Long Engagement!!!

Our engagement seemed like it was FOREVER! We got engaged on the 28th of January, and we set our wedding date for June 4, 4 months and 1 week later. Within the first couple of days I had already picked out the colors I wanted by looking at dresses on a wedding website. My roommates and I got really into looking at wedding dresses, and trying to decide everything. I decided I really wanted to do a dark bright purple and a bright turquoise color. The weekend after I was engaged my little sister had her State Drill Team competition, so Brett and I went up so we could do some shopping, and so I could show off the ring to my parents and friends! We went looking for material so my mom could make the big temple quilt she makes for all of the kids. As I was looking, I couldn't really see a blue or a purple that I really liked, but I fell in love with this chocolate brown color and sage green. I was thinking about changing my colors to sage green, pink, and brown when Brett mentioned that he would get to wear a brown tux. That was definitely out of the question, so I decided to stick with the colors I had chosen. 2 weeks into the engagement my mom and I went shopping. We really needed to get out wedding dress shopping and also finding out which colors I wanted for sure. We went to all the flower and craft stores looking for ribbon my mom could match fabric and things to. We were not having very much luck finding flowers or even fabric that would match the colors I wanted, so then I started thinking about how I would like to do just sage green and pink... and forget about the brown. We decided to take a break from that and go dress shopping. There had been a dress I had LOVED online, so we went to a store that I saw carried it. When I tried it on it was pretty, and everything I thought I wanted, but we decided to keep looking.

We went to another store and i tried on a couple of dresses, but nothing that really caught my eye. We moved on to David's Bridal and I was looking around, and everything was either very expensive, or was immodest and would have to have a jacket made with it, and I didn't really like that idea, so my mom thought of one more store in Orem. We headed that way, and my mom was almost ready to give up looking for the store so she turned around, and there it was. We went inside, and it was almost closing time, but the lady was soo sweet. She let us look around and told me I could try on anything. I looked at the rack in my size and there was one dress that I thought I would just like to try on. I got it on, and then came out and as I was standing on the thing looking in the mirrors the lady came out, and all she said was "Wow, that looks amazing on you!" I LOVED this dress and I just knew it was the one, and I tried to get my mom to buy it right then and there, but she wouldn't and told me to look around a little more. Well the next day I went to more stores, and NOTHING was going to beat that dress. They were all pretty, but it wasn't that dress... sounds like the ring huh! Well we were still trying to find fabric so we stopped at more places, and finally the last place was Hobby Lobby. We found everything!!! They had the fabric, and the flowers that I wanted! Everything was finally coming into place. It was crazy how everything fell into place but it did. We ended up buying the dress, and getting everything we needed, my mom just had to do all the sewing and quilting which I gave her plenty of time to do. The only thing I didn't really have decided was the centerpieces until about a month before the wedding. My roommate was able to do the flowers and my boquet and she did such a great job with everything! I started working at Wal-mart in the pharmacy, so even a job fell into place. The renters were moving out of my father in law's rental house in may, so we even had a place to live. These were truly reassurances that I was doing what I needed to do with my life!

The Proposal!

After I got out of LDSingers on the 28th of January Brett came and picked me up and headed to Manti. We ate at the Manti House Restaurant. It was very nice and I enjoyed dinner. After I could tell Brett was very nervous about something, but I wasn't sure what about, but I wondered if he was going to propose that night. As we were starting to head back we were driving by the Temple, and Brett asked if I would like to go on a walk around the Temple. On Sunday evenings after church we would usually go and talk and walk around the Temple, so it wasn't anything new. However this day was FREEZING cold, and there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground. I told him no because it was so cold, but he drove up anyway. When we parked in the parking lot he asked if I would go for just a minute so I agreed. We started walking around and it was so cold! We got around to the back side or the East side and we were standing below the steps. He was holding me because I was shivering pretty bad, so I asked if we could go back, but he told me he wasn't done yet. He took me up the stairs to the place we had talked when we had first started dating, and then he told me that he loved me, and that he didn't want to live without me. He got down on both knees (which was soo cute) and then pulled out the ring in the freezing cold, and asked me if I'd marry him. I of course answered yes after about 30 seconds of panic on his part, and I almost cried, but it was too cold outside for something like that. That was a wonderful moment! We started talking marriage on the 19 and a week and two days later we were engaged!! I couldn't wait to tell the WHOLE WORLD!! I was in love with and Engaged to the most wonderful man in the world!!

