Testing, testing, uno, dos, THREE!

 Loving my new phone and blogging app! Please ignore my blood shot eyes. 

Welcome you wonderful people

All the vicious rumors are true. Breanna Berry has taken the leap of incredible faith and decided to marry me, Rudyard Hopkins. (I haven't told her it is forever yet but I think that she could get used to the idea.) This is the beginning and the story that is so good we decided to write it down for you and generations to come. Our parents told us that we would know when it was right. It would be so effortless, so peaceful. Things would fall into place and providence would be plain for all to see. They were right about the whole thing. Here is how our story began...




Once upon a time....

Rudd likes cheese—both the pepper jack and the mushy stories sort of cheese.  It’s something I absolutely love about him but if you want the cheesy version of our story, he is your best bet.  I will start by saying that I LOVE this man.  Since we first met I felt like he was a breath of fresh air.  Our conversations and interactions felt different than anything I had experienced in a relationship.  I still feel that way.  I have felt that everything good that I have ever done has been paid back to me with a wonderful man that I love and wonderful relationship that I adore.  I have felt much gratitude for the blessing of him in my life.  Here is how our story began; from my perspective, of course.  It’s long so read at your own risk. 

In January of this year (yes, we’ve moved along quickly) I was sitting at my desk on the third floor of the BYU Broadcasting building.  I was probably finishing up a music contract. From a distance I saw a handsome man pass by with another BYU Broadcasting employee.  It seemed like he was getting some sort of tour.  I turned to a coworker and good friend, and asked, “Who’s that guy?  He’s cute!”.  She is quite familiar with most of the employees there but didn’t know who he was.  She offered to e-mail  the mystery man’s tour guide and get the 411 on his dating status.  I figured, why not?  She also sent me on a fake errand to talk with the tour guide and increase my chances of meeting the handsome man.   I never did meet him but we did get an e-mail reply saying his name was Rudd, he was from California, he was available, he may move to Provo if he got a job and was also given his phone number if I wanted to call.  I said, “There’s no way I’m calling him!  If I meet him later, great.  Plus, he’s from California and California guys are questionable.”  The last part was mostly said in jest.  I have no reason to think negatively about California guys.  But, stereotypes are stereotypes.  

I didn’t think much of it until I came in to work one day and saw him at the front desk.  Again, I thought he was so handsome!  When I got to my desk two of my coworkers were so thrilled to tell me the cute guy was now hired at BYU Broadcasting.  It was great news until I realized that Rudd might know I was that crazy e-mail girl that asked about him.  I interacted with him briefly a few times without formally being introduced.  I asked my coworker if Rudd might know that I was the “e-mail girl”.  She said that word had been passed along.  How embarrassing!   I felt silly every time he came around because he knew that I was interested but we hadn’t even met.  

I was hoping for an opportunity to introduce myself to him without lots of coworkers around (otherwise I would have been blushing the entire time).  My opportunity came, I was brave and I finally introduced myself to him one morning as I was going up the stairs.  We had a brief, fun conversation and I was thrilled.  But still felt foolish.  I remember telling a coworker that our quick introductions and conversation was so refreshing.  I was of course interested to know more.  It turns out that I deliver contracts and invoices to people that work right by Rudd’s desk (and yes, I did make a few “extra” errands so I was sure to see him).  Perfect!  He always has great stories to tell (If you don’t know, Rudd likes to tell stories and he’s good at it.  One of a billion things I love about him.) and he was interested to hear my stories as well.  I was always nervous to go to the second floor and always excited that he might come see me on the third floor.  Office romance.  Sometimes I would find myself just sitting by his desk staring at him/listening to his stories.  Once he asked, “Are you still working?”  I said, “OHHH.  That’s right. I’m at work. I guess I should go now.”  Since this needs to be a readable document, I’m going to skip ahead a bit. 

