The Legacy of the Kissing Frog

   Let me introduce you to the Legacy of the Kissing Frog. The Kissing Frog has been passed down through my family for years. To my knowledge, it began with my oldest cousin when she went off to college. She had in her possession a stuffed green frog that is about the size of a basketball. It had big red puckered lips and when you squeeze its tummy it makes three loud distinct obnoxious kissing sounds. It was believed that this frog would give her luck in her love life and if she displayed the frog on her pillow each day, it would one day bring to her a handsome prince.
   Like any reasonable boy crazy girl, she diligently displayed that frog on her pillow and awaited for the promised prince to sweep her off of her feet. Eventually, he came. She married a great guy and they are living happily ever after. But the Kissing Frog lived on! Once married, my cousin passed the Kissing Frog onto her younger sister so that it could bring her good luck as well. She faithfully used the magic of the kissing frog and found a wonderful man who she married and is living happily ever after with. That ended the line of sisters in their immediate family and so they decided to pass on the frog to their dear younger cousin who was headed off to her first semester of college and ready to find her prince. Which is how I ended up with the Kissing Frog.

   By the time I had possession of the frog, it's big puckered lips had fallen off and there was a small hole in the left arm that had white cotton threatening to pop out at any second. However, they made sure I knew of the legacy and that I would place the frog on my bed every day until I met the man I was going to marry. I faithfully followed in my older cousins footsteps and waited until a man was brought forth. And I waited. And waited. And then waited just a little longer. Until I went off to Romania to explore the world. Then when I returned, I decided to keep the frog displayed on my bed because I hadn't lost all hope. And then I met my prince, Tyler Schow.
   Tyler proposed to me while we were on a trip to Las Vegas and when I returned home I remember walking into my room, looking at the frog sitting on my bed, and smiling. I walked over to it, sat on my bed, picked it up, and thought, "Thanks Kissing Frog, you've gone above and beyond for me. You've given me an extraordinary prince". And then I retired the Kissing Frog from my pillows and stored him in a safe place until I pass him along to another girl seeking a little magic.
   Tyler and I have been engaged for four months now. That's how long it has been since my last blog post as well. A lot has happened in four months. There have been finals, moving, vacations, visits from family, Tyler's sister leaving on her mission, my brother returning from his, and of course wedding planning. But the most important thing that has happened is that my love for Tyler has continued to grow every single day to a greater amount than I could ever have imagined. I didn't know what love was until I met Tyler. To me, Tyler is love. He is the epitome of all things good in my life. He is kind, and patient. Funny and charming. Thoughtful and genuine. He pushes me to be the best version of myself and yet I know that he will love me no matter what I am. I have always considered myself a fairly happy and optimistic person. But Tyler continues to make my days a little brighter, my load a little lighter, and my smile a little wider.
    In one week I will marry Tyler. I view that moment as both an end and a beginning. It is the end of a big part of my life. The end of independence and single hood. But I view it as an even bigger beginning. I will not only depend on Tyler but he will depend on me. I will no longer be single but as a pair, a partnership, a team. Many people have said that I will lose a lot of my freedom. I will no longer be able to travel whenever, wherever, or however I want. I wont be as motivated to strive towards greatness, or achieve many of my goals. However, I see it as having a huge support and partner beside me throughout all of those wonderful things. And I will achieve even more greatness. Because Tyler's success will be my success.
   I have already traveled the world. I have seen many amazing places and met some incredible people. But I truly believe that in seven days I will start my greatest adventure of all. And I will forever be thankful to the Legacy of the Kissing Frog for helping me get here.

The Beginning

     On Friday March 10th I lost the only bet that I will ever be eternally thankful for losing. While I was in Romania last semester a common topic of conversation between the other volunteers was who they thought would get married first after we got back to the States. They each individually decided that the obvious answer was me. They thought that I would get engaged very soon after returning to Brigham Young University. I thought they were all insane. I was as single as ever, excited to return to school to focus on becoming a Child Life Specialist and eager to return to Europe to volunteer again as soon as possible. I thought I was far away from marriage. I was so confident in this that I made a bet with one of the girls who bet me $5 that I would get engaged by the end of the semester. So I returned home confident in my single life.

Me Happily in Romania

     Many people think that my story with Tyler began at the beginning of this year. However, our story actually began in the Fall of 2014. I had just started school at Brigham Young and was probably a little too eager to start dating. After a few months of no luck my roommate and good friend Shelby told me that I absolutely HAD to start writing her best friend Tyler on a mission who was the cutest and sweetest and nicest thing ever. After doing some Facebook stalking and hearing countless stories from Shelby about this mysterious boy, I decided to write to him. I sent my first email on October 27th 2014. We emailed back and forth every week until Tyler sent his last email on December 1st which for some CRAZY reason I didn't respond to. However, I still received the weekly emails he sent to everyone so every Monday morning I was reminded of Tyler and the fact that he was righteously serving a mission. One day during this time period, I ran into my friend Holly who had served with Tyler in the Carlsbad mission! I told her we had been writing and she pretty much freaked out going on and on about how wonderful he was and that I had to marry him. I thought it was funny and coincidental that they also knew each other, but had so many other things going on in my life I didn't really think anything else about it. That is when our story pauses for a few years.

