THE PROPOSAL:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=491720812213&comments&ref=notif¬if_t=video_reply 
For weeks we had been planning to go to the big Halloween festival at Luke’s siblings Elementary school with his entire family. Before the carnival, Luke and I set the table with everyone’s pumpkin and carving tools so we could get right down to business when we got back. Last minute, Luke had a meeting with his insurance agent (which seemed realistic with all his recent medical bills) so his grandma and I rode separately to meet all the kids. After the carnival, we went back to grandma’s to carve pumpkins. We all started in on our pumpkins. I tried to cut the top off, but I was moving too slow, so Luke had to help. After I opened the pumpkin, I started digging the goo out, handful by handful. I wasn’t paying attention to the pumpkin, or the cameras, or everyone staring at me. I was just laughing and playing with Luke’s little brother.
That was until I felt something that didn’t feel like pumpkin insides. I looked down and saw a bag in my hand. I instantly dropped it. My heart skipped a thousand beats, my stomach dropped, my face turned red and my hands started shaking violently as I reached down to see what was in the bag.
As I unwrapped my diamond in a small green cloth, Luke knelt down behind me and said, “Kylee Ann Falter: Will you marry me?” I turned around and said, “Yes.”
I put out my hand covered in orange goo to get my beautiful ring, but he wouldn’t put it on until I washed my hands. I’ve never washed my hands so fast in my life. I threw the ring that was holding it’s place on my finger across the room and ran to the kitchen sink and ran even faster back.
I will never forget that bumpy $3.00 pumpkin from Walmart that changed my life that crisp October night. It was a moment that will never be forgotten.
OUR STORY by KYLEE:
Two years ago, love was born in the crisp January air of Olympia, Washington. I was a young junior attending North Thurston. Between school, work, family and a boyfriend, I was a very busy girl. One day, I heard that my Uncle Bryden's best friends were coming into town. Bryden is my biggest hero and inspiration. I was touched by the fact that these three young boys and one young girl would take time out of their busy lives to come see my and their best friend before their mission. I never had met any teenager in Washington who gave Bry the time he deserved like these four, as well as many others in Wellsville did. The night Luke, Nate, Nick and Shonnee arrived at my grandparents, I showed up to meet them in my sexy Top Foods uniform...an outift that is sure to win any guy over at any time...not. That night I was amazed at the love they showed Bry and the spirit they all had glowing from inside. They all stepped in to give Bry a blessing. That was the moment I knew these were the boys for me.
After a few rounds of bowling, we all bonded over game after game of Uno. I knew I had found the one as he slipped Wild Cards to me under the table. ;) After manicures & makeovers, many lost bets, early morning seminary experience, Denny's, shopping trips, lots of laughing and joking and just simply being with Luke, I realized I had found a boy unlike any other. The day those Utah plates disappeared down the road was a depressing one, but distance didn't break the connection. Luke and I talked from the time we woke up till the time we forced ourselves to put our phones down every single day. I didn't know a guy like him existed.
My twin sister, Lauren, and I flew down for Nathan's farewell talk and spent a week falling in love over and over again. March 29, 2009: “So who was I kidding, I love Luke Arol Maughan. He is the most amazing person I've ever met, best guy out there for me. And quite possibly the best thing that's ever happened to me. We went to Utah on Friday and Oh my heck, I fell in love. Not only with Luke ;), with Cache Valley and everything about Utah... Luke! He is pretty much everything I've ever looked for in a guy." Enough said.
A few weeks after Nathan's farewell, my entire family came down to Utah for Spring Break. We were all inseperable for that short time we could be. On April 6th, 2009, Luke took me to Temple Square for the first time and kissed me for the first time at the base of the Salt Lake City Temple. Saying goodbye in Utah that time wasn't as painful because Luke and Nick came back to Washington with us.
