10 Years Later...

March 21, 1999. First day of Spring beautiful, sunny weather on a Sunday afternoon. After church that day Bret and I decided to go up Provo Canyon to fly a kite. Bret "locked" his keys in the car and we started hiking back down the mountain because Bret was adamant that we didn't hitch-hike. (Where were cell phones back then anyways? Can you imagine 2 college kids not having a cell phone with them today?) While hiking back down the mountain we came across a picnic all set up at a beautiful spot that overlooked the valley. There were even a dozen roses. We ate, we talked and then Bret got down on his knee, told me how much he loved me, how committed he was to making me happy and asked me to marry him. It was a perfect day.

10 years later we happen to be back in Provo Utah on March 21. So I planned a few hours of alone time for us, dropped the kids off with Michelle and we headed up Provo Canyon. Unfortunately the road that took us to the place where we got engaged was still closed for the season. So we ended up at Sundance and had lunch.

I tried to find a picture of us on the day we got engaged, but couldn't find it. But our actual engagement picture comes in a close second.

Bret hasn't changed at all!

I did find a hidden treasure while searching for pictures though. I found the article written in the BYU magazine about how 3 of my roommates married 3 of Bret's roommates. Little did we know when this article was written that the Lifetime Channel for Women would be calling a few months later to do a 10 minute segment on us for their Beyond Chance program which documented how it really happened. Here is the article's spoof on our courtship.

Swinging Roommates "Hook it Up"

Provo--In the Liberty Square apartment complex, the mandate "love they neighbor as thyself" is more than just a catchy phrase. An entire apartment of men and an entire apartment of women were married after watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for a family home evening activity between the two apartments. Jim and Jennica Russett, Bret and Emily O'Brien, Matt and Heather Simplot and Mike and Dawnette Scallop were married after the four men, inspired by the previously mentioned movie, kidnapped the women and held them hostage for the winter beyond Aspen Grove in a small cottage. The men slept in the barn and the women took the cottage until the snow melted enough for them to find their way back down the canyon to the Provo Temple. All parties involved were born and raised in Idaho.