Tyler on his mission. How cute is he??

     During the next two years, I dated multiple boys, was single for some time, decided to go to Romania, and learned a lot about myself and who I am, what I want, and who I want to marry. Soon after Tyler returned from his mission, I was flying off to foreign lands. While I was in Romania I started to notice Tyler on social media and decided I needed the opportunity to get to know this boy. I sent way too many texts to Shelby telling her to tell him to ask me out when I got home and she assured me that he wanted to take me out. When I returned to BYU I went on quite a few first dates but continued to be confident in my single life.
     On Monday January 16th I was sitting in bed watching Netflix when a text message popped up on my phone. The message was from an unknown number and said, "Hey Carrie, its Tyler. I got your number from Holly." I immediately knew who it was and felt a feeling that I'm not sure I had ever felt before: butterflies. We began texting nonstop and it took the boy like 3 days to finally ask me on a date! And that is where our story takes off.

Our first date!

     I was immediately impressed with Tyler. I have to admit, he was nothing like I expected. He was confident and kind, funny and easy to talk to, and SO CUTE. Our first date was so much fun! He took me skittle bowling with his siblings and their dates and I knew right off that I would love his family. After our first date I made sure to see him again a few days later when he asked me out again. After the third date I knew I was hooked. I cancelled all other dates I had that weekend and focused all of my attention on Tyler. My plan was to wait a few weeks before telling him that I wanted to date seriously but only a week after our first date I embarrassingly blurted out that I didn't want to date anyone else. THANKFULLY he felt the exact same way. So we became official. He also told me that he loved me that night. I know, the initial reaction is "WHAT?!?". Honestly that was my initial reaction too. But it only took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and realize that I loved him too. Call us crazy but we were sure of it and it just felt right.

     Let's fast forward a week. During this week I knew I was gonna marry Tyler. But obviously only a crazy person would tell someone they wanted to marry them only two weeks after meeting them. Guess what everyone? I am a crazy person. Exactly one week after becoming official (and sitting in the exact same place) I again blurted out to Tyler that I wasn't dating him just to date him and that I wanted to be with him forever. Yes, another "WHAT?!?" reaction. But sweet Tyler just looked at me and smiled and told me the exact same thing. So we decided we were gonna marry each other. Obviously a lot of thought and prayer went into this decision but I just knew it was right. I didn't want to date Tyler for another six months just because it was the standard thing to do. I loved this boy and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him and so why the heck wait? We decided to keep it a secret and date for a while though before getting officially engaged.
     The whole "keep it a secret" thing didn't  really work out and we quickly told our families. Keeping it a secret was nearly impossible!! So then we were like "Well why wait so long to get engaged?". I thought he would wait until after travelling to Oregon so that he could talk to my dad. Little to my knowledge, he had already gotten the ring, snuck my dads phone number out of my phone and gotten his permission, and was all ready to pop the question well before our trip to Oregon.

     On March 10th we were on our way down to Vegas to celebrate his sisters birthdays and we decided to stop in Saint George. We had dinner then traveled up to Dixie Rock to "take some pictures". When we were up there taking pictures he gave me a hug and said he loved me and had a question for me. Next thing I know he was on his knee asking me if I would marry him. The poor guy could barely get the question out soon enough before I was pulling him up telling him YES. We all celebrated with pictures and lots of screaming and there were even fireworks in the distance!

     After the excitement died down Tyler pulled me aside and told me what he was planning on telling me before I pulled him up off of his knee. When I was a little girl I asked my dad who painted the beautiful sunsets I saw every night. My dad assured me that he painted each sunset just for me. That was a very special moment and I cherish each and every sunset I see because it reminds me of my dad and how much he loves me. Tyler knew about this and how important sunsets were to me so he made sure to propose during a sunset. He then asked me if I would let him paint all of the sunsets for our future children. Okay guys seriously??? Talk about melting a girls heart.

This pretty much sums us up. We "ink" we're really cool.

     I know this is quick. My relationship with Tyler has been unconventional. But each and every day I learn something new about Tyler that makes me more and more sure that I want to marry him. He is the love of my life and makes me want to be the best person that I possibly can be. And each and every day I am going to try my best to become that person and I can't wait to see all of the sunsets Tyler will paint for me. So although I lost $5 in my bet, I seriously gained the lottery in the future husband department.