Our story

From the beginning:

In early April 2010, I started hearing a lot of rumors in the single's ward I attended at church about a guy named Neal Johnson that would be coming home from his mission soon.  I had several people ask me, "Do you know Neal Johnson?"  When I would answer that I didn't, they would respond with "Oh don't worry, you will soon!"

Finally, I gave into my curiosity and Facebook stalked him.  When I finally found him, I looked through all of his pictures and thought to myself, "Really?  This guy's kind of a nerd...." and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.  But still, for some reason, I couldn't get him out of my head.  One of my best friends, Michael, kept telling me he couldn't wait for me to meet Neal because he thought we would get along.  He told me a couple times when Neal was supposed to get home, so I knew the first Sunday Neal was supposed to be back at church.

The Sunday that Neal was first in the ward, I (for some reason) felt this incredible desire to look my absolute best and really try and impress Neal.  I felt a little deflated when he didn't even say a word to me, let alone look at me (so I thought).  (I later found out that the outfit I wore that day was one he REALLY didn't like...he thought it made me look like 5 years older than I was, which is why he never said anything to me...he thought I was older.  Shauna later corrected him on this one).

The next night we had a ward activity, and I thought I would try and impress him again by playing the piano for the opening song we sang.  I knew his family was musical, so I thought maybe that would catch his attention!  Again, it failed.

Finally, on Tuesday, something happened.  We were having a Relief Society activity that night.  When I got to our bishop's house, I found out we were just going to watch movies.  I wasn't really in the mood, and I had heard the Elder's Quorum was going to be playing Ultimate Frisbee that night.  So, I decided to ditch the Relief Society activity and go play Ultimate Frisbee instead.  When I got there, so was Neal (much to my elation)!  I actually got kind of annoyed at first...he was really good, and no one on my team was guarding him!  So, when his team had the frisbee, I guarded him.  When my team had the frisbee, I stood back by the goal line (he says I was cherry picking...I was not, I was just being strategic...I can catch but I can't throw very well).  He started hanging back with me, "guarding me," and we started talking.  Talking kind of turned into flirting.

After the game, Neal announced that he wanted to go to Sonic if anyone wanted to join him.  I told him I'd be there.  I had to run my friend back to her car at the bishop's house first, so I rushed her back and then headed up to Sonic.  By the time I got there, everyone else had already left and Sonic had closed literally 1 minute prior :(

I decided to take a risk, and I added him as a friend on Facebook.  When I got home later I logged onto the computer and we talked for 2 hours.  Among other things, he told me he was working at the Candlelight Dinner Theater, and that he had tickets to the show and said we could go see the show at some point if I wanted.  Of course I said yes.  I then had to go to bed (I had school early the next day) but gave him my phone number and told him to text me the next day when he got his cell phone.

**Side note** - Apparently he walked up the stairs after this and looked at his mom and said "I think I just asked a girl on a date.  Then he went into his room and called a girl he had been writing for part of his mission ;)

The next day I got a text asking me if I wanted to come to Baskin Robbin's with him for $.35 scoop night.  Again, I said of course, and rushed up to Loveland.  When I got there, his whole family was there, as was his friend Troy and my friend Erika.  After he bought cones for both Erika and I, he asked if we all wanted to go over to his house to watch the Nuggets game. I'm not a fan of basketball (apparently he isn't either...the only reason he knew there was a game was because his friend Porter had been talking about it), but I agreed to go.  To make a long story short, we all got into the most epic pillow fight ever.  It was SO much fun (sorry Shauna!).

When it was time to go home, Neal walked me outside and then gave me a high-five good night.  Now, most people would find this absolutely ridiculous, but it was one of the most endearing things he could have done at that point.  I knew he was super fresh off his mission, and I was spending a lot of time around missionaries at that point (I was newly reactivated), so it made me incredibly happy that he did that.

We spent every evening together after I got off of work for the next couple of days.  A week after we met, he came down to my parents' house for my 20th birthday party.  When the party was over, I walked him out to his car, and we talked for a little bit.  When he was getting ready to leave, I looked at him and said "I'm kind of, sort of attracted to you."  He smiled, and replied with "Well do you kind of, sort of want to be my girlfriend?"  I (of course) said yes :)

We dated for seven months.  Neal's mission president had given him the council to wait 3-6 months before making any major decisions after he got home from his mission.  We decided to follow that council.

Neal and I had had many conversations about getting married, and I completely expected him to propose on Christmas of that year.  We went to see the Denver Zoo Lights on the 23rd.  Neal kept trying to get me by myself, and I wanted to stay on the main path and look at all the lights.  Finally, he convinced me to go to the bottom part of the polar bear exhibit to see if we could see any polar bears in the water.  We got down there and I realized that the polar bears were not going to be in the water at that point, and started to walk back up the stairs.  Neal grabbed me and looked at me and said "Will you please just stay here for a minute?!?"

After the other couple that was down there walked up the stairs, I noticed Neal pulled something out of his pocket and started messing with it behind his back.  I asked him what he was doing, and he pulled out the most beautiful Claddagh ring, all the way from Ireland!  He looked at me with a smile and said "Do you kind of, sort of want to be my wife?"  I grinned and in my silly girlishness replied with "Are you serious??"  And because he can be a brat, he responded "Nope.  I'm just sitting here with a ring in my hand because I thought it'd be fun."  I began jumping up and down and squealing :) It truly was perfect.

We planned our wedding in 5 months.  On May 13, 2011 we were married and sealed in the Denver Temple for time and all eternity.  It was the most glorious day!  We spent time with family and friends, and most of all, were thrilled to know that we got to be with each other forever.

Of all our love stories, mine is our favorite :)