The Next Adventure

My presence here has been lacking for some time recently, but I assure you it has been for a good cause. My summer has taken me to Baltimore (Towson in reality), New York City, Chicago, and Arizona a few times… but even with all of those distractions and time away from the normal routine I was constantly thinking about being back in Provo; the reason why was a young lady named Kendra George.

She works at the local climbing gym and went on a few dates with my climbing partner back in January, one of which was a double date with my date and me. After a while my climbing partner told me to ask her for her number. I decided not to, out of respect for him, since he had taken her on a few dates, but with some persistence he told me a few weeks later that I really should ask her for her number… well long story short I did, and it was the best decision I made all winter.

Kendra and I spent the summer climbing together, watching the avengers, cringing at the days and weeks apart (mainly my fault), enjoying every moment together when we were actually in the same state, and falling in love.

This last Friday I took action and asked her to marry me in the Temple for time and all eternity…. She said yes. But… of course…  there is more to the story than a simple question, and here it is:

I wanted to ask Kendra to marry me in a way that was unique to us and in a manner that she, nor I would ever forget. So I decided that I wanted to ask her at the top of the first climb we did together as a couple when we were dating. The climb consists of three pitches (meaning three separate climbs or sections one on top of the other), and ends about 900 feet above the canyon floor.

In this close up, you can see the first pitch in red, followed by the second pitch in yellow, and finally the third in blue.

After a week in Arizona meeting family, Kendra and I returned to Provo and I suggested that we go climbing. Playing to my plan she suggested we climb Trilogy Buttress. Knowing that her ring would be ready on Thursday I suggested we do the climb Friday morning.

Thursday evening, while Kendra was at work, my friend, Cameron, and I made a 4’ x 12’ sign that read, “Marry me?” intending for him and another climbing friend, Alex, to climb up an adjacent route which topped out approximately 300 – 400 yards below and left of the route Kendra and I would be on.

Friday morning finally came and I picked Kendra up for our date, we hiked up the canyon and a long scree field to the base of the climb with all our gear and the ring securely tucked away in the rope bag. We finished the first two pitches quickly and as we sat resting before tackling the third pitch I watched as Cameron and Alex topped out across the scree field from us. I sent a quick text telling the two of them to stay out of sight and then prepared to start climbing myself.

After a long climb I neared the top and put part two of my plan into action. On the second to last quick draw I clipped a 3”x5” card with the phrase, “Hi Beautiful” written on it, because most mornings when I would see Kendra or talk to her I would greet her with “Good morning Beautiful.” On the last quick draw I clipped three cards that read, “I love you.” The night before I had asked Kendra why she always whispered when she said, “I love you” and she responded that she didn’t want it to become trite or sound like part of a normal conversation. So as I watched her reach the last quick draw and read the cards (she was convinced by this point that I was proposing) I leaned back and coyly smiled and said to her, “You said you didn’t want it to become normal, and this is the most abnormal way I could think of.” Knowing my tendencies for romantic escapades, every thought that I was proposing to her vanished from her mind.

Kendra finished the last section of the climb and I clipped her into the anchors as Alex and Cameron began to unroll the massive black and white sign below us. I had only a few seconds before Kendra, who was looking over the edge of the cliff to the valley below, practically at Cameron and Alex, would see the sign. So, positioned between her and the edge of the cliff I quickly pointed to Alex and Cameron adding a puzzled question of “what is that?” The distraction didn’t work. Kendra saw me reaching for the little black box that held her ring and bending down to a single knee and completely ignored the sign. In fact she admits that she never saw it!

With her attention squarely on me I opened the box and asked her if she would marry me in the Temple for time and all eternity. She replied with a quick yes and an immediate embrace. After a few minutes I had to pry myself from her arms to turn to Cameron and Alex. I gave one loud shout, “SHE SAID YES!”, to which there was immediate cheering from our friends.

Now you would normally think that this would be the end of an engagement story, but ours is far from normal.

Two hours after leaving the top of Trilogy Buttress I received a phone call from Alex.

“Dude, Rock Canyon is on fire!... what trail did you take coming down from Trilogy?”

I looked in my rear view mirror and 100 yards from where I proposed was completely engulfed in flames! Let me first declare that Kendra and I had no incendiary materials or anything else of that nature with us, furthermore there was no one else on that side of the mountain that we could see. Now to what cause you will attribute the spontaneous combustion of the natural environment around us less than two hours after our special event I will leave to your personal bemusings.

Well, that is our story! And we can only hope that as we approach December (the anticipated wedding month) the story will become better and better.

I love you all and hope that you are safe and well.

Love,

David … & Kendra