Once Upon a Time.

Once upon a time I decided to write mine and Braedon's story down. After I finished it I was happy with the words but wasn't particularly happy with the format I had written it in. This is when I went to my wonderful English major friend Kelci. I asked her if she would look at it and switch it around so it sounded like someone else was telling the story. BAM. She returned to me a wonderfully true tale that we loved so much we printed it on little cards to put on the tables at the reception. The plan was to then post this story on my blog shortly after the wedding... obviously that didn't happen.

Better late then never right?

So for those that don't already know it, haven't already read it or feel so inclined to read it, I present to you the story that is Katie and Braedon:

            Never one to look for that 'fairytale ending', somehow love found this one girl in particular, Katie. Now, prepare yourself for some good cheese, I'll try and keep it short, but this tale is fairly epic - you've been warned.

            It was in the sixth grade that Braedon and Katie met, when she switched schools after her family moved. If you don't know already, Katie was an extremely energetic girl, while Braedon was just fun-loving enough to keep up. They instantly became friends - best friends, in fact. After awhile, it soon came out that Braedon was developing a crush on Katie - he even attested to it, so she knew it was real. Katie, of course, being the out-of-control tom-boy that she was, didn't share the feelings. She loved him, but like a brother - and made sure everyone knew.

            Well, they continued to be great friends all through middle and high school, the whole time he still had a crush on her - again, he'll tell you the same. She got pretty good at ignoring Braedon's advances and made sure to use the "friend" word a lot. Now, don't get me wrong, Katie cared for Braedon a lot, and at times would even say that she had started to like him, but the timing would never seem to work out and she'd go back to just thinking of him as her best friend. Well, they went to Junior Prom together, and shortly thereafter Katie finally began admitting that her feelings towards him were more than those of a platonic nature.

            So, that summer our heroine stepped up her game, turned on the charm ... if you can call it that ... and dropped the clues that she liked him. If you were to ask him, there were no such clues -  but we promise, there were. It took him until the end of summer to finally get the courage to ask her how she felt about him. For him to have the courage at all to ask, once again, about where her affection laid is pretty astounding. She, of course, responded that the feelings were very much mutual, and they soon started dating. Braedon her first and only everything -- first hand hold, first relationship, first kiss (which was during a rainstorm in the mountains, she likes to point out), even her first, real "I love you".

            They dated through their last school years and a year after, at which time Braedon was called to serve an LDS Mission to St. Louis, Missouri. Although both knew it was coming, nothing could prepare them for how hard those two years would be. While it was the right thing to do, going through something like that was not something they would wish on anyone. Alas, Katie waited for him, wrote every week, and together they grew stronger and more in love with each day that passed.

            Then, as the mission wound down, plans were made for his family to drive to Missouri to pick him up, on their way back stopping in Moab. Katie started talking about it with Braedon's mom, and together cooked up a little plan: they got permission from his mission president and decided that she would meet the family in Moab and surprise him there. It was one of the hardest secrets to keep, but it never slipped and Braedon had not a clue.

            When the moment of truth finally came, there was no stopping Katie's fidgeting; she sat, stood, paced, and twitched in the hotel room as she waited for the family to walk in, those 15 minutes lasting longer than the two years, collectively. When Braedon walked in never had he looked so dumbfounded, never so confused and stunned in his entire life. After the initial shock wore off, he came over and gave Katie a great big hug. Best. Hug. Ever. It wasn't until then that she realized how incomplete she felt with him gone and never realizing how she could love someone so much. It felt so right having to be back in one another's arms, both knowing that the waiting paid off.

            Well, if you haven't been able to tell the end of the story by now, I'll fill in the last bit, now -- they waited a month before getting engaged on November 16th - another cute story for another day. They set the date for May, both in school, Katie graduating from Utah Valley University, this April, with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics.

            For all my efforts in wrapping this up, I couldn't have said it any better than Katie herself, when she said, "I couldn't imagine a better person to spend the rest of my life with! I am so glad that he waited so long for me so that I could wait for him, finally marrying my best friend of 10 years!"

The End.

Or for you cheese balls like me:

The Beginning. :)