and he had to make a leap of faith. And there you have it. The wonderful story of how boy met girl, boy denied girl, boy reconsidered, boy and girl dated, broke up, boy vanquished Aliens and got back together for a happy new beginning!
Facts:
Brice and Alec really did meet in the University 16th ward in the fall of 2008.
They shared their first kiss December 2009.
Brice served a full time LDS mission in the Florida Orlando Mission.
Alec really can recite the alphabet backwards while solving a Rubik's cube.
Also note that Alec truly does have a tendency to be super awkward 83.6% of the time.
Author: Alec Havens (soon to be) Sherratt
Once upon a time, Alec graduated from high school. And as some will relate, she was desperate to get out of her home ward. So Alec went on a quest to find the best student ward there was! She searched long, and she searched hard, (and by that, of course we mean she went to the U of U institute and looked at a sheet of paper) until she finally found it! The best student ward in the world!! Which just so happened to be the home of our dear Brice Sherratt. It was magic the second Alec entered the chapel. A choir of angels started singing as Alec looked across the room to where Brice was standing. The lights dimmed except for a single ray of light that illuminated him. It was love at first sight. A symphony of music arose as they ran in slow motion towards each other. They embraced and the next two years floated by like a dream in sweet romantic memories of the dating years. Until one fateful December night when their lives changed forever, but that is another blog post entirely.
Brice's version:
Once upon a time, Brice graduated from high school. Then he went on a mission to Florida and had miraculous wonders brought about in his life. He came home prepared to find his eternal companion. (He was completely unaware at the time that he needed to wait 8 years for the love of his life to blossom into an eligible bachelorette) He figured he could give a try at college so he headed to SLCC. Unfortunately, there was no one near as awesome as Alec there, so he went to work in real estate. While in this adventure, he was also able to buy a house in Lehi, but there was still no fair maiden to be found. So he sold his house and moved to West Jordan and found the 16th ward. Finally! There were some women of real potential there! He tried dating a few, but it never quite clicked like he felt it should. Feeling quite defeated, he moved back home. Days, weeks, months passed and he made friends with many different girls.
One Sunday in particular, a pair of very young girls came up to him and complimented him on his three piece suit. He didn't think much of them. One was only 17 and the other had braces (what an ugo). More time went by and by and by and he came to be friends with the two odd girls. Imagine his surprise when he found that the ugo was actually kind of cool. She listened to awesome music, could hold a decently intelligent conversation, and could recite the alphabet backwards while solving a Rubik's cube. She still had braces though, and was 8 years younger than he, also she was super awkward 83.6% of the time. He decided he needed a test to see if she was really close friend material. He invited her over to watch Anime. Turns out, she was really into it, despite her inability to read subtitles. After a month of testing her every day, he figured he could at least give her a pity date. Soon after that, she got her braces off and Brice was shocked to find that underneath the ugo brace-face was a half decent looking woman. Brice was conflicted with these new feelings of love towards such an odd girl. By the next time he saw her, though, she had a boyfriend! Suddenly Brice was overwhelmed with how much he missed hanging out with such an awesome, if peculiar, girl. Luckily the relationship did not last long, and Brice leaped at his chance to try once more with Alec. After many more nights of analytical hang outs, he finally decided: I must kiss this girl! (*cue little mermaid music "sha la la la don't be shy, come give a try you want to kiss the girl woah woah"*).
So one fateful December evening, he braved it. He kissed her and things went smoothly for the next few months. They even started dating exclusively. But the more they dated, the more Brice realized that Alec was being controlled by aliens that lived inside her brain which made her act super wishy washy. This worried him, as it should have. How was she supposed to handle life if she had aliens in her brain? So, as a clever plan to vanquish the aliens, he set her back out into the world to struggle through the summer of non-stop dating. By September, Alec seemed to be alien-free, and Brice decided to make a second grand entrance to see how things could work out. This time things went even smoother than before, but Brice was still convinced there was part of an alien inhabiting Alec's brain that would take over if they were to get married. It took the words of a wise sage to get him to understand that all girls have the potential of aliens taking over and he had to make a leap of faith. And there you have it. The wonderful story of how boy met girl, boy denied girl, boy reconsidered, boy and girl dated, broke up, boy vanquished Aliens and got back together for a happy new beginning!
Facts:
Brice and Alec really did meet in the University 16th ward in the fall of 2008.
They shared their first kiss December 2009.
Brice served a full time LDS mission in the Florida Orlando Mission.
Alec really can recite the alphabet backwards while solving a Rubik's cube.
Also note that Alec truly does have a tendency to be super awkward 83.6% of the time.
Author: Alec Havens (soon to be) Sherratt
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