 I knew I liked him but couldn’t exactly tell what he was thinking.  I thought that he was probably flirting with me because he knew I was the “e-mail girl” that thought he was cute and he was livin’ it up.  Eventually he asked me if I wanted to continue story time, outside of work.  Of course I agreed!  He came over that Friday night and we made dessert (I bought the dessert so I don’t consider it our first date.  He might.) and talked until the wee hours of the morning.  That night my roommate said, “Bree, I REALLY like him.  I like him more than any other guy you’ve brought over.” I completely agreed!   After that it seemed like we spent every free moment together.  This was also about the time my school work went on a decline.  Concentrating on school work seemed like the biggest chore of the century!  Our first official date was March 2^nd when we went to a Folk Ensemble on BYU campus.  After the date we were chatting in the parking lot and I mentioned my feelings that California guys are questionable.  This is the good part so if you haven’t been paying attention thus far, you should pay attention now. 

He said, “Oh, that reminds me of this great story!  There is this girl from work that sent an e-mail to my old boss (the tour guide) asking about my dating….”

It was about this time that I got a huge knot in my stomach because I know he’s talking about me!  And I know that he knows that I know that he’s talking about me!  He was teasing me. 

I said, “Stop!  Don’t be like that.”

He responds, “Huh?  What?”

I said, “Don’t embarrass me!”

He said, “What????”

I say, “Karen said that you knew.  Mark told you! Don’t tease me.”

He responds, “What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lots of this going back and forth.  

He finally says, “What???? Are you saying it was YOU?? You’re the ‘e-mail girl’?!”

Talk about embarrassing.  “I was told that you knew.  I thought you knew this whole time and were basking in your glory knowing that I thought you were hot stuff.  I figured that’s the reason we even started being friends!        Yes, that was me.” 

We both sat there laughing and thinking through the whole confusion. 

He’s said something like, “THIS. is. PERFECT.”

That’s how it felt.  It felt perfect.  Turned out he talked to me purely because he thought I was fun or interesting.  Turned out I was the e-mail girl that had asked about him from the very beginning when he took a tour of BYU Broadcasting.  Turned out we were both interested.  It was a great twist in our story. 

My dad has always told me that the best way to know who you should marry is to date a lot of people.  If you do that, then you can notice the difference when the right person comes along.  I never thought that’s how it would be for me, but it turned out that way completely.  Let’s just say I’ve been on a few dates and dating Rudd was completely different.  Everything felt different, in a good way.  It was like being on a completely different galaxy.  My mom asked me once if I was having fun with Rudd. I told her it was so much more than just fun—it was so GOOD.  Everything about it felt absolutely natural and easy.  Easier than pie.  Turns out I’m cheesy too. 

Rudd's take on the first date:

     The three p’s have to be there for anything to count. That is what they told us from the get go as young men. Planned, paid for, and paired off. The first time that Bree and I spent time outside of work did not meet this criteria. But that doesn't mean it wasn't a blast. Our tradition at work was to exchange stories every time we saw each other. Rightfully so I labeled our encounters as “story time”. My feeling was that this would be a great way to pitch spending time together outside of work. She accepted the invitation. Friday, March 2nd it was.

The anticipated date didn't know what it wanted to be when it grew up. Changing from meeting up to go to the BYU Volleyball game with some of her friends. I got delayed so it became go with your friends and Ill meet you there. Bree’s friend decided that she wanted to watch the televised basketball game later that night and we were going to possibly meet up with her later. None of that happened, luckily.

Im elated to say that the entire evening consisted of great conversation with a myriad of stories wrapped with delicious cherry delights that didn't end till we freaked out when the clock read 3 am! 

Tuesday afternoon we found ourselves in the “no shush” zone of the library talking about everything under the sun. On the BYU homepage we discovered there was a folk concert that evening. 10 minutes later I returned with tickets. The concert was a blast. The first group was great and the second one blew my socks and pants off! We even had a little drama when Bree and I couldn't stop talking to each other and the person in front of us had to turn around and regulate. Although not very much in advance, this one was planned and paid for. The pairing off came after the concert. Oh la la.

In the middle of our 3+ hour long conversation, Bree made a casual comment about how california boys cant be trusted. That flagged a whole other experience I had at work where my former boss told me that there was a girl that had thought I was cute and then later said she wasn't interested because I was from california. It was time to set the stereotype straight!