The Greatest Adventure Yet!

Well, needless to say it's been a long time since I last posted. My travels have taken me near and far but it's time to have an even more exciting adventure than riding elephants in Thailand or snorkeling in the Philippines. I know everyone is going to ask about how this all happened, so I decided I would blog about it, and refer everyone here when they ask. It's just easier that way. haha.
In January my cousin Jake and I decided to plan another Southern Utah trip and this time we recruited Paul. I became good friends with Paul after our trip (especially since he saved my life). After talking with Paul about what all guys talk about when camping (women) he brought up a girl that he knows named Maren. He told me all about how Maren was in his ward and she was really into the outdoors. Immediately my interests were peaked but... she had a boyfriend. Oh well, I thought. She should still come around if she wanted to. Our crew of friends is always down for hanging out with new people and sharing our ideals. I kept bugging Paul about inviting Maren to come to stuff that we did but she always had stuff going on. Eventually, we had a Cowboy Poetry Campfire Sing-A-Long Extravaganza. A couple times a year my friends and I gather a group together around a fire pit and sing classic songs (lots of Neil Diamond) and read cowboy poetry (provided by Noel). This time Paul broke out his dutch ovens for some peach cobbler too. And best of all... Maren came! It was a quick meeting, lots going on around the fire. ( I was taking care of the firewood and getting coals for the dutch oven). Maren didn't stay too long but it was really cool to at least say that we met. It wasn't long thereafter that Paul and I organized a clean-up service project in Farmington Canyon. Maren, being the outdoors lover that she is, came to to our service project. Again, not a great chance to talk to her but I did a little bit. We had another such project the  next week and I was getting more and more brave to talk to her. The problem still remained, she had a boyfriend. After a few weeks we found out the boundaries for our ward were going to change and I would have to go to a new ward in Farmington. This turned out to be a great thing because Maren was in my ward! Paul had also been a great friend and told me that she broke up with her boyfriend around the same time. It was a perfect set-up. The ward changes were truly inspired! After a ward prayer I did the thing that guys fear most... I asked her out. In person. It was a bit scary but she said yes! That week we went on our first date to Koko's Kitchen. She was amazing! I had such an easy time talking to her and she was even game for trying vegetarian sushi! Did I know then where things would go? No. But I knew I was willing to find out. The following weekend Paul, Jake and I went on another trip to Southern Utah. We made it back in time for me to go to a fireside that Maren was at. I tried talking to her after the fireside but she was surrounded by five guys! I guess word spreads quickly when the best girl around become single. I wasn't too daunted though, I knew we had a connection on our first date and it wasn't only one-sided. We went out a few more times, I introduced her to the rest of my friends. One night, while a bunch of us were at dinner at Setabellos, I got a text from a friend sitting across the table from me that read "Jeff, you should date her!" Dayton and his wife Emily also said the same thing after meeting her. I really wanted to but... I knew I'd be leaving for China in a short time. I wasn't exactly in an ideal situation. I knew I wanted to date Maren but I also knew I'd be leaving. How unfair it would be for me to make things official with Maren then take off to go to school 7000 miles away in China for 7 weeks. I left things undefined but knew if our connection was real (which I knew it was) it would transcend the time difference and the ocean that sat between us. Before leaving, I gave her my favorite book "The Alchemist". The main character in the book is traveling through the Sahara Desert in search of his "Personal Legend" that he had a dream about. He dreamt that he would find a treasure buried in the sand near the pyramids. After much hardship and learning he was getting close to the pyramids when his caravan stopped at an oasis. There, he met a girl that he fell in love with. He decided he would give up on finding the treasure and stay with her. She told him no. She wanted him to complete his Personal Legend. She knew she was already a part of him and wouldn't allow him to give up because of her. (By now the parallelism should be quite clear) I considered sticking around for the summer to see what happened with Maren, but I knew she wouldn't want me to. She read the book in three days and we talked while I was in China. I asked "So, do you get it?" She said "Yea, I get it". And from there things just kept progressing. We talked nearly everyday. I then read a book called "Aspire". Each chapter of this book is about a single word, it's power and meaning. Each word also describes a characteristics of certain people. At the end of each chapter the reader is asked to think of a person in their life that exemplifies those characteristics and tell them about it. For each chapter, the first name that came to my mind was "Maren". I knew things were getting serious. I began to pray about it. I felt so calm and at peace. I knew she would be my wife one day. Not long before I came home I stopped by the shop of an old Chinese man I had met in Beijing in 2008. I had him make a scroll for me that read "家庭是永恒的“. This translates to "Families are forever". I got home, and the next morning got in a van with Maren and a bunch of strangers and headed to Wyoming, the first stop on our way to Outdoor Nation in Denver. While in Wyoming Maren and I spent some quality time kayaking on a lake, hiking to a waterfall and watching the sunset. After the sun had set and the rest of our group decided to head back to camp Maren and I decided to stay up on the high rock that we had all been sitting on. Once we were finally alone I reached in my pocket and said "Maren, the Vibrams aren't the only thing I got you in China" (I had gotten her a pair while I was there) she gasped softly and said "Oh, Jeff...". I pulled out a small jewelry pouch that had a necklace and bracelet. I couldn't tell if Maren was relieved or disappointed. ;) I said to her "I really really like you" and kissed her. She kind of laughed and we talked about how great it was to be back together again after my 7 weeks abroad. The next night, in Denver, I asked Maren to go for a walk with me down to the beach of the state park we were at. There, we sat and talked about life. I told her, for the first time, that I love her. She said it back and I said "well, I think we both know where this is going". As we were walking along the beach back to camp I got on one knee, looked up at her and said "Maren, will you wait for me while I tie my shoe?" It was absolutely hilarious! I laughed all the way back to camp! Maren was laughing too... haha.
So I knew I was in. The only problem was, I didn't have a job, a car or any money. How was I to buy a ring? How would I get a place to live? Rationally, getting married wasn't making much sense. So I prayed and prayed. I knew things would work out eventually. On the 25th of July, Maren came to my house for a family party. She met Mike, Becky, Adam and their kids. They absolutely loved her. That night, by what I think is pure inspiration, she told me that I didn't need to take her ring shopping because she wanted to use her grandmother's ring. I was sold. My prayers were being answered and I knew that it was going to happen soon.

