This last picture is my engagement ring. I acutally got to design it and I absolutely love it!
Ben did a great job. :)
Ben did a great job. :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Engagement Pictures
While we were in Montana over Christmas Break, we decided to have a good friend of mine (Margie Judd) take our Engagement Pictures. It was freezing! Actually, it was below freezing and it was snowing and the wind was blowing really hard. However, it was worth the pain and loss of minor limbs. Margie is a great photographer and I love the way our pictures turned out!
If you didn't get it from my last post...
...I'm Engaged!!!
Ben and I met over the summer on a blind date while I was visiting my "sister" in San Francisco. She thought it'd be fun for me to go on a date while I was there and arranged, with his sister-in-law, for us to meet. He had a fun evening planned with dinner followed by a sand-castle-building-competition at the beach. We went to the Elephant Bar Restaurant in Burlingame where I had the MisoYaki Fresh Grilled Salmon.
It was absolutely delicious! In fact, I still crave it every so often. Ben decided to be original with a couple mini-burgers and fries. We started talking and basically never stopped. By the time we finished our Chocolate molten lava cake and That was Wednesday.
On Thursday we decided to go to the beach for part 2 of our first date: The Sand Castle Competition. The competition part didn't work out so well, but we did end up making one fine sand castle.
Ben was so cute though! He brought a blanket and buckets and even packed a picnic dinner. After building the sand castle and getting drenched in the tide (like usual, I can't go to the ocean and stay dry), he carried me back to the car where we dried off and then sat on a bench to watch the sun set. Wie romantisch!
Afterwards we went back to Meagan's and helped her set up a facebook account. :)
Friday I was going to babysit for Meagan and Benj while they went on a date. At the last minute I decided to take Ben up on his offer to help me babysit. He came over and we had a blast taking care of Meagan's girls.
I discovered that Ben is great with kids!
I remeber thinking that it was too bad I wasn't that interested in him, because he was going to make a great father some day. He read to Ella while I put Anne to bed and then the three of us had a dance party in the living room.
Soon after he left, the doorbell rang and there were 5 roses sitting on the front porch, each with a different reason of why he loves me tied to it. It was so cute! At first I had a feeling that he was going to propose, but I talkled myself out of it saying that he did cute things like that all the time. I put the roses in a vase and sat back down to continue my movie/grading. As soon as I got comfortable, the doorbell rang again! There were another few roses with more reasons. I put those in the vase as well and sat down again. Just like before, as soon as I got comfortable the doorbell rang again!
This continued until I had 23 roses, each with a different reason why he loves me. The last rose came just before I sat down (thankfully) with a note telling me that I had dinner reservations at 6 and my chauffer would be picking me up at 5, to put on a nice dress and call my sister if I had any questions.
So... I sat down and finished grading the papers. When I looked at the clock I only had 10 minutes to get ready, so I panicked and ran around trying to find something to wear. I finished getting ready just as his roommate arrived and we headed out on the long drive to Sandy, UT, to the most incredible restaurant I've been to this side of the Atlantic: La Caille. It's a beautiful French restaurant built in the style of a French Chateau with most of the antiques imported from France.
We drove up the tree-lined drive where everything was decorated with Christmas lights and I was completely in awe of the whole thing. When we arrived, we went up to the third floor where Ben was waiting for me. He had the whole floor reserved so that we were completely alone. We had an amazing meal (Baked Onion Soup, Apple and Walnut salad on Butter lettuce, and Eastern Duck in a pomegranate sauce for me and Lobster Bisque, Arugula and Goat cheese salad, and a Steak with Scotch-Peppercorn sauce for Ben). It was another one of those meals where, afterward, I never wanted to eat again, for fear of doing that meal an injustice.
After dinner we went outside in what may have seemed a futile attempt to die of frostbite, but was really just another part of a wonderfully romantic evening - looking at all the Christmas lights. We walked around the grounds and then up the hill to a gazebo by a little pond. I was completely enthralled by the swan so I didn't notice the bench or the little box sitting on it. Ben suggested that we sit down and I when turned around he pretended to be startled and asked what it was. He sat me down on the bench and then got down on one knee and told me how much he loves me and asked me to marry him. As I said yes, I noticed camera flashes all around us. Then my sister and cousin jumped out of the bushes and took a ton of pictures of us, making us pose all over the grounds as well. He was so cute about all of it and it really couldn't have been more perfect. :)
Ben and I met over the summer on a blind date while I was visiting my "sister" in San Francisco. She thought it'd be fun for me to go on a date while I was there and arranged, with his sister-in-law, for us to meet. He had a fun evening planned with dinner followed by a sand-castle-building-competition at the beach. We went to the Elephant Bar Restaurant in Burlingame where I had the MisoYaki Fresh Grilled Salmon.
It was absolutely delicious! In fact, I still crave it every so often. Ben decided to be original with a couple mini-burgers and fries. We started talking and basically never stopped. By the time we finished our Chocolate molten lava cake and That was Wednesday.On Thursday we decided to go to the beach for part 2 of our first date: The Sand Castle Competition. The competition part didn't work out so well, but we did end up making one fine sand castle.