Though things were going great, by summer reality had kicked in. Luke was 19, about to serve a mission for two years. And I was 16, barely able to date. We decided to break our relationship off until later, but remained best friends. Luke moved to Washington for a few months to work before his mission. He was always someone I could count on. Besides my mom, he was always the first to show up to the Emergency Room... even before the ambulance. He gave me a Priesthood blessing whenever I needed him to. He came to my house way passed his bed time to check in all the closets and shadows when our parents weren't home to make sure it was safe. When we got in fights, I would come home to flowers and chocolate on my pillow. When he went to Top Foods, he always pushed in a line of carts... even when I was a brat. Luke is the best thing that's ever been mine!!!
Elder Luke Maughan left on his mission in August. I faithfully wrote him at least every other week almost every month. The best part of my every day was driving home from work and checking the mail. Each message I got from Elder Maughan made me the happiest girl alive. His letters always got to me when I needed them the most. We talked on the phone in the airport, at Christmas and on Mother's day when he got to call home. He was the best missionary Colorado Spring Colorado had ever seen. ;)
By September 2010, I had graduated and moved to Logan, Utah to start school at USU. School was already started and life was just settling down. I was in Biology one day and I get a text from my mom telling me Elder Maughan was being honorably released because of his health. I was scared, happy, sad, excited and confused. I turned to Lauren and told her that this event would change my life.... And it did. It was a blessing and an answer to prayers to see Elder Maughan descend down that escalator on September 2, 2010.
I didn't think we were going to date so soon. I just wanted to be there for him as a friend during his hard times. But some things don't go as planned... I'm 18 years young, but I know that there is no one in this World I would rather spend eternity with. I love you Lucas Arol Maughan :) with all my heart.
OUR STORY by LUKE:
Where do I even begin? Writing this will be difficult! The difficulty stems from the fact that our story is so unique that putting it into words, for me, is nearly impossible. So bear with me as I try to organize my thoughts into something that can be understood!
I want to start by stating my biased, but true, opinion. Kylee is the most amazing woman to ever walk the Earth. The love that I have for her is indescribable. I'm lucky; I constantly am reminded that she too has the same love for me! I can't imagine anything but being Sealed to Kylee for time and all eternity.
So here we go. The first time we met. Three of my best friends and I decided to take a road trip. This wasn't just any typical road trip however. We were about to embark on a fourteen hour drive to see one of the most amazing friends anyone could ask to have. His name: Bryden William Belnap. "Hero to the boys". I'll quickly give a brief background of how we met Bry. Long ago (Eleven years to be exact), in the Wellsville 1st Ward, Nathan Call, Nick Rigby, and I decided we wanted to go spend time with a handicap young man in our ward. This was Bryden. A long with us was Kade Erickson, another best friend. We fell in love with Bry and had a hard time staying away from him. We always had a blast. Basketball was his sport, shooting fake guns was a favorite, and wrestling was always a must. He broke my toe wrestling once; I guess it's time to forgive him. Over the years more of our friends started to come into Brydens life. Sean and Shonnee are two that definitely need to be mentioned. Sadly, after a short 5 years of friendship, the Belnap family had to move to Olympia Washington for Brydens health. A move that killed all of us. At that time I didn't understand that this move, as hard as it was, was going to bless my life in a huge way. Kade was on a mission, Sean was about to leave. Nathan had his mission call; Nick and I were both expecting ours to come soon. We needed to see Bryden before we all left. As a result, we planned the road trip. Piled in my car with luggage was, Nathan, Nick, Shonnee and myself. We left January 29th early in the morning. It was late that evening when we finally pulled in. That night I was talking with Bryden's mom, Mary-Kay, and she kept mentioning her beautiful twin granddaughters who were close to our age. I can't lie, I thought nothing of it. I wasn't looking. That night things changed. Kylee, one of the beautiful granddaughters, walked into the room. Smokin' hott in her Top Foods work uniform :). We spent a lot of time together over the course of my stay in Washington. Every activity imaginable was done. Bowling, UNO, Super Bowl parties, putting holes in the wall while trying to bench more than I weighed, being dressed up as a clown/chick...you name it, we did it. I'm going to take a minute to state that Kylee Ann Falter, her sister Lauren and Shonnee Mecham cheat at UNO. They make bets (like if the boys lose then they have to paint their fingernails for Church the next day) and then pass cards to ensure that they win. Back to the story. Every minute I spent with Kylee helped me to understand more and more what I wanted in a wife. She was amazing. Pretty much everything I hoped for in a girl was found in her. Spending time with her made me happy. To steal a quote from my journal, "If it wasn't for Kylee today would have sucked so much....She somehow can make me smile even during the hardest of times". That statement holds true to this day. I loved her then. I love her now even more. Saying goodbye was hard. I didn't want to go home for many different reasons. One of them being her. Who knew when I'd see her again!
