Happy Yes Day

9 years ago today I proposed to Lisa.

I found our engagement story, which has been described to me containing "too much happiness." It's still fun to read 9 years later!

April 2004

Hey everyone,

I promised a more detailed story soon - here it is. Lisa and I teamed up to write how we got engaged so prepare for frequent shifts between storytellers!

We met in February of last year (2003) when we were paired to work together for our stake's youth conference. We got to drive all over the stake visiting wards together. It didn't take long
for me (Bryce) to realize how great Lisa is. She is creative, artistic, genuinely optimistic and very enthusiastic. However, it did take me until her birthday (September 30) to finally ask her out. Our first date was to the circus, where we sat underneath the "whirling wheel of death" and next to the "angle of insanity!"

(Lisa) By March, we had talked about getting married and Bryce started doing these really thoughtful, creative surprises. I (Bryce) decided that I was going to ask Lisa to marry me on March 30, her half birthday and our 6 month anniversary. Before proposing, I wanted to tell her, in a way she would never forget, 4 things that we had told each other as the relationship progressed.

(Lisa) It all started with a visit to KaBloom on our way home from work one Tuesday evening. Bryce managed to casually work the let's-stop-inside-the-flower-shop-on-our-way-home idea into our conversation, so I wasn't suspicious at all…until he suggested asking at the counter if there was anything on hold for me. "It's such a fun game! Because I mean, really, what are the chances that they would actually have something on hold for you?! LaPierre and Moorhead and both pretty uncommon names…I think we should just check…" And wouldn't you know it - they had something for me! A huge bouquet of yellow Gerber daisies with an envelope tied to each stem. Once I'd opened all the envelopes I found the message, "Illness lingers in kittens entering your opulent universe." That's Bryce&Lisa-ese for "I like you." Awwwww, sweet. (Bryce) You should have heard the florist's reaction when I told him what to write!

The next week, Lisa was taking a week-long intensive class at Simmons, and on Tuesday her class was on a field trip downtown. I (Bryce) dipped handmade chocolates for her and her Professor (an emeritus dean) agreed to deliver them for me. (Lisa) In the middle of lunch my professor came over and "on behalf of Bryce and the Harvard Business School" presented me with a bag from L.A. Burdicks Chocolates. Inside the bag I discovered a box of homemade LaPierre chocolates (see website)! On top of each chocolate was a letter and in the box was a note that said, "It's plain to see while sitting here I cannot get you off my mind. If you these letters rearrange the reason you will find!" I waited till I got home that day and then unscrambled the message - "You are awesome." J My professor had a hey-day with that surprise - made several comments in class each day after that involving chocolates and Bryce.

The message I'd (Bryce) chosen for March 16th was "YOU ARE A BEB." Since Matt and Marci (her brother-in-law and sister) sing this to the Blue Danube Walt, I wrote Lisa a letter on music lined staff paper, where each word was a note in that song. In order to make its delivery a surprise, I told her I had to work late. (Lisa) I'd just put in a load of laundry when JaNeece called me into the living room. I walked in and there was Bryce standing outside our living room window under a big umbrella (it was snowing). He sang "When you say nothing at all" by Alison Krauss - the entire song! Very impressive!! After the song was over, he came inside and gave me a note he'd written. The message from that one was that he thought I was a "beb" (which is Moorhead-ese for being a cool person).

I (Lisa) woke up on the fourth Tuesday to find a red tulip on our kitchen table with a now familiar KaBloom envelope attached. Throughout the day I received 7 more tulips, each with an envelope containing 2 laminated squared that had pictures on the front and letters on the back (see website for this document). I was dying to solve the puzzle (lining up all the pictures) but decided to wait until I got home from tutoring. At 11:30pm, I called Bryce, and with his help I finally finished the puzzle and then discovered that when I flipped it over it read, "Lisa, I love you a lot." Bryce then pointed out that there was 1 white tulip, 4 yellow ones and 3 red ones - a subtle message I had missed (143 = I love you).

For the last one, I had asked my mother to cook us a great lunch at Lisa's apartment. While bowling with Lisa, Matt & Marci, and their mother Saturday night, I (Bryce) invited her to be involved in my plans for Tuesday, March 30. I needed her help to keep Lisa from getting suspicious - this was accomplished by having her make plans to take Lisa and I out to lunch on Tuesday. In reality, she picked up the flowers, and helped my mother set up the table and prepare the meal while we were at work. On Sunday, I finally told my parents I was going to propose (my mother pumped her fists in the air), and then called Lisa's father to ask his permission.

(Lisa) I had really been hoping that Bryce would propose on the 30th but I could not see how it could possibly work with my mom in town and tutoring almost immediately after work. When Bryce paid a surprise visit to my apartment that morning - bursting through the front door with 13 (half of 26) lemon blueberry muffins (he did the same thing on my birthday) - I figured that must be my "surprise" for the day and resigned myself to another week of stifled excitement about the proposal I knew had to be coming soon. My mom dropped Bryce and me off at work, saying that she'd come back to pick us up for lunch. As planned, my mom called a little after 12:45 and said "Ok Leese, I'm here." I called Bryce to let him know, and then got my coat and left my office. When I got outside, my mom was nowhere to be seen…but there was Bryce, all dressed up and standing in front of this big SUV. Bryce helped me into the car and we were off…and I had no idea where.

Brian Sweeney (Bryce's friend) was our driver/chauffeur and played the part beautifully. He took us back to my apartment where my mom answered the door. She ushered us to a table set up in the living room with plates, plastic utensils and goblets all cut in half for my half birthday. There were also roses (a half dozen), a candle, and 6 different colored envelopes on the table (see website). Inside each envelope I found 3 or 4 little squares of paper with a letter written on each one. Sorting the squares by color was not that hard to figure out, and I found a few key letters that tipped me off to what the message was going to say. When I finished, it read, "Lisa Moorhead will you marry me?" Suddenly, Bryce was down on one knee and asking me to marry him. (Bryce) It went faster than I thought - Lisa was leaving spaces for the letters that were missing!! Once she finished, I produced the ring and dropped to one knee, telling her how much I loved her, why I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, and asked her to marry me. She said yes!!

(Lisa) We both ran into the kitchen to tell my mom and when I got there I discovered that Bryce's mom was there as well! It was perfect - they were able to meet and it was so fun to have them be a part of the day. In addition, the food that Bryce's mom made was to DIE for (shrimp fettuccini, asparagus with sautéed peppers, this great spinach salad, bruchetta as an appetizer, rolls and a chocolate dessert to end all chocolate desserts! Oh! And this butter molded into the shapes of flowers and hearts - so cool!). Marci (my sister) showed up shortly after lunch to take my mom to the airport so we talked briefly about wedding plans, but all I could do very much of was stare at my left hand and hug Bryce… SUCH a fun day! Bryce is the BEST!!

Lisa and I are VERY excited and hope that you will all be able to join us this fall in Boston on October 9 to celebrate our wedding! We'll have more information on that party later! Until then…happy spring!

Love,

Bryce & Lisa