Our Story

My name is Amber and I met my husband Will nearly five years ago. 

Every Sunday night the young single adults (YSA) from my church get together to socialize.  While I was living at home in 2007 I was one of the regulars at these activities.  When I decided to move back to Rexburg, Idaho for school, it was from this group of peers that I sought out people headed west to travel with me.  Will was one of three to volunteer.  Of the three, I knew Will the least.  But the first week of January in 2008 we packed up my Grand Prix and started our trek west.  After we reached our destination we all parted ways.  We never imagined what was in store for us just a few years down the road.

♥ Getting Back In Touch…

I moved back home in October of 2009.  I was working full time and going to night school.  On January 1st a really good friend of mine was having a huge birthday party to which I was invited.  I was scoping out the crowd for familiar faces when I spotted him.  He was definitely one of the last people I expected to see.  We both considered approaching each other that night but decided against it.  It wasn’t until the next evening at the weekly YSA gathering that we acknowledged each other.  While the rest of the group played card games we sat off to the side catching up.  We were the last ones to leave that night.  As I drove home I considered getting on facebook as soon as I got home to look him up and send him a message.  I wanted to tell him how great it was to talk to him but didn’t want to come off as being too anxious, so I decided to give it a couple days before I tried contacting him.  The next morning when I logged onto my email, however, I had a message awaiting me from the night before.  It was Will.  He gave me his phone number and invited me to give him a call.  Again, not wanting to appear too anxious, I decided  I would wait until the following day to call him.  Four hours later I gave in.  We chatted a little bit, and then he asked me out for that weekend.

♥The Courtship…

After a traditional date of pizza and bowling, I couldn’t wait to see him again.  The feeling was mutual.  After that first date, we wore out I-81 spending every possible evening together until he returned to Idaho for school.  We lived an hour apart, and for our second date I headed to his hometown.  It was raining slightly on my way to Will's house, but the roads seemed fine.  I made it safely to his exit where he met up with me to lead me the rest of the way.  After just a few short hours with him, we learned that interstate and major highways between his house and mine had been closed due to ice and accidents.  I was snowed in.  We couldn't have planned if better if we had tried.  I had no real option other than to stay the night and wait for the roads to clear the next day.

Two days later Will wanted to take me skating.  I was pretty sure it would only end in humiliate but agreed anyway.  I loved skating when I was younger...how hard could it be to pick back up after a mere 12 years?  All in all, the evening went well.  I was doing a lot better than I expected.  It was a little rough at first but slowly eased back into it without falling.  We had been skating for quite a while when our age caught up with us and we decided to head off to the benches along the side for a short rest.  Will led the way.  As I made the transition from the smooth skating floor to the carpet, I wasn't prepared for the drastic, sudden change in speed.  My skates and feet slowed, but my body continued to speed ahead.  Overcorrecting myself, I jerked backward to keep from falling on my face and ended up falling right on my butt instead.  At that moment I felt the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. My vision was coming and going, my head was spinning, and I was doing all I could to keep from throwing up.  I still thought it would be one of those pains that would slowly drift away....but there was no drifting going on.  The pain stayed, and if anything it was getting worse.  That night after I returned home I discovered I was missing a chunk out of my tailbone.  Eight months later, my tailbone still bothers me sometimes.

♥The Parting…

After a few short weeks, Will headed back to Idaho for school.  Our days consisted of lots of texting, phonecalls, and an occasion skype date.  It wasn't long before I had enough of being apart from him, and two months later I packed up my bags and joined him in Idaho.  Irresponsible?  Maybe.  But it was well worth it.  Idaho is not our favorite place, but we made a lot of good memories while we were there.

♥The proposal…

On May 23, 2011 Will officially asked me to marry him.  It had been a long day of classes for me.  After my last class ended, I headed over to his apartment for dinner.  My cousin, Jency, was headed up from Utah with her husband.  We were waiting for them to arrive so we could go on a double date, or so I thought.  Will was acting weird and would hardly speak to me.  He disappeared upstairs in his bedroom for a little while, showering and getting ready for our double date.  While I was waiting I got on his computer.  There was a word document open and I briefly scanned over it to see if it was something important.  It was scavenger hunt clues.  Will's roommate, Thomas, was in charge of their group's family home evening that night and he had told me they were doing a scavenger hunt so I assumed Will had been helping him with it.  I just minimized the docment and logged on to my facebook account.  When Will came back down stairs he made a big deal about me being on his computer.  I just assumed it was an extention to the bad day I was already having.

Jency and Joe made it to Rexburg an hour late, but Will still wasn’t ready.  Jency told me earlier she had something for me and wanted to give it to me without Will being there, so I headed over to her parent’s house where we would wait for Will to arrive.  What she had for me was a little white envelope with my name on it.  I opened it up to find a clue to a scavenger hunt. Before beginning the hunt, the note said I had to forfeit my cell phone to Jency, and I had to carry a flashlight with me at all times.  Jency’s husband Joe just happened to have a flashlight.

The clues led me to a few of our favorite places to go on dates in Rexburg.  Because we were late getting started, the shifts had switched at many of the places I had to go to for clues, which made getting my next clue kind of difficult.  Eventually I found all of my clues, however.  The last clue led me back to my aunt and uncles house where Will was waiting on their front steps for me to arrive.  After greeting each other, Will took the flashlight from my hands, opened it, and pulled out the ring.  I had unknowing been carrying the ring with me the entire time.  Will got down on his knee and asked me to marry him.  There was no hesitation when I told him yes!