Engagement

Wow, it has been forever since I have posted! I will do a very quick catch-up of the last few months.

My blog has been dormant partly due to the peace in my life since graduating and making most of the important decisions that had been plaguing me for so long. Without those difficult decisions to anguish over every single day I haven't had as much to write about. Anyway, life has been good. I'm still working at your local discount brokerage firm and living in Salt Lake.

The biggest news in my life is that I'm now engaged. A little over 6 months ago I met the most amazing man and began dating. Brandon and I went on our first date July 8th and became exclusive relatively quick. The last 6 months have been truly incredible, some days more exciting than others but every moment worthwhile. I have never felt so alive!

I won't go into too many details here, but since several people have asked for the story of how we got engaged, I decided to post it for anyone to read. Here goes.

Friday the 8th of January was our 6 month anniversary. I had been looking forward to it for a few weeks (and I'm sure he was too but not for the same reason ;) ). I went to work as usual, planning to pick him up at 5:15 for our date. To be clear, we planned on a nice date but I was in charge of planning what that date would entail.

After I got off work I texted him to tell him where he could locate a CD that I had made for him. It had several songs that were meaningful to us over the last several months. His task was to listen to it before I got there. I showed up at 5:20, roses in hand, and picked him up. First we headed to a park near the E-Center where we walked around on our very first date. July is very different than January though, so we couldn't walk around the park or sit on the grass to talk like we had done before. Instead we sat in the car to talk. I wanted to remind him of where we were when I started to develop a crush at the very beginning. (Picture to the right was taken on that first date from where we were sitting on the grass and watching the sunset. You can even see his leg.)

Next we headed to downtown Salt Lake and went to dinner at Benihana. Brandon had never been and I wanted to show him a little Japanese culture. We ate beef sashimi along with our meals, which was surprisingly good! And the food was very authentic (minus the mango lemonade).

Then we went ice skating at the Gallivan Center. With the music playing, snow on the ground, and Christmas lights still up it was actually quite romantic. I thought I would freeze but it turns out that skating is a bit of a workout. I warmed right up! Except for my nose and fingers, but that's what boyfriends are for... ;)

From there it was getting late, so we drove up behind the state capitol building to see the view. We went up by Ensign Peak and parked the car. After a minute or two of steep climbing, we turned around to take in the view. It was beautiful! At that point I knelt down and pulled out the ring. There is nothing I could ever want more than to spend the rest of my life with the one I love! I asked him to marry me (after a few words to tell him how much I love him, of course). He said yes!

Here's looking forward to The Best Part.