Party Time! Those are the perfect words to describe this event in the development of our relationship. The guys and I were surprised to find out that Kylee and Lauren were flying down for Nathan's farewell. It was a short visit but one that I will never forget. Just like in Washington we did everything imaginable and had a blast doing it! Up until this point I wasn't really sure how Ky felt about me. What I did know was that every day I spent with her I fell more and more in love. Sunday night rolled around and sparks flew. For clarification I don't mean kissing. That will come later. We did however enjoy a nice evening of watching movies about Vampires falling in love with humans. As a 109 year old vampire worked his magic on a sixteen year old girl on the T.V. things became clear to me and Kylee. We both knew at that point how we each felt about the other. Again, it was hard watching her leave the next day. Harder this time where we knew that we liked each other. Good news for us was that we knew when we would see each other next. We only had to wait a week and a half before her entire family would be visiting Utah over their spring break.
April rolled around and the longest week and a half of my life ended. Kylee was finally in town and we had a lot of time to spend together. I was blessed with the opportunity to take her to Temple Square twice. Once for General Conference and once for fun. General Conference was amazing. Not only was I with the girl who held my heart, but I had the opportunity to sit with her at the Prophets feet. We sat together and enjoyed every minute of it. I recognized at this point that Kylee had a quality that was a must. I felt the Spirit while around her. It emanated from her. Being with her made me want to be a better person. She loved God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and was willing to do anything that they required of her. She had me in the palm of her hand at this point. Later that week the grip she had on me tightened. We went to Temple Square again. While there we walked around and had a grand ol' time. After a period of time we found ourselves alone at the base of the Temple. Romantic right? I thought so. I'll stop dragging this part of our history out and get to the point. We kissed. Right there. It was blissful. The rest of the week was perfect! We had so much fun together. The time came for Kylee and her family to go back to Washington. I would have been sad again but this time it was different. Nick and I were going with them and staying for a week. I'll sum that week up with one word: Spectacular. While in Washington Kylee and I realized some very important things. We were young. She was in High School and I was getting ready to leave on my mission. When the time came for me and Nick to leave Kylee and I decided to put our relationship on hold. We both liked each other but it wasn't going to work out. I was sad but understood. My focus needed to be on preparing to serve the Lord. Her needs were different. They needed to be on dating other people, excelling academically, and developing the individual that she wanted to become. We said our goodbyes on left on good terms.
My life was changed two weeks later. I was offered a job in Washington and took it. I packed my car and made the drive. This was perfect. I had the opportunity to be in a structured environment with people who could help me in preparing to serve my mission. This was something that I needed. I was excited to see Kylee, obviously, but knew that things would not change. We would remain friends. It had to be that way. While there I learned so much more about myself and the kind of person I wanted be. I had great influences who bent over backwards to help me; Kylee being one of them. Our friendship grew and we learned a lot about each other. Don't get me wrong...we had our battles. Many as a matter of fact. But each time we prevailed and became more understanding of each other. We had established a never ending friendship. She became one of my best friends! I'll never forget all of the experiences we had together. Especially the sudden trips to the ER! One in which she asked me for a Priesthood blessing, my first healing of the sick. It was 6 of the best months of my life. My love for Kylee grew in different ways this time. Ways that ended up laying the foundation for the relationship in which we now have.
