It's no secret that Allen and I were planning on getting married in August. It's also no secret to people who have been paying attention that we have most of the details of the wedding planned. Many people have asked and wondered why we were moving forward when we weren't technically engaged and Allen would always answer that he'd decide when it would happen and at least he knew the answer to the question when he asked it. A few months ago, he showed me the ring that he wanted to buy to make sure I would like it. Last week he bought it and I knew he had and also that it was the wrong size. He took it to get sized and we went and picked it up last Monday. Knowing he'd been planning for a long time and knowing that he had the ring and it was sized, I was becoming a little (okay a lot) anxious. I wanted my ring on my finger... his answer when I'd ask was always "I'll decide." Last night we were having a conversation about it and it was slightly after midnight. He asked when I wanted it and I said yesterday. He told me it wouldn't be yesterday and it wouldn't be tomorrow. I told him it was after midnight so that still left today. He didn't say anything. This morning he was off work and when I talked to him he said he was staying in bed because he was so tired. I went to work, but left my cell phone, purse, and everything home. At 12:30 one of my cooks handed me a note and said Allen said I was supposed to give you this at exactly 12:30. I opened the note and it read, "About our plans, I kinda lied, Go to my dad's shop to find out why." He had told me one of his friends was coming up today to play games with us, so I shouldn't make any plans. I told him I wanted to go to the temple after work but I'd be home by like 4. He agreed. Little did I know.... I got off work at 1 and headed off to his dad's shop. I walked in and his brother in law Jared handed me my cell phone, which Allen had gone to my house to get when he realized I hadn't taken it to work with me, and taken to the shop so I could do the next step. Wrapped around my cell phone was a post- it note that read, "Your mom holds the key to your adventure. Call her and go meet her to get what you need." I called my mom and told her about the note and she told me she was at work till 6 so I could either wait, or come there. I told her I'd be there in a half hour. I drove out to Sandy and met her at work, showed her the note, and she handed me two small keys and told me to go visit Allen's grandma, the little one not the crazy one. I smiled knowing exactly what was next and got in my car to drive to Kearns. Now remember I've left the house purseless, and so I have no license, no wallet, nothing but my cell phone. I had just over a quarter tank of gas and so I knew if I did much more running around I'd be in trouble, so I stopped at the bank and withdrew some money for emergency sake. On my way out to Kearns, I stopped at McDonalds to get something to eat and drink because I'd started my day with a pop tart and that was all I had eaten. I went to Grandma Carters house and she was just leaving, but I caught her and she tried desperately to remember the clue. She knew it had something to do with a walk and a spot, but couldn't remember quite what she was supposed to say. She said "Don't tell him I forgot but he said you once walked from one temple to another and you have a spot. Do you know what that means? I hope I didn't tell you something I wasn't supposed to." I assured her that I knew just where to go, thanked her, and left. In 2011 when we did the temple walk with the youth, Sister Dalton encouraged us to find "our spot" on the Temple. She told us to pick a spot and put our hands on it and then when we met our Eternal Companion to take him or her to that spot and put our hands together on that spot and tell them about our experience walking to the temple, and then when we had children to take them to that spot and put their hands on it and tell them about the experience. A few months ago I had taken Allen to my "spot" and told him about it. That's where he was waiting today. On the southwest corner of the temple about chest high on one of the corners is my spot. Allen was sitting on a bench and a box was sitting next to him.
He asked me if I had what I needed and I pulled the keys out of my pocket and opened the box. Inside I found this:
Can I keep you has always been kind of a joke with us. It's a line from Casper and it's something we say to each other all the time. In this case though it was absolutely perfect and so so sweet. I turned to him and said "Yes, you can keep me." He then removed the ring from the box, got down on one knee, and said "Julianne, will you marry me" and slid the ring onto my finger. Of course I said yes!
Sorry, there are no pictures of the actual engagement because his phone was dead and my camera was in my purse... at home. After he asked me, we sat on the wall by the temple and talked about the journey and the surprise and I sat admiring my ring in the sun. A Temple Square hostess came walking by and said, "Oh she finally came." After sitting for a few minutes Allen asked me if I wanted to go to Build a Bear. I had mentioned a while back that I had never been there and I thought it would be a fun date. We rode the train to the Gateway and walked in. The lady asked what we were looking for specifically and I told her we needed a Bride and a Groom bear. We told her we had just gotten engaged and she congratulated us and we went to find our bear. I found one that had hearts on the ears and the feet in pink and blue so I got the pink and Allen got the blue. We then picked a sound, mine makes kissing noises and his sings You don't know you're beautiful. We stuffed them and "bathed" them and then went to find bride and groom outfits. Mine came with a dress. garter, veil and bouquet, His with a tux where he could choose between bow tie and long tie. We dressed them and then went to fill out their birth certificates and give them names. Allen's alias is Sidshobob. He uses it as his username, email address, Wii character, etc. He was going to name his bear Sidshobob, but I had chosen to name mine Mrs. McDonald so he followed suit and named his Mr. McDonald.
After Build a Bear, he offered to take me to dinner, so we went to the Olive Garden where we both ordered Ravioli that was AMAZING! After dinner we decided to go to Arctic Circle, so Allen could fill up a mountain dew bottle and I could show off to my co workers. On our way, I saw that it was 10 to 6 so I asked him if we could stop by the bank first, since they were about to close. The bank is next door to Arctic, it's where all of my work deposits go and all of my accounts are there, so I'm pretty close with the 4 women who work there. We walked in and I showed off the ring. They heard the quick version of what happened and then we went to Arctic to show them. We then came home so I could change out of work clothes and get my purse. We then went to see my sister Kristina, his Aunt Jean, and his parents. I was very impressed with my surprise. I had a great day and I'm so happy that I soon get to be Mrs. McDonald. So for all of you that were worried about it being official, you can stop worrying. We are legitimately engaged. I'm so happy and I love Allen McDonald!!
