Our Engagement Story

6 months ago today is the day we got engaged. So I thought it would be good to share our engagement story. We had been talking on and off about getting married for a couple of months before. We actually had been ring shopping once but I really wanted him to just pick out the ring and surprise me. He did want some sort of direction of what I was thinking, so I thought I would at least show him a couple that I liked. After I had told Danny that I wanted him to pick out the ring, I talked with my brother whose wife had wanted him to do the same thing and he said that he hated the pressure of picking out a ring. Oh well! It added to the surprise of not knowing if or when he had the ring.

Anyway, my birthday was coming up and he kept saying that he had a really good surprise gift for my birthday. I had hoped it was a ring, but telling myself it was okay if it wasn't. We had a date planned the weekend before my birthday. A day or two before that date I was talking with my mom and she told me that Danny hadn't talked to my dad yet to ask him if he could marry me. So, I kind of told myself and believed that it wasn't going to happen on my birthday date. 

He came and picked me up and we headed towards Salt Lake. He hadn't told me what we were going to do. And to throw me off a little more, he asked me if I wanted to go look at more rings at the Shane, Co. But the Shane Co. hours are Monday through Friday until 8:00 Saturday until 5:00 and closed Sundays. And it was Saturday at 4:30, not really giving us time to look. This really made me think that it wasn't going to happen at this time.

We ended up up at Snowbird. The plan was to ride the tram up to the top of the mountain and walk around for a little while. We had reservations at a fancy scmancy restaurant there after the tram ride. The tram ride was fun. But once we got to the top it was really cold. They told us the tram we rode up on was leaving 5 minutes later or we could wait for the next in a half hour. We quickly walked around, took some pictures, and made it back to the same tram to take down.

At the top

Awe cute!!

It was cold...you can tell by how red our noses are.

After the tram ride we went to eat at the Aerie Restaurant. It is on the top floor of the hotel, with an incredible view. We were there just in time to watch the sunset. They sat us right next to the window so we could see it. There weren't too many other people around  us, just another couple. It was perfect. Funny thing though, while we were leaving a couple of people who worked there told us congratulations....I was thinking, congratulations for finishing our meal? Or that they had the wrong couple. I just smiled and kept walking. Danny started acting a little nervous at this point.

Can't really see it, but it was a pretty sunset

Danny was taking an artsy picture of me.

The Menu

My dinner

His dinner

Okay...so I don't know how to act at nice restaurants!

Danny eating his yummy food!

After dinner we were walking around looking at things by the restaurant. There was a dark corner and Danny wanted to take a look. In the dark corner there was a window over looking the pool. We watch the swimmers for a second and the next thing I knew Danny was down on one knee with a little grey ring box asking me if I would marry him. That's when I knew I was the luckiest girl in the world. I was going to be marrying my best friend! Of course I said yes, and couldn't stop smiling. 

This is our dark corner where he asked the questions

My perfect ring. 

TO FILL IN HOLES: 1. My mom really didn't know that Danny had asked my Dad until after our conversation, so she didn't lie to me, she just left me believing that it hadn't been done. 2. Danny actually liked being able to pick out my ring and he did an awesome job. I love it and it is exactly what I wanted! 3. Danny was going to propose at the top of the tram, but it was too cold and we didn't have much time. Plan B was he was going to do it in the restaurant during dinner, but decided he wanted to not do it in front of the people. So he resorted to Plan C 3. The people there knew we were getting engaged and thought we already had, so that's why the congrats while we were walking out.

I love the way it happened. It was perfect. I am very lucky to have found such a great guy! 

Love you homey!! 

Things that Make Us Happy...

I was just sitting here watching one of my favorite things...you might think the TV or the newsfeed on Facebook, but actually it's our Lava Lamp. This made me think and want to do a blog post on a few things/objects around the house that make us happy.

