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!

This last picture is my engagement ring. I acutally got to design it and I absolutely love it!
Ben did a great job. :)

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 Crème Brulee, the fog had rolled in off the Bay and it was completely dark outside. We had to go to Plan B: watching a movie over at his house... Serendipity. 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. :)

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..."

I Left My Heart in San Fransisco

Here's a whirlwind picture tour of my visit to the "city by the Bay." Our first stop was Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39, a must-see for anyone visiting San Francisco, where we walked past a guy swallowing fire. That was interesting to say the least. Of course, on our way over to see the Sea Lions we had to stop and point out Alcatraz. After a rather awkward incident trying to get a guy to take a picture of Meagan and I and having him totally ignore us, we were off to the main attraction. Yep, the Sea Lions.

Ella was thoroughly engrossed and didn't want to leave. Although she seemed a little confused as to why she kept hearing dogs barking and couldn't see anything other than those strange water creatures.

As we walked down the street we had the option to have our pictures taken with a guy dressed up as a dog and his dogs dressed up as guys... we opted to keep walking. We also watched a baker at Boudin's create incredible works of "bread art" including crabs, turtles, bears, and 6 ft long alligators!

After fighting off Seagulls as we ate clam chowder bread bowls for dinner, we headed off to Ghirardelli's for hot fudge sundaes.

Sie schmecken (they tasted great) and as you can see, Benj and Ella thoroughly enjoyed theirs. I must say though, European chocolate is still eleventy-billion times better. :) But, I guess you have to take what you can get.

I also had an opportunity to go with Meagan and visit the Oakland Temple. It was beautiful! Throughout the grounds there are small speakers playing hymns. It was amazing how peaceful it was, especially right in the middle of such a big city.

We took a drive across the Golden Gate Bridge
- what trip to San Francisco would be complete without doing that? As we started out we were reminded by flashing signs to 'drive with extreme caution' because of the 'heavy fog.' Heavy fog was right! You could barely see the bridge while driving across it. However, as we got over to the other side we came out of the fog and everything was so pretty! It was pretty cool to see the bridge disappear into the fog from the other side as well.

On the way home, Ella and I stopped and played at a little park. She had a blast on the swings and enjoyed making music on the garbage can lid, but quickly lost interest when some older boys brought their dogs to the park.

I've never seen a child so excited to see a dog! Most of the
time if a dog comes up and gets in their face they start crying...

Ella just squealed with delight!


I decided that I needed a little more cultural diversity so I took a trip to China.

Chinatown that is. We all went to lunch at the House of Nanking. Although the idea was kind of fun - to tell the chef what kinds of Chinese foods you like and dislike and then have him go make you something - I wasn't terribly impressed with the food. It seems that most people either love it or hate it. It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't my favorite either. After 'ordering' though, I was able to go for a walk through the streets of Chinatown. I wish I'd had more time to spend doing that. It was so cool! :) Luckily for me though, I left my purse with Meagan when I left.

This wouldn't be complete without a couple pictures of the darling girls who stole my heart in San Francisco.

Tony Bennett was right - I left my heart in San Francisco.

Back to School

Well, after a long and event filled summer, I'm finally back in school. I've only had four days of classes and already I've had tests and assignments and the promise of presentations next week. Whatever happened to that nice, relaxing first week of class? It's good to be back though. I'm really excited for this semester!

This year I'm living in the Foreign Language Housing, speaking German. That means that I'm required to be home each evening for "house" dinners with all the German speakers. Inside the apartment we are only allowed to speak German. Actually, I'm really excited for it. In the past couple weeks I've already learned/remembered so much! So along with my German class, I'm also taking finance, design, dance, health/wellness, and religion. I also am a TA for one of my design professors. It's definitely a rather busy schedule, but I think it's going to be really fun.

For my last hurrah before heading off to school, I was able to go to San Francisco and visit my "adopted" big sister, Meagan Becker and her family. I had such a blast while I was there! I absolutely loved seeing the way Benj and Meagen interact. They're so cute together! Meagan, as always, was full of tips and pieces of advice, and I learned a lot about parenting. Benj is a wonderful husband to Meagan and a great dad to Ella and Anne. He also inadvertently helped me narrow down my "list of qualities in my future husband." [Although he would narrow it down even further to just one word: Michael] I think if I found someone as amazingly awesome as my Dad and Benj I'd be pretty happy.

Ella and Anne are some of the cutest little girls ever and I love them to death! I think my favorite thing was having Ella wake me up saying, "book, book!" and then run off, only to come back moments later carrying a stack of Dr. Seuss books and a big teddy bear. I think we read "Hop on Pop" and "I can read with my Eyes Shut" at least a couple times every day (not to mention all the others). Anne on the other hand, seems a little more subdued and she is such a doll! I did get to see her smile a few times while I was there, which was so cute! :D

So here's a little thank you to the Beckers for letting me stay with them for a week and play with their kids. I had a wonderful time!

And now, back to pressing matters at hand: Learning German! :)



PS - I'll put up pictures as soon as I can.