How They Met
Todd and Roo grew up in the same neighborhood in Orem UT and went to all the same schools (Todd is two years older), but didn't become friends until May of 2008 when they both moved home from college for the summer. Todd always played the piano for the Young Single Adult Institute class (religious education) aend Roo always led the music. Soon, they had inside jokes and were spending time together outside of class.
They dated the summer of 2008, but broke it off when it suddenly didn't "feel right". Be sure to click the link for photos from way back then--they are fun! God definitely had a plan for them, as Roo decided soon after the breakup that she needed to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They kept in touch through letters and email while she served in the Missouri Indepdence Mission. Todd moved to Wisconsin to work and dated around while Roo tried to bury her feelings for him (everyone knows sister missionaries shouldn't be thinking about cute boys!).
Roo returned home and the first minute she was alone with Todd, she shared her feelings and admitted she still wanted to date him. This surprised Todd as he assumed it would take a while to allow her to "warm up" to him...New Years Eve of 2010, he kissed her and the magic began for the second time. :)
Distance, though obviously a challenge, proved to be a blessing and allowed a unique opportunity for the two to learn to really communicate. Roo (now comfortable with her given name of Sheresa) came to visit Todd once a month in Wisconsin and in May they both felt good about her moving there indefinitely!
The Engagement
Todd proposed the day Sheresa arrived. It was awesome.
Todd's version:
Sheresa had decided to move the Madison for the summer. We both knew that an engagement was coming soon, and I figured it would happen within a few weeks of her getting here. But the day that she was flying in, I decided to propose that day. I didn't have a ring, but I left work a little early to buy her favorite flowers (yellow roses with pink tips). Unfortunately, there was a fire somewhere in the Madison area that backed up traffic horribly, and I didn't make it to the airport until she was already down in the bagging area with tons of people around. I had envisioned proposing as soon as she walked down the stairs, so I didn't know what to do at this point. I felt the same way I did that one time I was psyching myself up for jumping off a 60-foot cliff into Lake Powell.
After we kissed and talked for a few minutes, I tried to kneel down and ask her to marry me, but she pushed me back up into my seat in the bagging area and kissed me. I got down again and asked her to marry me. She said yes in the same way she would have said yes if I asked her if she wanted to get something to eat, and then she kissed me again. She didn't seem surprised at all, and I didn't know if she realized what I had just asked. She then told me that she wasn't surprised because, "you couldn't have surprised me because I've been expecting it every second now for months."
At this point, we didn't tell people because it didn't really seem official until I had a ring. I had been working with a wholesaler in Utah, which was difficult because I couldn't actually see his stuff (and sometimes he wasn't the best about getting back to me). So without telling Sheresa, I went and bought the ring at Jared's (she had told me a ring she loved there, and I picked out an AWESOME diamond). It was supposed to be ready by that Saturday at 5 pm, and I was planning on giving her the ring and then taking her to dinner at her favorite restaurant.
Saturday morning rolled around, and she called me to say she was coming for breakfast, and I needed to pick her up a few blocks away at the bus stop. On my way over, I called Jared's to confirm that the ring was going to be ready, and they told me it was already ready right then! So I stopped by Jared's, picked up the ring, deciding in the moment to give it to her then, and then met her at the bus stop. I was still in my pajamas, unsure how I was going to give it to her, not having had a chance to think it through.
At the bus stop, she said hi and I replied, "I have something for you," and I pulled out the ring. Still thinking I was working with the wholesaler, she was confused and said, "What is that? Where did you get it? What's going on?" When I knelt down and said, "Try it on," I think she realized it was the ring from Jared's and it hit her that this was the real deal! She was pretty girly then, which I liked.
My main goal was to surprise her, and her main goal was to get a ring on her finger. We both got our wish. :)
We are still engaged.