The Lava Lamp was kind of a funny thing that we registered for at Target that we really secretly wanted. My cousin Chrystie bought it for us for one of my showers and we LOVE it!! Thanks Chrystie!! It is almost always on when we are home. We have it next to our TV and sometimes I find myself watching it more than the TV.

This is what it looks like when you first turn it on

This is the alien baby stage

This is it active.

The next is a new purchase as of yesterday, but so far I like it and it makes me happy. 

It is a night light that shines the Solar System up on the ceiling.

And the final thing for this post is our Belgian Waffle maker. We use it a least once a week. I didn't know I liked waffles that much, but this makes the perfect waffles. YUMMY!!

Anyway, these are just a few things that makes us happy. 

Everybody's Gone Surfin'...

Another one of my "Groupon" purchases was a gift for Danny for Valentine's day. There was a really good deal for the Flowrider, iFly, and the iRock. It was only $39 to do all three things. I bought one for both me and Danny. On Saturday Danny really wanted to do the Flowrider. He invited his nephews to join him.  I opted out of the Flowrider this time, I just couldn't get myself into a swimsuit quite yet, it's too early in the season. But here are some pictures from Saturday....we will post videos later.

Danny, Ashton, and Ethan waiting to start.

Ethan and Ashton don't look too excited!

The spectators! Lisa, Averie, and me.

Ashton wanted to take some pictures...so me and Averie posing for the picture.

And another picture....

At the first, they used the rope to help balance, but only for a couple of times.

Bring on Hawaii

One of my favorite quotes of the day was Averie saying 

"It's soaking hot in here"! Good description...it was warm and very humid.

The Schooner

I really like Groupons and all the other discount daily coupons that companies and places offer. One of the recent coupons that I bought was one for The Prairie Schooner in Ogden. For those of you who haven't been there it is a steak restaurant that has a really fun atmosphere. The tables are made to feel like you are eating in a covered wagon out on the prairie. I hadn't been to The Prairie Schooner for a long time and one of my good friends now owns the place, so when this deal came up, it was hard to pass on. I think it was I bought a $30 gift certificate, but I only pay $15 for it. Anyway, Friday night we decided to use the gift certificate. My dad was lucky and got to come with us because my mom was out of town.

My dad, me and Danny crossing the plains.
If this is how the pioneers ate, they were lucky!

It was really good food, we each had a different cut of steak just to try them out. We also had a yummy appetizer of fried mushrooms, hot wings and onion rings. None of us went home hungry!!

Sushi Anyone?

When I was growing up my mom always made us "tuna" sandwiches. We would happily eat our sandwiches with no problems; in fact we really liked them. Then one time, my mom asked if we wanted "tuna fish" sandwiches and from that time on something had changed, she used the word FISH. From then on we didn't like them...AT ALL. I wanted nothing to do with anything fish. I wouldn't try it and if I was forced to try it I wouldn't like it because it was "fish". I hated that fishy taste and smell. I was perfectly happy not eating fish.

Then when I was all grown up...I started trying fish more and more. I thought people were cool if you ate fish. I would take a bite of others people’s fish, just to make sure I didn't like it. But the crazy thing is I kind of liked it (still as long as it doesn't have the fishy flavor). The one that really hooked me is the Halibut from Maddox. Yummy! No fishy flavor at all. And the lemon and tartar sauce that you dip it in, delicious!! Another hook that opened the door was our little home town has a salmon bake. Then Joe's Crab Shack in California...butter with crab as a way to get it to your mouth, I am sold. Anyway, I started really acquiring a taste for things from the sea.

But never in a million years did I think I ever think I would try the uncooked fish...sushi.

The first time I tried sushi I was a couple of years ago when I was in Washington D.C. I was with my friend Susie, and we met up with one of her friends that lived there. The friend suggested this sushi place and since I was just the tag-a-long, I went just to hang out...not to eat any. But then they ordered a tempera veggie roll...no fish in it. So me being the good sport I am tried one. I dipped in the wasabi sauce, used my chop sticks and shoved it in. I didn't like it at all. I had a mouth full of sticky rice I couldn't swallow and seaweed taste in my mouth. I couldn't imagine people really liking it. Everyone I talked to told me it was an "acquired" taste and to keep trying it...um, no thanks. 



