Written by: Ashley Baker
Julia and Marty locked eyes at a concert during the county fair, then later reconnected via Facebook. Some say, it was love at first sight. “So his sister-in-law calls it love at first sight,” Julia says. “We first saw each other at a Josh Turner concert where our eyes met. He [Marty] found me later through Facebook. We were both from Wyoming. He lived in Lyman and I lived Green River. I was a cheerleader and he was a football player. For our first date, we went out to eat and he was super nervous.”
“Julia went to go get a drink,” says Marty of the first date. “I’d never even talked to her prior to asking her out on a date. She walks back and I got nervous because she’s the cutest girl I had ever talked to.”
“We went golfing, on our next date,” Julia says.
“Not golfing. The driving range,” Marty says.
“He drove down from Wyoming while I was going to school in Provo. We went hiking in Alpine canyon,” she says.
“I started school at USU, she was down here in Provo, then we lost contact,” he says.
“While I was in school, I got another boyfriend, I don’t know why,” they both laugh.
“Uh huhhhhh,” Marty says.
“He [Marty] didn’t ask me out again!” Julia says.
“I didn’t know if she liked me or not so I didn’t want to be that weird kid,” he says.
“My sister was going to USU. She knew of Marty and kept in contact with him. She didn’t like anyone I dated, except Marty,” Julia says. “She was telling him everything about me. They had these secret conversations without me knowing until later.”
“Her sister asked me, ‘Why didn’t you ask my sister on another date?’ Julia didn’t know we were talking and she still had a boyfriend,” says Marty.
“Eventually we reconnected and he took me horseback riding. We dated ever since,” she says.
“He sold his horse, to buy my ring. We call my ring Pete now because that was the name of his horse,” Julia says.
When it came time to propose, Julia didn’t know that Marty had plans.
“I didn’t know he was going to propose,” she says.
“She said she’d know and I said she wouldn’t, so I did it all behind her back,” Marty says.
“I remember, I was getting ready for what I thought was a double date. My dad kept coming in my room and telling me he loved me,” she says.
“My sister was driving and I thought she went the wrong way,” says Julia. “We ended up at this white barn and lets me out of the car, and she told me she loved me,” says Julia. “I got out of the car and it was snowy and there were rose petals and a note.”
“He had shoveled a path in the snow that lead to the door of the barn. The note read: Once upon a time a boy loved a girl, follow the path to see what happened next,” Julia says. “Rose petals lined the path all the way to the barn door. I opened the door and there were rose petals all up the stairs and music playing. There’s a corner lit up with twinkle lights and photos of us while we were dating. There were receipts and even one from the county fair where we first saw each other. He came up behind me and I started to cry. I was just so happy I just hugged him. He was like, wait, then he got down on one knee and he asked me to marry him and I said yes of course, duh. I was so excited that I hugged his head while he was kneeling.”
Julia and Marty were married at the Payson Temple in Utah.
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