The Colorado, Colorado Springs mission called my name. August 13th I left for the MTC. It was hard saying goodbye to Kylee. I shed a few tears (don't let that leak all over the internet please). In the back of my mind I knew that everything was going to be just fine. I was excited to serve the Lord. I didn't worry about Kylee getting married while I was gone. If she did I knew that the Lord would be there to comfort me. I also knew that we would always remain friends. That was a blessing in which I remembered to count often. I still count it each day. She is not only my fiancé, but also my best friend. She'll lose the fiancé title when we get married, but forever she'll remain my best friend. I am eternally grateful for that. She wrote to me faithfully throughout my mission. In fact, my first letter was from her! I looked forward to my weekly/bi-weekly letter from her. There were so many times where I had a prayer answered by something Kylee had written to me. Each letter picked me up and put me on a new level. Through her letters I gathered that she had been dating other people. That didn't bother me. I honestly wasn't sure if we would ever date again. I knew that I wanted too, but I wasn't sure if it would happen. Thirteen months into my mission I received some of the worst news I've ever been given. I was being sent home. I've had health issues with my stomach for year and it slowly has been getting worse. It was the cause of me being sent home from the Kyiv, Ukraine mission prior to Kylee and I meeting. My mission President felt that I had served to the best of my ability. I did. I gave it my all. I wasn't perfect but I tried to be. I was honorably released and sent home with short notice. It killed me. I was bitter and angry. All I wanted to do was serve. My two years weren't even close to being up yet. There was so much more work to be done and I wanted to be a part of it. The entire plane ride home was a difficult one. I was able to talk about the Church to a non-member who sat next to me but in the back of my mind I knew that in less than six hours I would no longer be a full-time missionary. I stepped off of the plane and was greeted by more than I could ask for. Family and Friends were there waiting in the airport with welcome home signs. Among them was Kylee. My heart dropped. I couldn't believe that she was there. I wasn't even aware that she knew I was coming home. I have to admit. I kept my distance. It was weird being home and knowing that I could hug a girl without breaking rules. Especially Kylee. I loved her but hadn't even thought about seeing her for another thirteen months. I never expected the events that followed to happen, especially so soon. It's important to note that if it wasn't for Kylee I would still be struggling with being home from my mission. I truly felt like a failure. It wasn't until I read a letter that Kylee had given me at the airport that I finally was able to pull out of my crazy state of mind. I owe so much to her for that simple letter. As much as I try to tell her the effect it had on me she'll never really understand. You're the best Kylee!
This brings us to now. Kylee and I hung out often. Things became normal again. We were friends. That evolved. Now we're getting ready to become Husband and Wife. I can't tell you how this all really unfolded. All I know is this: I love her more than she knows. I know in my heart that marrying her is the right thing to do. The Lord has confirmed it to me multiple times. We are going to be the happiest married couple in the entire world. Together we will raise a righteous beautiful family. I can't wait until June 10th, 2011. That will be the day that my best friend also becomes my Eternal Companion. I love you Kylee Ann Falter. More.
I want to start by stating my biased, but true, opinion. Kylee is the most amazing woman to ever walk the Earth. The love that I have for her is indescribable. I'm lucky; I constantly am reminded that she too has the same love for me! I can't imagine anything but being Sealed to Kylee for time and all eternity.
