The Start of My Forever

BASICALLY UNAWARE OF HIS EXISTENCE

The date was January 4, 2014. I was at my friend Amy's reception and everything was kind of starting to wind down. Beyonce blared over the speakers and all the single ladies lined up for a chance to catch the bouquet. Amy threw the bouquet over her shoulder and I snatched it right before Sunny had the chance (she wasn't very happy with me). I joked around with everyone that it was now destiny that I get married even though inside I was still hurting over my latest letdown.

WHEN WE MET

The date is now January 5, 2014. Sunny had been begging me for a long time to double with her and Luis, and they had decided that Luis' roommate would be going with me. Luis and Daniel came over that night to visit for awhile just to talk and I immediately knew there was something different about this guy. I guess I should also say that I had technically met him before...but I was kind of not interested in dating anyone because of some other stuff going on. We've all heard that story a thousand times huh?

WHEN WE WERE DATING

For our first date Sunny, Luis, Daniel, and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner and then came back to my house to play Phase 10...which then erupted into a Nerf gun battle.

We went official on January 14. We went to institute and everyone had to answer a few questions about themselves including "Are you single?" Daniel had to go first and when he stood up to introduce himself I was wondering what exactly he was going to say because...well, we hadn't talked about it! When he came to that part he said, "I'm not single!...Well, I'm not married...but I'm also not really single...". We were definitely on the same page there :)

He told me he loved me on February 16th. We were watching a movie at his place and I don't remember what I did (I probably tickled him or something) and he said, "You know what?...Never mind." The 'You know what' part didn't surprise me, but the 'Never mind' part was new, so I asked him what was up and he got really quiet and then said, "...I love you." He caught me completely off-guard! I tactfully replied, "Really?! ...I love you too!"

Since the day we met I can count on one hand the number of days that we haven't seen each other :)

Dressed up as pirates at Grey's birthday party.

We had been dating almost 2 months at this point.

THAT ONE TIME WHEN HE POPPED THE QUESTION

Are you ready for the proposal story? It's a pretty cute one if I do say so myself!

We had been talking about getting married and actually...we already had the temple scheduled, but I was just waiting not exactly patiently for my ring. His parents had invited us over for Easter dinner and the words "funeral potatoes" had been used, so I knew there was no way I was missing out on that!

When we walked into the house I immediately saw yarn strung all over the family room and leading downstairs. Now that I look back, I could see that Daniel was acting a little squirrely and he immediately wanted to look for our Easter baskets, which I knew were hidden at the end of the yarn. I grabbed my yarn and started winding! I was bound and determined to beat Daniel, but he was always right behind me. He found his basket first and sat down on the couch to wait for me. My yarn led me to a door and when I opened it there was my basket! I saw a handmade booklet titled "My Book of Favorite Memories with Emma-Leigh" and I sat down next to Daniel to read it. He wrote about our first date, and when we went official and my birthday and Valentine's day and the time we went to Logan to watch a hockey game. It was all really detailed and I was really impressed by how much he had written about. When I turned to the last page I read, "All of these memories are very special to me, but my favorite memory was when I proposed and she said yes!" Then I started crying and Daniel pulled out the ring and got down on one knee and told me that he loved me and wanted to be with me forever and asked if I would marry him. Of course I said yes!!!

We took a walk down to the river near his house afterwards. 

And here is the ring! Let me tell you, it is SO sparkly :)

Daniel is seriously the best thing to ever happened to me. He never ceases to tell me why he loves me! He seriously treats me like a princess and I don't think I could be marrying into a better family! Daniel is everything I could have ever asked for and I love him so much!

SO WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!

August 9th.

12:30.

Idaho Falls.

Oh my gosh, is this real life???

Frightmares!!

My best friend Carley has been talking about going to Frightmares at Lagoon all year. I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing because I hate spending money; however, my roommate's mom set her up on a date and she then talked me into joining them. I started getting really excited about it, but then I realized that I would have to ask a guy on a date...

It took me an entire week to get up the courage to ask anyone. The last time I asked a guy on a date it was to TWIRP and he was already my boyfriend, so it wasn't hard. I would pace in front of my door for a good ten to fifteen minutes before I could even walk upstairs to the apartment this guy lives in. The first two times I went he wasn't there and the courage that I had built up depleted and I had to start back in square one. Finally, on Monday my roommate told me that I had to ask him or he would already have plans. So I did my normal pacing from the kitchen to the front door and back, then I finally went up. He was there! I swear, I have never been so relieved in my life to hear someone say yes! WHEW!

Yesterday was the big day. My roommate's date wanted to leave at 7:30...which was WAY too early in my book. We were going in a big group with some of my friends from Soda and they weren't planning on leaving until 8:30, so Mystie and I tried to stall by starting off with breakfast (we made French Toast and buttermilk syrup mmmm). It didn't take us nearly as long as we figured it would, so we were out the door a few minutes after 8. 

It started raining when we got passed Ogden and I was thinking that this might end up being a very short date, but it stopped right around 11, when the park opened. I asked Carley where they were and they were just barely in Preston, so they had another two hours before they were even going to get there. We went on in and rode some rides until the other group got there. 

Frightmares is pretty cool because not only do they have all the regular rides (except for the big Ferris wheel and a couple other minor things), they have haunted houses. The haunted houses opened up around 3, which is also when the sky decided that it wanted to rain a little more. We were freezing! Especially my date! He just got back from Ecuador in August and he packed about 4 jackets and a heavy winter coat for the trip. The other group we were with didn't stick around for very long after it started raining, but we decided that we were already wet, so we were gonna endure to the end :)

The haunted houses are rated from 1 to 4 spiders depending on how scary they were. We went in Lockdown first, which is supposed to be 4. The story behind it is that it's a mental institution. The scariest part for me was when you walked into the room labelled Death Row. There was a jail cell set up in there and as you walk by it the crazy person behind the bars slipped right through them and got right in your face. Overall though, it wasn't that scary. The scariest one was the Fun House! It was way cool! They hand you 3D glasses when you walk in and the whole thing is painted with glow in the dark paint. Most of the clowns in it were wearing black that blended in with the walls so you couldn't even see them when they were walking right beside you. They also had a guy at the very end with a chainsaw, which Mystie wasn't very fond of. 

I think I would have to say my favorite rides were the Samurai, the Spider, and Wicked. I never thought I would ever say that about Wicked, but it's way cool! The last time I went on it I was sitting on the edge, which is not over the track and it was definitely a different experience. It was super scary, but way fun. 

I forgot my camera, so I only got two pictures and they were on my phone, which isn't the best quality. These pictures were taken on the Carousel. Bracken and I were at the front of the line and we had decided to go on the rooster and zebra, but of course when the ride stopped they were on the opposite side, so we had to book it to get 'em. 

This is Bracken on the rooster. He is seriously so much fun!

I'm ridin' on the zebra! That's Bracken's big coat, by the way. I somehow made it all the way to Lagoon without a jacket!

Overall, I would definitely say that it was well worth the money. We had so much fun! I think we went on every ride at least once and braved our way through every haunted house.

Date Night :D

One thing I didn't expect about college is

DATING!

I can pretty much count the number of times I went on an actual date

in high school on one hand.

I've been here for two weeks...

and I'm already blowing that number out of the water.

I went to the movies once, and frisbee golfing once.

Tonight I'm going bowling with a guy from my complex.

And TOMORROW night I'm going to Lagoon with a good friend.

That one is kinda an unofficial date.

Also, sometime next week I'm going on another one

but neither of us are sure when.

College sure does make a person BUSY!

These boys will KNOW what team I cheer for haha

I didn't feel the need to get all primped :)