The Beginning of a Real-Life Fairy Tale...

It all began when Daniel's family moved here (to Blanding, UT) from Mesa, AZ while he was serving a full-time Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Campinas, Brasil (Brazil) Area...

Daniel's sister Janett was in my class at school and we quickly become good friends...I eventually met and became friends with the rest of the family that was living here, and when Daniel got home in October of 2004, Janett introduced me to him...

When we shook hands, I had a feeling go through my whole body and I knew at that time that I was going to be with him someday, but I knew that if I said anything about it to people that they would think I was crazy or something, so I left it alone...

As the months went by, Daniel and I's friendship grew closer together. While he was here (in Blanding), he worked at the Nursing Home and had joined the Fire Dept...Mom said that it was really funny the first time thast he came to pick me up for a date, because he didn't realize that my Dad and The Fire Cheif are One and the Same!...SO, when my dad answered the door, Daniel looked up and said, "Hi Chief Hawkins..." LOL it was funny!!

About 5 or 6 months after he got home, he moved out to Georgia to go to Med. School while he worked a couple jobs., and everytime he came home to Blanding to visit his family and friends, they always invited me over...So I spent most of the time with him and his family everytime that he came!

When Daniel came down in May 2007, He invited me to go shooting with him and his family, so George (his Dad), Daniel, Daniel's niece & nephews and I went out to the Shooting range...We had a tonka truck set up on top of a tire, I didn't know if I'd be able to hit the truck so I aimed just a little lower...I hit the tire just right and knocked the truck off it!! :-)

Daniel has a Good aim!...

After we left the Shooting range, we drove up the Mountain by way of turning just before Devil's Canyon...it was a beautiful site and fun to hangout!...During his visit, we also went Repelling out by Jail House Rock with the YSA (Young Single Adult group)-it was a 4 Stake Activity with both Blanding Stakes, Monticello and Moab. Daniel also came with me to The Bi-Stake clean up at the Pavillion at the Blue Mountain Guest Ranch!...

The next time Daniel came to visit was during the first week of December 2007...This time, when Daniel rolled into town (around 10:30 pm), he called to tell me that he made it to town and told me that if I wanted to do something, I could go pick him up...Lol, I was hanging out at Michelle Stringham's house at that time, and when I asked her if she wanted to go do something with Daniel and told her what he had said, both Michelle and Her mom said, "Lacey, if a guy calls you first thing when he gets to town and asks you if you want to do something, You go!...So go have some fun!!" ...and of course I did!! ...and I was glad I did too!! Because, the very next day when we went to my parents house to watch a movie, as I went to sit down from starting the movie, Daniel quickly slid his arm behind me and rested it on my shoulder!...heehee...we cuddled alot while he was here in town, and so I thought that he might actually ask me to be his girlfriend...but he didn't...So I kept waiting...Here's a picture of us playing cards at Jon and Colleen's place (his youngest sister)...After the card game ended, we decided to just hangout and watch the kids play games...this was taken just before we started holding hands...(for the very first time!) :-)...And here's the two of us cuddled up for a movie at Matt & 'Raina's house (His older sister)...

FEB.2008-For Valentines Day I sent Daniel a goodie basket that had a hot pad, hot tamales and some other candie in it, along with a poem that I wrote for him, basically telling him that I cared about him and that I wanted to be with him. He thanked me (in a text) as soon as he got the package and told me that "it has given him alot to think about..."

Later in that same month, I went out to St.Louis for a Leadership Conference, and since Daniel was in St. Louis also...(Visiting his brother David and his family), he came and picked me up and we were headed back to his brothers place to be introduced, but shortly after leaving, my dad called to tell us that we were supposed to be at the Conference at a sooner time than we thought, so Daniel and I stopped and grabbed some lunch from the nearest deli and headed back to the motel that I was staying at...(we spent the total of an hour together that time)...But he was on his way to Blanding, so we saw each other again a few days later ...he arrived in Blanding on the 28th (Janett's birthday!), and we spent that evening at a party for Janett...