So here we go. The first time we met. Three of my best friends and I decided to take a road trip. This wasn't just any typical road trip however. We were about to embark on a fourteen hour drive to see one of the most amazing friends anyone could ask to have. His name: Bryden William Belnap. "Hero to the boys". I'll quickly give a brief background of how we met Bry. Long ago (Eleven years to be exact), in the Wellsville 1st Ward, Nathan Call, Nick Rigby, and I decided we wanted to go spend time with a handicap young man in our ward. This was Bryden. A long with us was Kade Erickson, another best friend. We fell in love with Bry and had a hard time staying away from him. We always had a blast. Basketball was his sport, shooting fake guns was a favorite, and wrestling was always a must. He broke my toe wrestling once; I guess it's time to forgive him. Over the years more of our friends started to come into Brydens life. Sean and Shonnee are two that definitely need to be mentioned. Sadly, after a short 5 years of friendship, the Belnap family had to move to Olympia Washington for Brydens health. A move that killed all of us. At that time I didn't understand that this move, as hard as it was, was going to bless my life in a huge way. Kade was on a mission, Sean was about to leave. Nathan had his mission call; Nick and I were both expecting ours to come soon. We needed to see Bryden before we all left. As a result, we planned the road trip. Piled in my car with luggage was, Nathan, Nick, Shonnee and myself. We left January 29th early in the morning. It was late that evening when we finally pulled in. That night I was talking with Bryden's mom, Mary-Kay, and she kept mentioning her beautiful twin granddaughters who were close to our age. I can't lie, I thought nothing of it. I wasn't looking. That night things changed. Kylee, one of the beautiful granddaughters, walked into the room. Smokin' hott in her Top Foods work uniform :). We spent a lot of time together over the course of my stay in Washington. Every activity imaginable was done. Bowling, UNO, Super Bowl parties, putting holes in the wall while trying to bench more than I weighed, being dressed up as a clown/chick...you name it, we did it. I'm going to take a minute to state that Kylee Ann Falter, her sister Lauren and Shonnee Mecham cheat at UNO. They make bets (like if the boys lose then they have to paint their fingernails for Church the next day) and then pass cards to ensure that they win. Back to the story. Every minute I spent with Kylee helped me to understand more and more what I wanted in a wife. She was amazing. Pretty much everything I hoped for in a girl was found in her. Spending time with her made me happy. To steal a quote from my journal, "If it wasn't for Kylee today would have sucked so much....She somehow can make me smile even during the hardest of times". That statement holds true to this day. I loved her then. I love her now even more. Saying goodbye was hard. I didn't want to go home for many different reasons. One of them being her. Who knew when I'd see her again!
Party Time! Those are the perfect words to describe this event in the development of our relationship. The guys and I were surprised to find out that Kylee and Lauren were flying down for Nathan's farewell. It was a short visit but one that I will never forget. Just like in Washington we did everything imaginable and had a blast doing it! Up until this point I wasn't really sure how Ky felt about me. What I did know was that every day I spent with her I fell more and more in love. Sunday night rolled around and sparks flew. For clarification I don't mean kissing. That will come later. We did however enjoy a nice evening of watching movies about Vampires falling in love with humans. As a 109 year old vampire worked his magic on a sixteen year old girl on the T.V. things became clear to me and Kylee. We both knew at that point how we each felt about the other. Again, it was hard watching her leave the next day. Harder this time where we knew that we liked each other. Good news for us was that we knew when we would see each other next. We only had to wait a week and a half before her entire family would be visiting Utah over their spring break.
April rolled around and the longest week and a half of my life ended. Kylee was finally in town and we had a lot of time to spend together. I was blessed with the opportunity to take her to Temple Square twice. Once for General Conference and once for fun. General Conference was amazing. Not only was I with the girl who held my heart, but I had the opportunity to sit with her at the Prophets feet. We sat together and enjoyed every minute of it. I recognized at this point that Kylee had a quality that was a must. I felt the Spirit while around her. It emanated from her. Being with her made me want to be a better person. She loved God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and was willing to do anything that they required of her. She had me in the palm of her hand at this point. Later that week the grip she had on me tightened. We went to Temple Square again. While there we walked around and had a grand ol' time. After a period of time we found ourselves alone at the base of the Temple. Romantic right? I thought so. I'll stop dragging this part of our history out and get to the point. We kissed. Right there. It was blissful. The rest of the week was perfect! We had so much fun together. The time came for Kylee and her family to go back to Washington. I would have been sad again but this time it was different. Nick and I were going with them and staying for a week. I'll sum that week up with one word: Spectacular. While in Washington Kylee and I realized some very important things. We were young. She was in High School and I was getting ready to leave on my mission. When the time came for me and Nick to leave Kylee and I decided to put our relationship on hold. We both liked each other but it wasn't going to work out. I was sad but understood. My focus needed to be on preparing to serve the Lord. Her needs were different. They needed to be on dating other people, excelling academically, and developing the individual that she wanted to become. We said our goodbyes on left on good terms.
