Big News

My side of the story...

My story doesn't start as far back. The last time Lars left he said, "It won't be two weeks and I'll be back." However, knowing Lars and his knack for getting involved in a million things, I decided I wouldn't pressure him to know exactly when he would return.

Two days before he came to Omaha, I wondered what was keeping him. He only reported that he'd been shopping that day. He was finished grading; he was finished meeting with his advisers. To me it seemed that he was just hanging out in Champaign, shopping and playing with his friends. The next day, the same story. Shopping and playing with friends. It didn't make sense.

He finally came on Friday 12/21/07. During my lunch hour that day, we talked while he was driving. I teased him that his dad had given me more jewelry than he had. It was a not-so-subtle hint that my Christmas present better be something really nice (after all, I had just purchased a watch for him).

Lars arrived that night around 9 pm and came by to visit. We didn't get very much time together because I kept getting paged. Saturday I finished at the hospital around noon and went home. I was exhausted having been up most of the night with calls and admissions. I came home and Lars came over. I desperately needed to take a nap. I think Lars let me sleep for a couple hours before he started making lots of noise so I'd wake up. He turned on the radio and the TV and I think he started watching a movie on his laptop too. It was so noisy. "Fine, I'm up."

After my brief nap, Lars asked if I wanted to go to the temple.

"Well, I already went this week."
"That's OK, you can go again."
"Um, alright, I guess so."
"I'm really tired Lars."
"That's OK."
"I might sleep through the entire session."
"That's alright."
"Um, OK. Just don't judge me because I might just sleep."
"I won't."

In his defense, Lars asked if I was too tired or not feeling well enough to go out to dinner. I was feeling well enough to eat and thought that I could either eat at home or at a restaurant...what would you choose??? So, I did have a choice on the dinner, but not on the temple session.

We got ready to go to the temple. Lars seemed to be having a difficult time deciding which session to attend, partly due to my semi-strict observance of no-eating-after-7pm rule. We decided to go to dinner at the fancy Italian restaurant downtown (I really should have suspected something was up) and make it to the 7:30 pm session. However, due to my semi-delusional state from lack of sleep, I forgot my recommend and my temple clothing. After that, Lars realized that we wouldn't have time to go downtown for Italian food and still make the 7:30 pm session.

Inspiration must have struck and he yelled out "CREPES!" while we were driving. After trying to turn the wrong way onto a one way street, being yelled at by another driver and almost high-centering on a median, we turned around and headed to the cute little French cafe by my house. It really is a swankified place and I'd wanted to try it out for a while. We shared a salmon, spinach and cream cheese crepe. Mmmmmm. It was so yummy. Lars even ordered an appetizer as well as their specialty, pommes frites...oh and dessert (which we got to-go and didn't eat until the next day - but it was still very delicious).

We went to the temple and were even a few minutes early for the 7:30 pm session. After the session (through which I did NOT sleep), having had about 3 total hours of sleep in the last 40 hours, I was anxious to get home to my comfy, cozy bed. As soon as I walked into the Celestial room, I asked if we could go home. Lars said he needed to talk. He told me to go change but wait in the waiting room for him.

So, I did. He finally came and said he had asked the supervisor if we could talk in one of the small waiting rooms for some privacy. I wondered why we couldn't just talk while we were driving to my place - plenty of privacy in the car.

We went into the waiting room. I figured he wanted to address our relationship, where it was headed and set some goals or something; maybe even talk about ring shopping. Lars said that he wanted to tell me something but was afraid he might forget so had written it down in a letter. I read his sweet note which said some very nice things about me. It was signed "Your friend and future husband". It caught me off guard slightly but I was so tired, I didn't even think to react.

The next thing I heard was "I guess I better get on my knee for this." What?? I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I heard, "Will you marry me?" Ummmmm........What do I say? We hadn't talked about marriage in a while. I was not ready for this at all. Unlike Lars (who had some time to prepare for this moment), I felt totally blown away and completely unprepared. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. We were supposed to talk about it, go ring shopping together; I was supposed to have time to think and prepare for it. What should I say? If I say "yes", that's a serious commitment and I have to mean it. On the other hand, how could I be really certain this was the thing I was wanted to do? Lars was waiting for an answer and I knew I had to say something. The only thing I could come up with was, "Yes!" and it felt right. I think he was a little surprised and, quite frankly, so was I.

Then, Lars held up in his left hand a little flower ring.

"Sarah, I know we haven't been ring shopping yet. Will you take this one as a temporary token of our engagement?"

"No."

And then he waited and waited and waited. I enjoyed this part. I could tell he was a little shocked that I said "no". But, he just knelt there with that little pink flower ring in his hand waiting.

"OK, give it to me."

Lars smirked. I pulled the ring from his fingers and to it was attached a pink ribbon. I kept pulling and pulling. Attached to the other end of the ribbon was a very sparkle-licious ring. What!! He wasn't supposed to buy a ring without me. Again, I didn't know what to say and again, I wasn't at all prepared for this. He slipped the ring onto my finger and I gave him a hug. I couldn't help but look at it; it was so gorgeous. Then I started to realize what just happened. I couldn't hold the tears back and Lars, prepared for everything, handed me a hankie.

I know I asked Lars about a million times if he was sure he wanted to do this. He continued to reassure me that he was. I warned him that I'm a little crazy and may be difficult to live with.

I asked if he'd talked to my parents. He hadn't. I asked if he'd talked to his parents. Again, no. I told him I had to rescind my acceptance until he had permission from dad. Lars asked if he should call right away. I told him it was up to him but I couldn't give him a definite answer until he had permission.

We walked out of the temple and right away he tried to call dad, twice. Someone was on the other phone line and didn't answer. We started driving and about halfway Lars pulled over to call again. Mom answered this time and said that dad was over at uncle John's watching the BYU game. She said that she would have dad call him back as soon as he could.

About 11:30 pm (by now I'm dying of exhaustion) dad finally called Lars back. They talked while I was doing some laundry. I could see Lars pacing back and forth as he talked to mom and dad. After Lars finished talking with them, I asked to chat with them while Lars continued to pace. They both reiterated that although they had given permission, it was still my decision.

"Well, I have something to tell you. Lars has asked me to marry him and I said, 'Yes.'"

They were both very excited.

After we hung up, I turned to Lars and told him to call his parents. They needed to know too. I'm pretty sure he asked if he should just call in the morning. I rolled my eyes and he started dialing. As soon as he told them, his mom asked to talk to me.

"Congratulations Sarah! We just love you. So you actually said 'yes'?"
"I did"
"We're so excited for you. Here's Kiersten."

We finally hung up and think Lars was ready to phone the entire world to announce it. I, on the other hand, was ready for bed. He drove me home and with the goodnight hug, I looked at my ring again.

If you're interested to know the other side of this story, you can find it here.