Dating and Engagement 2011

In 2011 I started teaching elementary school- for real! This was wonderful but it meant me leaving Mike and moving to Salt Lake City. I taught at Woodrow Wilson Elementary, a 3/4 grade class. What a great experience!

Mike was still working on his Thesis in Logan. Long Distance dating (even though we weren't that far apart) was hard, but we would spend almost every weekend together and would often meet in Ogden for weeknight dates. We had lots of fun!

These first couple pictures are from my Birthday. I got spoiled as usual!

Mike spent Easter at my house..

Then came our ENGAGEMENT! Here is the story... 

We had been dating almost 2 years, and I finally convinced Mike to marry me:) Mike had been offered a job in Colorado, and I was finishing up my first year of teaching. Mike was moving in less than 2 months, and since we had talked about getting married for a very long time, I knew that he was going to propose soon. 

It was Saturday, April 30th, 2011, and I was spending the weekend in Logan. After eating a great late breakfast, Mike wanted to go for a drive. As we started to drive through Logan he started to point out many places where we had made good memories. After a few minutes we ended up at Eldridge park. The he said, do you remember what happened at this spot?  "Remember when we came here and ate pizza and looked at the stars?" he said. I was on edge fully expecting a proposal. After a long hug he asked if I wanted to go somewhere else. Next we ended up at 1st dam, he asked if I remembered what happened at this spot. I said no… he said well you will always remember now and gave me a huge hug and told me he loved me. Next we went to 2nd dam, where we went had been fishing, hiking, and had lots of adventures.

Next he took me to a beautiful spot in Logan Canyon that we referred to as Pariso. "Do you remember what happened here?" We then reminisced about how e had cooked spam on a fire, and spent many calm nights there. I thought for sure he was going to propose there! But nope.. we drove away.

Next he took me to the top of a hill that overlooks the temple. "Do you remember what happened here?" We had taken his roommate pictures there and had went there several times, and the last time we had talked about our futures, and about getting married. Again, I thought he was going to propose here, and again, nothing.

We then went back to Mike's apartment, and hung out with his roommates. I thought all of the cute memories would end with a proposal.. but nope. We were back at his apartment. I had completely given up on a proposal that day, so I suggested we just get outside and go for a walk. We loved going for walks, especially around the Utah State University campus, so we decided to go walk there. We ended up at our favorite spot of campus. We often would talk there and look out across the beautiful Logan Valley. There just happened to be a man playing music close to this spot. While we were standing there talking, Mike gave me a bug hug. He said that this was his favorite spot, and he thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. Then he said, as beautiful as he thought this spot was, that I was so much more beautiful, and he wanted to spend forever with me. He knelt down and proposed. YES! It was a beautiful moment.

(I have got to add a little note here to mention the Wednesday before this proposal... Mike had come down to Salt Lake to see me and I thought maybe he was going to propose that day. We hung out in the yard, and talked and walked around. I had super bad cramps and went to take a hot bath, and Mike went and talked to my dad (which I knew he was doing haha), and then we went back outside. My dad was working in the yard and I kept seeing Mike look around and acting weird, then he suggested we go out to dinner. He took me to eat at Macaroni Grill, and I remember him just saying the most beautiful things to me at dinner. When we finished, we drove back to my parents house and I saw him look at my dad who was still doing work in the yard. He got a bit flustered then suggested that we go hang out in a park, so we did. After awhile of that we drove back to my parents house and my dad was still working in the yard. I could see Mike going crazy and called him out on it, because it was now pretty late at night. So we talked about how he was going to propose but it didn't seem to work out...

He had planned to propose by a tree that we would often hang out at in my yard. Easter hadn't been too long before and he had remembered me saying that all year long we tend to find left over easter eggs, so he had written "Will you marry me?!?!" on a piece of paper, put it in an egg and hid it under the tree. His plan was that we would sit by the tree, I would see the egg, tell him I told him so and I would open it for the candy and be all surprised! How cute huh! But... that didn't work, which was cute too. Well I figured I better write down that story because it made me smile and I don't want to ever forget it :)

We were finally engaged! And had a whole 6 weeks to plan a wedding, finish teaching, graduate, and plan a move to Colorado. Things were crazy busy!

First off was my official USU graduation. Although I had graduated in the fall they only have an official graduation in the spring, so I decided to walk. My brother, McWayne, received his Masters the day before me. It was a fun-filled weekend!

I was able to receive my endowments in the Logan Temple. My family came up from Salt Lake and Mike's family came down From Idaho. Lucie and Clint also came. Everything was perfect! 

Next up were the wedding showers. My family threw me a wonderful shower. There were so many people there! We ate and played games, and of course opened lots of presents. They also gave me a book where each person wrote me great advice!

My friends also threw me a shower! My best of friends Lucie and Abby put it on for me. It was great to see so many of my friends! At this shower we played lots of games. One involving me putting on tons of clothes blindfolded, and another where we watched a video of Mike answer questions about us and I had to answer the same questions- if my answer was different from Mike's I had to eat a marshmallow. It was lots of fun and I got amazing gifts. Thanks ladies!