Although I had seen Benji around youth group and heard his sister's talk about him, it wasn't until a Jr. High Winter Camp up in the mountains that I really noticed him. And then in the same weekend I pretty much fell deeply in love with him. No but for real, my dad was Benji's camp counselor and I spent most of the weekend hanging around my Dad...and also conveniently Benji. After that, Tuesday nights became the most exciting nights of the week and although I was way too shy to actually talk to him, I pretty much knew I wanted to marry him. Later that year, in the middle of July, we went on a midnight hike with our youth group and Benji called me over saying "Watkins", offered me his friend's jacket because he didn't have one himself and after that Tuesday nights became pretty exciting for him too. That school year we went to the same charter school and I registered for the only class we might have a chance of being in together. Musical Theater class. Praying with all my might that Benji would somehow have an interest in theater. He didn't.

But on a fluke he still ended up in the class and we spent most of the year winking at each other from across the room and day dreaming about the 5 minutes it would take us to walk from school to youth group with each other. That February, amidst all of my friend's warnings to me to not show up on Valentine's Day empty handed, Benji gave me a card and Sour Patch Kids right before I walked out to my dad's truck. A month later, on one of those much anticipated walks, he turned to me at the end of the sidewalk and said "I like you. Like a boy likes a girl." Then we kept walking until he stopped me in the parking lot across the street, "Do you like me?" And with a very timid sounding "Mhm", my life was made. Although I didn't give Benji any indication. And that amazing boy hung around until I finally started talking. And now he can't get me to stop.

I had just gotten back from a 6 week long graduation trip with my grandparents. On that trip, I knew that Benji had already asked my dad if we could start dating and we had been face timing every time we could get the wifi to work long enough, so in my mind, we were already boyfriend and girlfriend. But my mom just kept telling me not to post any pictures on Instagram yet because all of our grandparents needed to know first, but actually she was just trying to get me to hold out until Tuesday night. That night, Benji took me into the sanctuary that was decorated with string lights along a path to two seats facing a screen. Once we sat down, a video of Benji talking about why he wanted to date me and how excited he was for our future played. Afterwards, He stood up and handed me yellow daisies and told me "I love you" for the first time. And completely redeeming myself from my lame "mhm" a few years before, I said "I love you too." And then we held hands and all of our friends who were waiting for us outside started clapping and cheering and we got the cutest pictures and that is still, to this day, the best Instagram post I have ever made.

We had been planning to go on a date because we'd been so busy with family and friends and trips during the holidays, but thinking that it was just dinner, I changed the day on Benji last second because of a missions trip meeting that got scheduled last minute. Staying completely calm, cool and collected, Benji didn't even skip a beat. Little did I know he was changing the reservation on a restaurant and a limo, collecting our friends and family all in one spot and praying that the rain would hold off one more day. Thinking that we weren't getting engaged for another couple of months, I had no idea or suspicions. Even up to the moment that we drove into our old school's parking lot, and I saw rose petals and pictures held up by logs. He had gotten me a ring for Christmas with a "B" engraved on, which I thought he just got because I asked for it but he really got it to make sure that my engagement ring was going to be the right size. Right before we got out of the car he said, "Babe, you're going to have to take that ring off", and then everything after that was surreal. His cousin Fede started playing music from the parking lot, our friends Ali, Luke and Ezra were hidden in a car across the street to capture the whole moment. And at the end of the sidewalk, in the same spot that he told me he liked me, six years before, my best friend asked me to marry him. And I said, "YEAH." Immediately after, we got in a limo that was parked around the corner that took us on a drive up to the lake while I asked him a billion questions and then to meet everyone waiting at From The Hearth. There was food and family and Benji played a video of all of our friends and family giving their blessing. It was beautiful and perfect and better than I could've ever dreamed. And when I watch our proposal video I still cry my eyes out.