From the Bride-to-be... I transferred schools my sophomore year of high school, and as I was walking out to the carpool line the first day, I saw the most handsome boy standing outside waiting on his mom. I hopped straight in the car and told my mom I had just seen “THE cutest boy alive,” and searched for him all night on Facebook and found nothing. The next day, I told my only friend at school I had at the time about the boy I had seen the day before but I didn’t have enough details for her to know exactly who it was. Embarrassingly I have to admit we decided his nickname would just be “baby” (he had a baby face) until I could figure out his name. She finally figured out who I was talking about and she told me that “baby” was Daniel Fields and he was a freshman. A younger boy that looked like him didn’t discourage me from looking like a fool for being an older girl pursuing someone younger, so of course from then on I practiced "Morgan Fields" over and over in my head and on lots of paper.

My friends and I began to stalk every move Daniel made and I eventually figured out that his locker was directly next to my last period math class which meant I got to see him almost every day. One day, I saw a guy I knew talking to Daniel and made a mental note that the next time I saw him I was going to say something. A couple of days later at lunch, I told our mutual friend he HAD to set me up with Daniel. He said of course and promised to get his number for me. Days passed, and the friend comes up to me again at lunch with a tiny piece of paper (that I still have) with Daniel’s number on it. He added that Daniel was incredibly shy and that I would have to make the first move if I wanted anything to happen. My parents always told me growing up that I was never to approach a boy first and that I should always wait for them to pursue me. Well, I made an exception to the rule and decided I’d send a casual text. I sent the text and he responded and really from that point forward, the conversation never stopped. We talked all summer long and would ask each other every question in the book. I finally mustered up the courage to ask him to go out to eat with my family and our best family friends at P. F. Changs and he agreed. After that first time of hanging out we practically hung out every single day after and were absolutely obsessed with each other. We became each other’s best friend and truly were a part of one another’s families.

We dated for two years, and then it was time for me to go off to school. Much to my dismay, we decided that we needed to break up and have time to really mature and take advantage of all the opportunities we could without always basing our decisions on one another. It absolutely crushed me, but I knew if it was meant to be the Lord would find even the craziest way to bring us back together and He most certainly did. We decided to start dating again and it honestly felt like nothing had ever changed. Of course we were much more mature than we were in high school, but it was just like it was always meant to be. Immediately, we were one another’s best friend again and we didn’t do anything without the other. Our families were overjoyed and we were one big happy family all over again.

About a year and a half passed, and Daniel and I decided to take our own “Mountain Weekend” in Montana in September. I really didn’t think anything of it considering we had previously been out just a couple months before and Daniel grew to love the place as much as I did. Fall is our favorite season, and Montana in the fall is extra spectacular so we could hardly stand to wait to book our next trip when we got home. Daniel and I both love to surprise one another and really will find whatever excuse to do it. On pretty much every trip we’ve ever taken, we’ve always packed a little something extra or planned something special for each other and this trip was no exception. We also like to tease one another that we have the best surprise and Daniel was insistent that his would beat mine this time without a doubt. It would seem fitting at this point most any girl would get a clue what was about to happen, but Daniel is very smart and talked to me in depth about how he would be ring shopping in December back in August so that kept my mind preoccupied to thinking we would get engaged around Christmas time.

So…we make it to Montana, walk in the house, and on the island there is a beautiful bouquet of white garden roses. I of course am so giddy that he surprised me by having flowers for me waiting at the house and thank him for the most amazing surprise to which he very nervously responds that it is only part of the surprise and I would get the rest the next day. The following morning, I woke up to a fire in the fireplace with a fresh cup of coffee, and Daniel heads out to go play golf. Around lunch time he comes back and tells me that we’ll head down to eat lunch and then we can go for a ride on the horses after. Riding the horses is my favorite thing to do out there so I hurried to eat and off we went on our horses “Freckles” and “Cotton.” We took the most beautiful trail through multiple groves of Aspens in their golden prime and up to the highest elevation on property called “Sheep’s Rock.” At this point, the wrangler we were with told us that we could get off if we wanted and take a look at the view of the property from the top. We got off the horses and started down the path where I saw one of my white garden roses laying on a tree branch with a note tied with a ribbon around it. Daniel tells me to open it, and the note says “I love the way you twirl your hair when you get nervous…”. We kept walking down the path where I collected ten more white roses each with something Daniel loves about me written on it. At the top of the path and top of the mountain, there were two chairs with a beautiful wine and cheese display and one final white rose laying across a leather photo album. I opened the album and page by page is filled with a picture and piece of the story of our journey all the way from 16 to 23 years old! At the end, he had written his purpose statement and mine beside his. With tear filled eyes, he stood me up and turned me around and got down on one knee and asked me to spend forever writing our story together… and that’s where it all (officially) began! Needless to say, his surprise beat my measly gift of a new flannel shirt for our trip!