First time eating sushi

Then I started dating Danny. He would tell me that sushi was his favorite food and he LOVED it and craved it sometimes. This had me a little worried....luckily it wasn't until later on in our dating that he actually took me to sushi. We ended up going with his parents. I ordered a meal that only had a couple of mini sushi rolls, but something else as the main meal. I ate the sushi and liked it a little better than my first time because they were smaller rolls and the rice didn't get stuck in my mouth and I couldn't taste the seaweed.  

 Since then we have been to sushi a couple more times, every time with his family. Here are some pictures of some of the sushi I have tried.

This first one is called the "Green Globe" it is an avocado filled with some kind of raw fish and topped with fish eggs. It was really good...however I mostly just ate the avocado part and scrapped off the eggs.

This is the "Green Globe" (Thanks Lisa, I stole this pic from you)

This next one has been my favorite so far. Danny got it at Tepanyaki's in Layton. It has, I think tuna, avocados and a spicy kick. Think the avocado and spiciness is what won me over with this one.

The "Red Dragon"

My favorite sushi roll so far.



I feel brave for even trying. I have come a long way. I still am not convinced that I can have sushi as my whole meal...but I am willing to try some now and then.

Hall of Fame

Us at the BNL concert last summer.

Danny and I have started a picture collection of us with famous people. We started it last summer when we went to a Barenaked Ladies concert at Red Butte Gardens. The concert was really fun. We were able to sneak down and get a really good spot up close to the stage.

Enjoying the concert.

This is our view of the stage. It was a perfect spot,
except for the loud speakers right in front of us.

Me and the set list.

Anyway, after the show we kind of just hung out for a bit. The stage crew was breaking things down and Danny asked one of them for the set list and handed it to us. Then we decided to find where the bands bus was and hang out there to see if we could get pictures with them and their autographs. We found the spot, but no one else was there. Just me and Danny and the security guard that was there. So we hung out for a bit, and then they came in a van. Danny asked them for their autographs and we got to take pictures with them. We got all of them except for Jim Creeggan, who never got out of the van.

 Here are the photos of proof.

Danny and Ed are catching up on life.

Both of us and Ed. He was real impressed
that I could take the picture myself.

After seeing this picture, Kevin said "Don't I look cherry!"

Ty, the drummer. At one of the previous concerts I went to, I caught a drumstick
he threw out  into the crowd. I told him about it here and he just said "Oh". Awkward!!

**As a side note: Danny and I always try and find a time or place where we could have met before. We found that there was a chance that we could have seen each other at a Barenaked Ladies concert a long time ago (the same one where I caught the drumstick) where we both were waiting for the band out back. He remembers someone I was with and a few details about it. Crazy. Too bad I was scared of boys and probably didn't dare talk to him then!!**

Then on our honeymoon we went to Vegas and saw the Blue Man Group. It was an awesome show to watch. We really enjoyed it and I would go see them again. They hang out after the show to take pictures with people.

Us and the Blue Man

A few months ago we found out that the Crash Test Dummies were going to be playing up in Park City. We decided that would be a fun little trip up to see them. The concert was okay. We were probably the only "young" ones there which really surprised me. But after they were signing autographs and taking pictures, we couldn't pass on that.

Crash Test Dummies

And finally some of you might not know this, but Danny is pretty famous himself and my favorite famous person. So I couldn't not put his picture on this post of famous people!!

Danny at one of his shows!

Anyway, there are some of our pictures with famous people. We are hoping to add more. We are going to the U2 concert in May, maybe we can get a picture with Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry.

I will keep you posted!!

Oh and by the way we also have a really funny picture of us and Brian Mullahy. One of my favorites.