Katie M. and Braedon G.'s Love Story

Now on to the fun stuff. Mine and Braedon's story.

I was never a girl to look for that "fairytale" or "movie" type story, but somehow it found me. Prepare yourself for some good cheesiness - I'll try and keep it short. Braedon and I met in the sixth grade when I had switched schools because of my family moving. At the time (and still a little to this day) I was an extremely hyper and energetic girl. He was a fun loving nerd of a boy. We instantly became friends, best friends in fact. After awhile I soon realized that Braedon had a crush on me (he will even attest to it, so it wasn't in my head). I of course being the hyper tom-boy that I was did not have the same feelings for him. I loved him, but only like a brother - and was always saying so to others. Well we continued to be great friends all through middle school and high school and the whole time he still had a crush on me (again he will tell you the same thing). I got pretty good at ignoring it and making sure to use the word "friend" a lot. Now don't get me wrong, I cared for Braedon a lot, and at times would even say that I had started to like him, but the timing would never seem to work out and I would go back to just thinking him as my best friend. Well we went to Jr. Prom together and it was shortly thereafter that I finally started to admit to myself that I had more feelings towards him then just those of the platonic nature. So that summer I decided to turn on the 'charm' (if it can even be called that) and give him the clues that I liked him. If you ask him there were no such clues, but I promise there was. It took him till the end of the summer to finally get the courage to ask me how I felt about him. For him to have the courage at all to ask me, once again, about how I felt is pretty amazing to me. I of course responded in a most positive way and we soon started dating. Braedon is my first and only everything - hand holding, relationship, kiss (which was in the rain up in the mountains too might I add), "I love you", etc.

We dated all through our senior year of high school and then a year after. He then was called to serve an LDS Mission to St. Louis MO. We knew it was coming, but nothing could prepare us for how hard those two years would be. While we both knew it was the right thing to do, going through something like that is not something I would wish on anyone. But I waited for him, wrote him every week, and we both grew stronger and more in love with each other as those two years past. Then as his mission was winding down there were plans made for his family to drive down to MO to pick him up and visit families there. On their way back they were going to be stopping in Moab. Me and Braedon's mom got to talking about it and cooked up a little plan. We got permission from his Mission President and decided that I would meet them in Moab and surprise him by being there. It was one of the hardest secrets to keep, but we all did it and he had not a clue of what was happening. I sat (stood, paced, fidgeted, etc) in the hotel room as I waited for him and his family to walk in. That last 15 minutes seemed longer then the whole two years. But finally Braedon walked in and was dumbfounded. I have never seen him so confused and stunned before. After the initial shock wore off he came over and gave me a great big hug. Best. Hug. Ever. I don't think I realized how much I didn't feel whole with him gone and I never know I could love someone so much. It felt so right having him back and in my arms, and we both knew that all our waiting had paid off.

Well if you haven't been able to tell the end of the story by now, I'll fill in the last bits for ya. We waited a month before we got engaged on November 16th - this is another cute story but I'm afraid of how long this is getting so I'll leave it out. We aren't getting married till May because I'm currently enrolled at UVU as a Mathematics Major and will be graduating in April. We felt it best for me to finish up school so I wouldn't have too many distractions my last semester of school. May 13th can't come soon enough though. I couldn't imagine a better person to spend the rest of my life with. He is wonderful. I am so glad that he waited so long for me so that I could wait for him and that I get to marry my best friend for 10 years once and for all!