Jen & Ryan: Fall Semester: Missionary Announcement and Ring Shopping

Jen: Fall Semester was hard, but rewarding. Balancing school, work, boyfriend, church calling, and exercise was a little cray. And then came missionary announcement at General Conference. My very first initial thought was that I wasn’t supposed to go, but then I complicated things. Many people know that I have always wanted to serve a mission, and I thought I would go. I took mission prep in my ward, I took Spanish, and read through Preach My Gospel. I rode the emotional rollercoaster like many other girls did, trying to decide what to do with the shocking announcement.

I prayed and read through my patriarchal blessing, and Heavenly Father gave me the answer that I was supposed to stick around.

Ry was up in Idaho watching conference, but from his text and talking to him on the phone I got the vibe that he wanted me to leave and serve a mission when what I really wanted was for him to tell me to stay. It was a mess. After he got home, we talked and came to the conclusion that we wanted to get married, but not until Spring.

We continued dating, and worked hard in our classes. It wasn’t until finals week that we went ring shopping. It was fun! We went to two jewelers, and then Ry went on his own to about ten more places. I found a fat stack of packets and brochures in his glove compartment. Haha! It was cute. If you have any questions about diamonds, Ryan Richey is your man.

Ry: Conference weekend, my roommates and I headed up to one of our houses in Idaho. We were watching conference and the announcement was made about the age change for missionary service for sisters. Both Brian and Marcus looked at me and said “you’re toast.” It was generally understood that Jen had always wanted to serve a mission and we all figured she would be considering going. Anyways, Jen and I had a long, (not fun) complex talk on the phone. (She tried to break up with me, and make it seem like I was breaking up with her.... it was awful.)
When we drove home, Jen and I got to have a talk in person and fixed things to quite the opposite extreme. instead of thinking of breaking up, we talked about marriage. we set a goal and started working towards it.

Those commercials that say “He went to insert jewelry store here” definitely miss the fact that he probably has gone to and will go to every other jeweler in town. Seriously, in my attempt to get acquainted with the diamond and jewelry world, I went to as many jewelers as possible. I quickly learned the importance of the four “C”s and eventually went with a referred jeweler friend of Jen’s family.

Here are some pics throughout the semester!