Our Story

A lot of people don't know our story. And let me tell you, our story is a good, weird, crazy story. My older sister Emily was a freshman at BYU (2007) and I was a junior in high school. Emily and Nathan were real good friends, I guess you could even say best friends. It was towards the end of the school year and one day I called Emily. Emily was with Nathan and she put him on the phone with me. We were talking and he told me he would be leaving for a mission soon. I (I swear it was him, but nathan says it was me) then asked him if I could write him on his mission. Of course I thought that would be SO cool writing a missionary when I was only a little high schooler. So Nathan leaves on his mission and we begin to write. It wasn't anything crazy, just a letter here and there, about every month or every other month. We'd always joke about dating and getting married when he'd get home. Then towards the end of his mission we started writing weekly.  I was seriously falling for this guy I had never even met! 

While I was at school in Hawaii I sent him this picture, he sent me this other picture in return of him on his mission in Slovakia--Jan 2009

So Nathan came home to Chicago in June of 2009 and I was out at BYU. We would talk on the phone EVERY DAY. I seriously think we only missed two maybe three days. I remember our first phone call and it lasted two hours.  Towards the end of the summer we thought we should try skyping. I was so so nervous to skype him.  But it was successful and he was even cuter than his facebook pictures ;) Nathan then came out to Provo in August and we would hang out and go on a lot of dates.

Halloween 09, we won the tri-stake costume contest!

I did not want a serious boyfriend that fall semester but we were still with each other non stop.  I knew the day I would start dating him steady we would get serious pretty fast. We both went home for Christmas break and I realized how much I missed him. As soon as we got back to school in the beginning of January we went steady, even facebook official :) Oh yeah, we even said I love you to each other even before we were official, that was December 8. Things were progressing fast as I predicted. We seriously spent every waking moment together.

March '10, meeting the Waldrom Gang in Phoenix

June '10, meeting the Van De Graaff Gang in Chicago

July '10, Disneyland with our siblings Stefan and Morgan

And then it happened, we got engaged in September of 2010. But let me tell you the story behind our engagement. So we had gone ring shopping and I knew it was going to be coming soon. But time kept going by and Nathan says they were having some complications with the ring. He felt bad about them taking so long so he took me to Melting Pot. I had a little suspicion he was just trying to trick me so I went along with it. At the restaurant he told me he had a surprise for me, in walks Stefan (his brother lived about 5 minutes from the place) and that was my surprise... So after dinner we went on a carriage ride around temple square. I was sure he was going to propose there. But he didn't... So he drove me home and dropped me off and left. I couldn't believe it! I was venting to my roommate, Joslin, that he had spent all this money tonight and didn't propose! I even started to cry a little... I know pathetic. I texted Nathan and said "I really thought you were gonna propose tonight." He said, "Can we talk?" I started to freak out, I thought it was something bad. So he pulls up to my apartment and picks me up. I start crying even more because I wasn't sure what was going to happen! He takes me to the park where we always go and talk (and it's where we had our first kiss). And he hands me a card. I told him my eyes were too blurry from crying and asked him to read it to me. It said "Ali you are my baby. You are my sweetheart. You are my milenka. You are my birdie. You are my best friend. Will you be my wife?" I started crying happy tears then! He got on one knee and pulled out the ring. 

Married December 30, 2010