My life was changed two weeks later. I was offered a job in Washington and took it. I packed my car and made the drive. This was perfect. I had the opportunity to be in a structured environment with people who could help me in preparing to serve my mission. This was something that I needed. I was excited to see Kylee, obviously, but knew that things would not change. We would remain friends. It had to be that way. While there I learned so much more about myself and the kind of person I wanted be. I had great influences who bent over backwards to help me; Kylee being one of them. Our friendship grew and we learned a lot about each other. Don't get me wrong...we had our battles. Many as a matter of fact. But each time we prevailed and became more understanding of each other. We had established a never ending friendship. She became one of my best friends! I'll never forget all of the experiences we had together. Especially the sudden trips to the ER! One in which she asked me for a Priesthood blessing, my first healing of the sick. It was 6 of the best months of my life. My love for Kylee grew in different ways this time. Ways that ended up laying the foundation for the relationship in which we now have.
The Colorado, Colorado Springs mission called my name. August 13th I left for the MTC. It was hard saying goodbye to Kylee. I shed a few tears (don't let that leak all over the internet please). In the back of my mind I knew that everything was going to be just fine. I was excited to serve the Lord. I didn't worry about Kylee getting married while I was gone. If she did I knew that the Lord would be there to comfort me. I also knew that we would always remain friends. That was a blessing in which I remembered to count often. I still count it each day. She is not only my fiancé, but also my best friend. She'll lose the fiancé title when we get married, but forever she'll remain my best friend. I am eternally grateful for that. She wrote to me faithfully throughout my mission. In fact, my first letter was from her! I looked forward to my weekly/bi-weekly letter from her. There were so many times where I had a prayer answered by something Kylee had written to me. Each letter picked me up and put me on a new level. Through her letters I gathered that she had been dating other people. That didn't bother me. I honestly wasn't sure if we would ever date again. I knew that I wanted too, but I wasn't sure if it would happen. Thirteen months into my mission I received some of the worst news I've ever been given. I was being sent home. I've had health issues with my stomach for year and it slowly has been getting worse. It was the cause of me being sent home from the Kyiv, Ukraine mission prior to Kylee and I meeting. My mission President felt that I had served to the best of my ability. I did. I gave it my all. I wasn't perfect but I tried to be. I was honorably released and sent home with short notice. It killed me. I was bitter and angry. All I wanted to do was serve. My two years weren't even close to being up yet. There was so much more work to be done and I wanted to be a part of it. The entire plane ride home was a difficult one. I was able to talk about the Church to a non-member who sat next to me but in the back of my mind I knew that in less than six hours I would no longer be a full-time missionary. I stepped off of the plane and was greeted by more than I could ask for. Family and Friends were there waiting in the airport with welcome home signs. Among them was Kylee. My heart dropped. I couldn't believe that she was there. I wasn't even aware that she knew I was coming home. I have to admit. I kept my distance. It was weird being home and knowing that I could hug a girl without breaking rules. Especially Kylee. I loved her but hadn't even thought about seeing her for another thirteen months. I never expected the events that followed to happen, especially so soon. It's important to note that if it wasn't for Kylee I would still be struggling with being home from my mission. I truly felt like a failure. It wasn't until I read a letter that Kylee had given me at the airport that I finally was able to pull out of my crazy state of mind. I owe so much to her for that simple letter. As much as I try to tell her the effect it had on me she'll never really understand. You're the best Kylee!
This brings us to now. Kylee and I hung out often. Things became normal again. We were friends. That evolved. Now we're getting ready to become Husband and Wife. I can't tell you how this all really unfolded. All I know is this: I love her more than she knows. I know in my heart that marrying her is the right thing to do. The Lord has confirmed it to me multiple times. We are going to be the happiest married couple in the entire world. Together we will raise a righteous beautiful family. I can't wait until June 10th, 2011. That will be the day that my best friend also becomes my Eternal Companion. I love you Kylee Ann Falter. More.
CEREMONY:
We are getting married in the Portland Oregon Temple on the morning of March 12th.
RECEPTION:
March 12th, 2011
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Nisqually Hills Chapel
9341 4th Avenue Northeast,
Lacey, WA 98503
April 9th, 2011
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Train Station
95 North Main,
Mendon, Utah
