1 Week!!

Well, once again I have neglected to document the wonderful time of our engagement. There has been lots of fun times with getting all the details worked out with the wedding. AND I finally have my wedding dress! It is BEAUTIFUL and I think it looks pretty good on me, if I do say so myself :)

Caleb even has his suit! What a handsome man he is! We just need to get him his tie and his vest. Everything is going so great. Caleb is a wonderful fiance who is so good to me! Tonight he brought me flowers and chocolate :)

 Every girls dream! I love him so much and am so grateful for having him in my life!

As the wedding approaches so soon, my mind is focused on the temple. I am so excited and grateful for the covenants that we make in the temple. I know they are real. I love going to the house of the Lord and next week, it will be a even more special time because alll but 2 of mine and Caleb's family will be in the temple. :) What a special and glorious thing!!

For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together.
As a child of God I've learned this truth:
A family is forever.

20

So, I have been a slacker on keeping up to date on what is going on. Here is a quick update: we have been doing wedding invitations....and that's all :) haha It has been fun!

My friend asked me how wedding plans were coming and if Caleb was helping at all and he is so amazing! He is doing more than I am! He and my mom are rocking at getting those invitations out. Mom has basically single handedly addressed the whole stake :) She is a go-getter! I am so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life. Life is wonderful :)


I like to call this the "fountain of love" :)



Three and Twenty Days Left!

The other perspective...

Though Rose has shared much of her feelings and thoughts, I thought to chime in with a few words of my own. Just as she mentioned, I had many a year to think, dream, ponder, and pray about the girl I would one day marry. {Doctrine & Covenants 88:40} I conjured up in my mind one really special person; not perfect, but awesome! Along came Rose, and I was floored. It took me a while to realize I was on the floor because I never imagined...well, I can save those stories for another day as well. ;) Regardless, I never thought anything would materialize between us because she and I were so different - or so I thought. Before I get too ahead of myself, I'll provide my perspective surrounding the events of July 4, 2011.

Not many days prior to July 4, I knew I wanted to ask Rose to marry me, but how do I ask? So many ideas already taken, such as being on the beach, and I wanted a unique and special experience. So I thought, and thought, and thought some more, when out of the blue, I caught on a clue, that provided insight for my punny plan. As you read previously, Reese's peanut butter cups (her favorite) and candy canes along with the dime-in-a ring idea. I stayed up until 4 am preparing everything since I knew I should not wait longer to propose, so down to the wire, I was making sure I had everything ready.

After a short rest and preparation for the day, I went down to enjoy July 4th with Rose and her parents. Before arriving, I made a detour to the Moster's home to drop off this "project". It was too warm to keep chocolate in the car, and I could in no way slip it by Rose at her house, so I asked the Mosters for their use of their home to set up my plan. They of course were more than happy to help and accommodate my wishes.

After the BBQ lunch with the family, Rose and I were talking about the upcoming evening when I "conveniently remembered" I needed to pick up my project. Can I just say, Rose asks way too many questions. :) I was somehow able to avoid any direct questions and answer truthfully any question put before me. As I coaxed her out and somehow convinced her to help me carry out the project, she stopped and asked how (because of her knee). Ahhh! My cover almost blown, I did all I could to quell the excitement of being so close to this surprise. Not now, no more questions I thought. So in the car I thought of a deep question to get her mind from further inquiries.

Whew! Made it to the Mosters. Can I slip the box with the ring into my back pocket with her noticing? Success of success, I had but a few seconds and made a smooth motion to keep hidden my surprise. As we walked (I walked, she hobbled) to the door, I mentioned to her that I had a very important question to ask, and like clockwork, the door opened. :) Only 5 feet away from my project, there is no turning back - I'm committed!

As the Mosters walked into the kitchen, I motioned toward the table and asked her to view the project. As she turned I knew I only had 2 seconds. Then and only then my heart shot off like a rocket as I got down on one knee opening the box just in time as she turned around.

Silence (for what seemed for the space of an hour - okay a little exaggerated)

So, I asked: "Well, will you marry me?" When she responded in the affirmative, I hoped my heart would slow down; but even that took a little while. So began our journey as a engaged couple. I, the more boring, analytical, detailed one; because, well, every rose has it's thorn.^-^

(And for those doubting, here is the real ring.) 

Twenty and Four days to go!

Tonight, as a bride-to-be, I was showered with lots of love, advice, and presents!

Here are some of the sweet thoughts from the cards I received that I feel fit Caleb and I so well:

"Once you find the right partner for the journey,
Love is no longer a destination...
Love is every road you travel...
Side by side."

"It's raining love!"

"Some things are just meant to be" -- How true is that! I love you my dear!

