our story

meet alex baker.

his friends call him BAKE

recognize someone familiar?

pay attention to that cute tall boy

will gochnour.

you may recognize him at first glance as part of my High School

group of friends. 

the most wonderful group of people who have been through almost everything together.

or perhaps you recognize the cute tall boy as the one who fell in love with my little sister 

high school sweethearts since they were 15 years old.

this match made in heaven married 6 years later for time and eternity.

now back to the point of this blog post.

when i returned from Germany in October 2013 i was as awkward as a jellybean.

i remember one night sitting with will at my kitchen counter when he asked me

how i was feeling being home, and who i would consider going out on a date with.

(( having to seek dating advice from family. winning ))

he told me about this friend of his Alex Baker. 

I went to OLYMPUS High School

Alex went to East High School

we shared the same group of friends.

yet we never actually met.

Will then told me something i will never forget.

from a brother to his new sister. he told me that of all the guys i listed..

he would put one <<stamp of approval>> down and that was guy was

Bake.

I was introduced officially to Bake 5 DAYS AFTER I GOT HOME..

Since that first day on October 21st 2013.

we have spent every. single. day together 

we became inseperable.

As time went by we got more and more serious 

and soon that infamous question arose in both of our heads.

so. 

we had a companionship inventory and we at the exact same time

said " i know i want to marry you"

not much more was said of it.



we kept a hopeful date for the fall in our hearts

and continued on.

part 2.

bake and i share something pretty dang special.

and that is the love for this little brother of mine 

mitchell.

Alex and mitchell have a bond like no other. 

I always joke.. i'm pretty positive he's dating me to get to my brother and brother in law.

but really.

Mitchell received his mission call to PERU leaving August 12th!!

I remember minutes after he announced his departure date Alex and my eyes met and we

both knew what needed to be done..

We KNEW we were ready to be married. 

We KNEW we would be ready any day now

and we KNEW how much more special it would be to have my brother in the temple with us.

August. August. August 

i swear its all we heard and talked about.

what about August.

We knelt in prayer together and knew without a doubt in our hearts. 

Regardless of mitchell, regardless of time.

We were ready to be married. 

We didn't want to announce or set anything in stone for a few very good reasons.

Reason #1: August was only a few months away.. we didn't want to excite family and friends if 

in the end we decided we would need a longer engagement. 

Reason #2: Alex Baker happens to be the worlds best poker face. I knew he had

talked to my dad, i knew he had been shopping around for rings. But he was absolutely

silent about it. I didn't know when, what kindof ring or how he was going to do it. 

He wanted to do it all old school and absolutely surprise me.

Monday, June 2nd. 

i wasn't feeling very good. 

I took the day off of work and 

spent the afternoon with my cousins laying in the sun to get that Vitamin D i lacked for 18 months.

Alex called me when he got off work and asked me if i wanted go get some dinner.

psshh..

of course.

He asked me " where do you want to eat"

he cleverly knew that by allowing me to choose.. i wouldn't suspect a thing.

He is a VERY good actor. Like scary good actor. 

We ended up downtown in between 2 restaurants he had picked out before hand.

Either one i picked would be according to his plan.

Bake and i share a love for steak.. so we decided to try Christopher's in downtown SLC.

Dinner was a.m.a.z.i.n.g 

I was definitely underdressed. hair filled with chlorine. oblivious as ever.

After dinner he " got a phone call"

from someone who lived at an apartment downtown that we LOVED and always watched for availability.

Once again.. Alex is a VERY good actor. (no one was on the phone i came to realize later)

I WAS SOOO EXCITED TO GO SEE THE APARTMENT

We sped over to American Towers and got buzzed in..

Another " call " came in.

" the apartment isn't quite cleared out, just show yourself around the apartment grounds for a few".

so we did just that.

we saw the pool

tennis courts

raquet ball courts

the works.

i was LOVING that place and giddy to go see more.

we got in the elevator and i saw ROOF ACCESS..

i set myself up and said " lets go see the view!!"

well. i walked right into a trap. 

We walked up onto the roof and looked over the ledge.

He was pointing out all the cool major touristy places.

" look the temple!"

" is that gateway?"

things were getting weird. i noticed he was absolutely positively so nervous about something. 

not to mention he was pointing out buildings and places twice.. three times

as if he was stalling.

After not kidding 5 minutes of this pointing.

I looked over my shoulder to find my boyfriend down on one knee.

my heart absolutely skipped a beat. 

after he asked me to be his wife all i could say was 

" you lied to me"

over and over and over and over again

mixed with a few..

" my heart hurts i love you so much"

 i don't think ill ever be able to put into words how much this boy means to me

or begin to describe the feeling knowing after all this time. you finally found the perfect person

i cant stop staring at my hand..

not because i'm absolutely in love with this ring and the meaning behind it.

but because of the thought and time put into it.

i came to find out that bake spend about 3 hours everyday for 3 months. 

thinking up. designing. and perfecting this custom made ring.

** explains the wait **

he incorporated styles and design elements from my mom and my sisters rings.

mixed with my style and created something so beautiful. 

something that made me think of each of them each time i saw it

i know for a reason we met when we did.

i know for a fact that god puts people into our lives when we need them most.

i can honestly say he was VERY worth the wait.

alex is the most christlike. funny. caring. selfless. hardworking person i know.

i cant wait to be his wife.

love,

Bella Baker xx

** a big big thanks to Will G. we will name our first born after you as a big THXX **