Ben was so cute though! He brought a blanket and buckets and even packed a picnic dinner. After building the sand castle and getting drenched in the tide (like usual, I can't go to the ocean and stay dry), he carried me back to the car where we dried off and then sat on a bench to watch the sun set. Wie romantisch!Afterwards we went back to Meagan's and helped her set up a facebook account. :)
Friday I was going to babysit for Meagan and Benj while they went on a date. At the last minute I decided to take Ben up on his offer to help me babysit. He came over and we had a blast taking care of Meagan's girls.
I discovered that Ben is great with kids!
I remeber thinking that it was too bad I wasn't that interested in him, because he was going to make a great father some day. He read to Ella while I put Anne to bed and then the three of us had a dance party in the living room.
***4 Months Later***
The Engagement Story. December 5, 2008
We were studying/watching a movie at my house when he got a phone call and had to leave suddenly. I was grading papers and paying more attention to the movie than to his phone call, so I didn't really mind, especially when he said it would only take 30 minutes.Soon after he left, the doorbell rang and there were 5 roses sitting on the front porch, each with a different reason of why he loves me tied to it. It was so cute! At first I had a feeling that he was going to propose, but I talkled myself out of it saying that he did cute things like that all the time. I put the roses in a vase and sat back down to continue my movie/grading. As soon as I got comfortable, the doorbell rang again! There were another few roses with more reasons. I put those in the vase as well and sat down again. Just like before, as soon as I got comfortable the doorbell rang again!
This continued until I had 23 roses, each with a different reason why he loves me. The last rose came just before I sat down (thankfully) with a note telling me that I had dinner reservations at 6 and my chauffer would be picking me up at 5, to put on a nice dress and call my sister if I had any questions.
So... I sat down and finished grading the papers. When I looked at the clock I only had 10 minutes to get ready, so I panicked and ran around trying to find something to wear. I finished getting ready just as his roommate arrived and we headed out on the long drive to Sandy, UT, to the most incredible restaurant I've been to this side of the Atlantic: La Caille. It's a beautiful French restaurant built in the style of a French Chateau with most of the antiques imported from France.
We drove up the tree-lined drive where everything was decorated with Christmas lights and I was completely in awe of the whole thing. When we arrived, we went up to the third floor where Ben was waiting for me. He had the whole floor reserved so that we were completely alone. We had an amazing meal (Baked Onion Soup, Apple and Walnut salad on Butter lettuce, and Eastern Duck in a pomegranate sauce for me and Lobster Bisque, Arugula and Goat cheese salad, and a Steak with Scotch-Peppercorn sauce for Ben). It was another one of those meals where, afterward, I never wanted to eat again, for fear of doing that meal an injustice.
After dinner we went outside in what may have seemed a futile attempt to die of frostbite, but was really just another part of a wonderfully romantic evening - looking at all the Christmas lights. We walked around the grounds and then up the hill to a gazebo by a little pond. I was completely enthralled by the swan so I didn't notice the bench or the little box sitting on it. Ben suggested that we sit down and I when turned around he pretended to be startled and asked what it was. He sat me down on the bench and then got down on one knee and told me how much he loves me and asked me to marry him. As I said yes, I noticed camera flashes all around us. Then my sister and cousin jumped out of the bushes and took a ton of pictures of us, making us pose all over the grounds as well. He was so cute about all of it and it really couldn't have been more perfect. :)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Be Careful What You Wish For...
Wow. It's already the end of January! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. As I looked at the date on my last post I decided that I should probably write something. My life has taken some interesting twists and turns in the past few months.
When I was younger, I used to look at people in the movies and think that they had to coolest lives and I would wish that my life was more exciting. Well, I got my wish. Basically, my life is like a movie, and just when I think it's finally over, something new happens. Recently it's been rather stressful (that, and school are what have kept me from adding to my blog), but when I'm able to take a step back and look at the big picture, it's rather amusing!
(*keep in mind movies like "The Notebook," "Made of Honor," and "Bride Wars.")
"Once upon a time there was a girl... She was dating a really great guy, but while visiting an out-of-state friend she was set up on a blind 'fun date'. She had a great time with the blind date, but still really liked her boyfriend. Sadly, her boyfriend went to a different school so she rarely got to see him. Mr. Blind Date, however, went to the same school as her and they enjoyed spending most of their time together doing fun things that friends do. Soon, Mr. Blind Date became Mr. Wonderful and she broke up with her boyfriend and started dating Mr. Wonderful. Just when she thought things were going smoothly, Mr. Fantastic decided to jump into the picture.