THEN...on the 29th of Feb., (2008) as Daniel and I were driving back to his sister's place, after grabbing something for lunch, He asked me if I "still wanted to give us a try?" ...To which I told him that I did, so we became an "offical couple!" ...We saw each other for about 3 more days, then he had to leave because he was supposed to report for Basic Training on the 10th of March and he had to stop in Arizona for a few days before he went to Georgia to get his stuff...When he got out to Georgia, he found out that they (the Navy) had delayed his time for Basic, so he spent 3 weeks in Georgia just chillin'...until April 1st when he actually entered Basic Training. During the 3 weeks, we spent alot of time texing and talkin' on the phone...then once he started Basic Training he couldn't have his Cell phone, so I waited to hear from him...and on the 2nd week of Basic, I recieved my first letter!! From then on, until Basic Training Graduation, we wrote each other every week!!

On May 22nd, my parents and I flew into Great Lakes, IL, picked up our 2008 Ford Mustang (that only had 400 miles on it when we got it) and went to the Motel...

The next day, May 23rd, we went to Daniel's Basic Training Graduation...It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!!...I'll give you a hint: He's wearing a white uniform, dark blue neck tie, white hat and is standing in formation...j/k ;-) He's the one directly behind the white flag that has red on it...

After Graduation, Mom, Dad, Daniel & I went to the motel that we were staying at and watched "Alvin and the Chipmunks..." afterwhich, mom and dad were busy talkin' to someone on teh phone and workin' on some stuff on the computer while Daniel and I were cuddled up talkin'...

Daniel was talkin' about "this and that," and all the different places that we could possibly go to with the Navy after we were married, when he stopped and said, "I guess I should ask you formaly though..."

"Ask me what?" I responded (With a pretty good idea in my mind...)

"Will You Marry Me?" He Asked!!!

"Heck yeah, YES I will!!!" I quickly answered in an excited/hushed voice. Then we hugged/kissed eachother and continued cuddling...

He then told me that, "That wasn't how I had planned on doing it!...I was going to get the ring, ask your dad, then ask you...but I just couldn't wait anymore!! I actually wanted to make a ring out of a twisty-tie, but I didn't have one!"

"Really? That's funny because ever since I was little, I always thought that it would be cool if someone proposed to me with a twisty-tie ring!!" I replied, "Hey, I think my mom actually has one..."

"Hey Barb, do you have a twisty-tie?" Daniel then asked my mom.

"I do! It's right here, would you like it?" Mom replied, then handed it to Daniel. (She knew right away what it was for, since I had told her when I was little, that I wanted someone to propose with one!)...After that, he made my Engagement ring, and since it was green, we decided that it was a Ruby ring!!... We had to leave a few minutes later to get him back to base...He was just a little happy don't you think??!?!!?!?......The next morning when we met Daniel at the Base, we went to the NEX (Navy Exchange) and picked out my ring...

After we picked out the ring, we went to The Gurnee Mills Mall to hang out and get my ring re-sized...While we were there, we found a hall of mirrors, so we stopped to get our "Eternal Perspective" pictures...
We all had a blast hangin' out at the Mall!!...It was fun because everyone in awhile, someone would stop and ask us when we got engaged...it was fun to see the different reactions!!

We watched "The Chronicles of Narnia-Prince Caspian," in the Theatre there at the Mall, then we as were were leaving, we went through the "Outdoor Store" and took some pictures while we were in there...

When we got outside, we found a "Gazeebo," and decided to take pictures in it too...since we were going to use them for our Announcements!...Mom took our pictures, she did a good job too!!...

That evening we had to drop him off on Base around 7:30 pm because he had to be in early that night...The next time we saw each other was around 7:40 am the morning of the wedding!!..You can read that blog if you would like to see how the wedding day went...it's gr8! The blog is called, "From Here To Eternity...September 20th, 2008 " ...Hope you enjoy it as we surely did!