Let me just tell you, we got amazing stuff for our beautiful apartment :) I can't wait to display the gorgeous pictures, vases, and baskets we got and to use all of our awesome kitchen gadgets! Very exciting! With the wedding day fast approaching, I think about the wonderful times that will lay ahead of us. Tonight people kept asking if I was getting nervous and I am not really nervous about marrying Caleb. I am just very happy and, the only word I can think of, excited! Is it completely pitiful that even though I just got off the phone with him I want to call him and talk to him again? Yeah? I thought so. Oh well. :)

I have decided that for day 24, I will share one of my most favorite days with Caleb.
It started with a long car drive. That's how most things start for Caleb and me. He wanted to get some food storage packaged, and we both wanted to go to the temple and tour D.C.--so we made a day of it! A whole day. It started out at about 3 or 4 in the am. I had stayed the night at a friends house up in VA so I didn't have to wake up super early. He came and got me at her house and on we started our trek up to the LDS cannery. It was a pleasant car ride, except my stomach was killing me for some reason. I have no idea why, even up to this day. (The last statement isn't vital to this story) All this was before we got engaged. It was on April 30th. We hadn't been dating that long, so this was a very good time for us to get to know each other. One thing that made this day special is that I started to understand how kind Caleb is. We were driving and all of a sudden Caleb would pull of to the side of the road and then out of no where, I would see a car that had its hazards on. He would get out and help them, and then we would be on our way. This happened two or three times on the way up. One guy we stopped to help had rolled his truck three times because he fell asleep at the wheel!
We finally made it to the cannery, but it took us awhile to actually get in and start canning. Once we finally got it, we got all dressed and ready for the canning process. We had to wear these really attractive aprons and hair nets. Yep, every girls dream :) Although I felt like a weirdo in my cannery uniform, I had a blast being with Caleb and canning milk, spaghetti and I don't remember if there was anything else. It was funny because the lady that worked there kept calling Caleb my husband. I never corrected her, seeing as it is impolite to correct your elders.

After that was all done, we decided to go to the temple. What a glorious place! If every person in the world could be worthy and go into the house of the Lord--I would just love it! It is so peaceful and pleasant there. Also, it was very nice to be there Caleb :) After the time in the temple we decided to go gallivanting around D.C. and that's exactly what we did!

We went to the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It took us awhile to get there because of my very inaccurate GPS. Shared experiences :) After many U-turns, we finally made it!

Aren't we so cute?

After sight-seeing, we start to make our way home. We stop at Crackerbarrel and eat. Delicious! It was a simply wonderful day that I will always remember. We had a lot of laughs, lots of good conversation and good grub! I can ask for nothing more.

Twenty Five Days :)

Wow! I can't believe there are only 25 days until I can be sealed and married to the man of dreams! I am just thrilled and giddy! I know I sound totally corny, but come on, I am in the stage of complete and utter "twitterpatedness." A girl can be corny every now and then.
I think back to those days when I dreamt about who I would marry, what our story would be, what he would look like and how he would treat me. Never in my wildest imagination did I picture someone as wonderful as Caleb Smith. I just hoped for it. Now, he would admit this too, we both never thought anything would happen between us. Yes, we do have different interests and hobbies. He talks in puns. I do not. I laugh at his jokes and so does he. We have a blast together. These entries will be of both what has happened in our lovely courtship and what is happening right now...yep, that's right! All the crazy stresses, and excitements of the last 25 days of engagement. First, I will tell how it all started. Well, maybe not from the very beginning. I'll save that for another day. Today we will start on July 4th.

Caleb was over having a bbq with us and he said that he needed to get a project from the Mosters house. He said that he needed my help carrying it out to the car. (The Friday prior to this, we were ice skating--I fell, and sprained my knee so I was then on crutches) Of course, I said that I would help him carry it out. We go out to the car to start driving to the Mosters and then it hits me that there really is no way that I could help him carry it out.. because I was on crutches. So I said, "Wait, you want me to help you carry it out??" Then Caleb quickly just told me not to worry too much about it. We get to the Mosters and Kathryn opens the door and welcomes us in and then Emil comes out too and we were talking for just a little bit. Then Emil says, "Well, we will be in the kitchen." They leave. Shady, I know. Didn't we come to get something from them and they without giving it to us? A girl has to wonder. Then Caleb says, "The project is on the table." Ah, ok. Maybe they aren't that shady. So I turn around to look at the table and I see my name written out in mini candy canes (yes, there is sentimental value to those candy canes...story to come later) and then the words "will you marry me?" written out in mini reese cups :) and I was shocked! Not that he asked me, just that it was actually happening! I turn around and there Caleb is--down on one knee. He asks me that wonderful question: "Will you marry me?" and I say, "Yes! Of course!" (not trying to jump around too much being that I was on crutches and all). He had a little box in his hands with a ring. It wasn't the typical ring you get after that question, that was to come later. This ring was much more special. He made it himself. It was a dollar bill folded up to be a ring with a dime on it. So it was a "dime-on-a-ring." :) There's a pun for ya! I just loved it. Then he stood up, came to me, and thus began our wonderful engagement :)

I love him!