Mr. Fantastic was her best friend and missionary whom she had been writing to faithfully for 3.5 years. He came home from his mission and she decided to take a road trip out to see him. As fantastic and awesome as he was, and even though she had hoped/planned to marry him soon after he came home, she was falling in love with Mr. Wonderful. She started talking to Mr. Fantastic more often and she found out that they would be living next door starting in January, as well as taking one of the same classes. Then one night he asked her not to rush into the decision she was facing with Mr. Wonderful and to marry him instead. Unsure of what to do, she decided she needed some time away from both guys to figure things out. She wasn't that lucky. Then very next day, she was swept off to an incredible restaurant by Mr. Wonderful where he asked her to be his wife. As if two proposals in two days by the two men int the world she would marry wasn't quite enough excitement, she received a surprising phone call the following day. Mr. Fantastic had flown out to visit for the weekend! Talk about crazy!
After spending time with both Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Fantastic, she knew she had to make a decision fast. There was more stress, confusion, and sleep deprivation than she would have liked, and she almost lost the most incredible man in world, but in the end it all worked out. Taking into account the timing of things and her future plans among many other things, she realized that marrying Mr. Wonderful was the right decision. It was one of the hardest decisions she'd ever made, but now she is completely in love with Mr. Wonderful and couldn't be happier because that's exactly what he is: wonderful.
Now she had hoped that was the end of the story and they would get married and live happily ever after. Well, for the most part that's how it goes. But you didn't think her life would be so dull did you? Since October she had been tentatively planning bits and pieces of her wedding and was now able to dive in full force and get everything planned. The wedding date was set. As she searched for a place to hold the reception, she got the exciting news. Her roommate was getting married! What fun! Now the two of them could work on wedding plans together. Then they set the date and picked a location. Her roommate was getting married the same day as her. In the same place. One hour after she was!!! Was this some kind of joke? How impossible! Ah, but of course, knowing the story of her life, she should have expected something like this. Now not only does she have to plan a wedding while going to school, but she gets to make sure everything stays civil and friendly in all of the wedding planning that's going on.
I guess we'll just have to wait to see what will happen next..."
When I was younger, I used to look at people in the movies and think that they had to coolest lives and I would wish that my life was more exciting. Well, I got my wish. Basically, my life is like a movie, and just when I think it's finally over, something new happens. Recently it's been rather stressful (that, and school are what have kept me from adding to my blog), but when I'm able to take a step back and look at the big picture, it's rather amusing!
(*keep in mind movies like "The Notebook," "Made of Honor," and "Bride Wars.")
"Once upon a time there was a girl... She was dating a really great guy, but while visiting an out-of-state friend she was set up on a blind 'fun date'. She had a great time with the blind date, but still really liked her boyfriend. Sadly, her boyfriend went to a different school so she rarely got to see him. Mr. Blind Date, however, went to the same school as her and they enjoyed spending most of their time together doing fun things that friends do. Soon, Mr. Blind Date became Mr. Wonderful and she broke up with her boyfriend and started dating Mr. Wonderful. Just when she thought things were going smoothly, Mr. Fantastic decided to jump into the picture.
Mr. Fantastic was her best friend and missionary whom she had been writing to faithfully for 3.5 years. He came home from his mission and she decided to take a road trip out to see him. As fantastic and awesome as he was, and even though she had hoped/planned to marry him soon after he came home, she was falling in love with Mr. Wonderful. She started talking to Mr. Fantastic more often and she found out that they would be living next door starting in January, as well as taking one of the same classes. Then one night he asked her not to rush into the decision she was facing with Mr. Wonderful and to marry him instead. Unsure of what to do, she decided she needed some time away from both guys to figure things out. She wasn't that lucky. Then very next day, she was swept off to an incredible restaurant by Mr. Wonderful where he asked her to be his wife. As if two proposals in two days by the two men int the world she would marry wasn't quite enough excitement, she received a surprising phone call the following day. Mr. Fantastic had flown out to visit for the weekend! Talk about crazy!
After spending time with both Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Fantastic, she knew she had to make a decision fast. There was more stress, confusion, and sleep deprivation than she would have liked, and she almost lost the most incredible man in world, but in the end it all worked out. Taking into account the timing of things and her future plans among many other things, she realized that marrying Mr. Wonderful was the right decision. It was one of the hardest decisions she'd ever made, but now she is completely in love with Mr. Wonderful and couldn't be happier because that's exactly what he is: wonderful.
Now she had hoped that was the end of the story and they would get married and live happily ever after. Well, for the most part that's how it goes. But you didn't think her life would be so dull did you? Since October she had been tentatively planning bits and pieces of her wedding and was now able to dive in full force and get everything planned. The wedding date was set. As she searched for a place to hold the reception, she got the exciting news. Her roommate was getting married! What fun! Now the two of them could work on wedding plans together. Then they set the date and picked a location. Her roommate was getting married the same day as her. In the same place. One hour after she was!!! Was this some kind of joke? How impossible! Ah, but of course, knowing the story of her life, she should have expected something like this. Now not only does she have to plan a wedding while going to school, but she gets to make sure everything stays civil and friendly in all of the wedding planning that's going on.
I guess we'll just have to wait to see what will happen next..."
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