Her mom talked to me the next evening while we were watching Maren play in her softball game. She gave me her number and said I could call her whenever I wanted to go get the ring. I went the next day and picked it up. We talked for a few hours and I knew I was going to be so happy to be a part of her family. I planned a proposal for the next week. Maren and I had been geocaching on the 25th and had a great time doing it. So I decided to set up a geocache and propose there. The trick would be surprising Maren. She was very inquisitive and investigated whether or not I had the ring. The week after I got the ring we were planning to go to King's Peak. So I told Maren that I needed to talk to her dad and meet her sister before we left. I let her believe that it was going to happen while we were backpacking. It was a pretty good plan, but it only got better. Maren went to look for the ring and noticed it was gone. She asked her mom where it was and her mom said "Maren, I'm sorry but I thought Jeff would be getting it soon so I went to have in cleaned. It should be back in a couple weeks". It was perfect! Maren laughed because she thought my plan to propose at King's had been thwarted. Wednesday night that week I asked Maren if she wanted to go to bbq at a friend's house. The plan was to meet with Katherine and get some supplies for our trip before going to the bbq. So I went to SLC with Katherine where we met Maren. While shopping I told Maren that I'd rather just take her out on a date instead of going to the bbq. She loved the idea. We went to Setabellos together. She brought up the story about the ring being cleaned and I acted completely shocked. I told her that I had planned to get it the next day and propose at King's. She totally bought it. Meanwhile, I had my friend Sean setting up some flowers, the box with the chinese scroll, and ring at Farmington Pond (where we first met) I asked Maren if she wanted to go find some Geocaches and I took us to Lagoon Trail. It was getting near dusk so we had to hurry but we found one cache and I told her the next would be at Farmington Pond. As we were nearing the pond Maren said "Hey, this is where we first met!" I said "Maren, there's some places in the world where events happened in my life that had a huge impact on me, this is one of them." She looked over at the table and said "Are those flowers?" I skirted the question and kept walking towards them. Then she said "Is that Sean's car?!" I said "No, Sean is off doing something else tonight" (quick side note. I had to call Sean from the car on our way back from SLC because I forgot to let him know when we finished dinner) She opened the box and pulled out the scroll with a note I had written. She looked at the bottom of the box and didn't see the ring box there! So I slipped it out and as she was looking at the scroll on the table I got down on one knee. She started to walk away and said "Don't tie your shoe!" I grabbed her hand and said "No, seriously! Maren, will you marry me?" As I held the open ring box up. And obviously, she said yes! It WAS Sean's car. He came out of his car where he had been hiding, taking pictures of us. It was the perfect surprise. Maren had no idea I had the ring and she was totally shocked with the proposal. It couldn't have gone any better. Especially because I get to marry the most amazing woman I have ever met. She will always push me to pursue my Personal Legend and I couldn't be more lucky to have her as my wife. I love you Maren. 

Proposing

Us right after I proposed, with the scroll.