The picture is one a friend took of us after we first started dating, but the same place he proposed!

Talking Marriage and *Ring* Shopping!!

After our trip down to visit family, I was curious as to what Brett thought about everything. The next night I was at his apartment and there was no one there except us, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to "talk." Well after beating around the bush for about 3 hours I was getting tired of trying to get Brett to bring it up, so I asked him what he thought about his niece's question. I honestly can't remember what was said, but anyhow we decided that we were going to get married! We planned a trip to go look at rings that weekend. We had made arrangements to stay at my grandma's house in Salt Lake, but decided to stop at the mall in Provo to check out the stores there. We ate lunch at Sizzler and had the salad bar. That was not a good idea because I know that I ate a lot, and Brett claims he did too. We headed over to the mall, and walked in and saw the ring stores. We entered the first one we saw. The employees were all helping other people, so we just started looking around. I saw the rings and I got butterfly's like crazy and then I looked a little more, and I got a very sick feeling, and I told Brett we had to leave. I guess he was feeling the same way because when we got out we both felt better. We walked around the mall and saw another store with no one in it. We stopped there and the lady that helped us was wonderful. She wasn't pushy and was a great help. Our fear was soon gone. We then went back to the first store and looked there. I didn't really see anything that caught my eye so we moved on to the next store. The employee asked me if I wanted to try any on, so I started to pointing to a couple. It was about the 3rd ring I tried on, but when I saw it on my finger I LOVED IT!

Any other store that we went to, I could not find anything that I liked as much or even similar to it, but I felt so selfish. But lucky for me, Brett kept telling me that he was going to get me only the best and only what I wanted.

January Get Away!

Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday we were able to go down south and visit some family. We went to St. George to visit Brett's brother, and then the next day we headed down to Logandale to visit Brett's oldest sister. Here are some of the fun things we were able to do while there.

Valley of Fire

It was way cool to go down and see all the red rock formations.

We saw Indian Writings

Naturally Formed Stairs

Places to climb inside rocks

Slot Canyons

Holes carved into Slick Rock

We even found out that the ancient people had skateboards!!!

It was a very educating experience hiking around the park!
That evening we were able to go out 4-wheeling in some sand dunes.

These are our happy dirty faces afterward!

The next day we were privileged to go down to Henderson and go to church with my older sister and her adorable family! We had so fun spending the day with them and teasing Ashton. He would do a little silly dance and say "Shake your bum bum!" At church Brett and I were holding hands and he looked down and saw and said a big "Heeyy!" and tried to pull them apart! It was so funny. He also LOVES Brett and wouldn't let him out of sight. That night we were able to go and watch the water show with them, and check out the chocolate fountain, and the gardens at the Belagio. While we were there my sister told me that her kids loved Brett so much that I just had to marry him. We returned to Logandale that night, and I had some interesting thoughts on my mind.

The next day I was playing a guessing game with Brett's niece. She would say a a group of words and ask for example "What is Butter plus fly?" And I would respond butterfly and so on. Well we went through a bunch of them and then she asked, "What is Brett plus Love plus Marisha?" So I told her, and then she looked at me intently and asked, "Are you two going to get married?" Talk about panic! I looked at Brett looking for an answer and he didn't say a word. That was the end of that... or so I thought. Well as we were getting ready to leave his niece looked at Brett and I again and asked the same question. Again I was looking at Brett to answer thinking well she's YOUR niece. His sister finally said something along the lines of we were just friends right now, and that was that. So the M word had started to circulate, and it wasn't between Brett and I.

Sledding

In the first of January we were able to go up Wales Canyon and go sledding. I hadn't been sledding in years, so I was acting like a little kid having the time of my life. A couple days after we went with the family, we were able to go up with our friends and go night sledding. We thought it would be perfect, because the night before was a full moon and it was very light outside. Well of course that night the moon was no where to be found. The snow had frozen over so it was very slick compared to a couple days before. It was almost scary, but thank goodness no one was injured, or ended up going off the road!

'Tis The Season

Christmas time came around and the semester ended. Brett and I had become almost inseperable. We almost had a break up towards the end of the semester because I was not going to be coming back to school the next semester. I ended up being able to come back so we were still dating. We hadn't talked marriage or anything yet, but things were getting quite serious. When the semester ended, I went home and Brett came and visited me. After his visit we didn't see each other for 2 weeks. That is the longest time to this day that we haven't seen each other. We both were starting to get doubts and everything just seemed to go wrong in this period of time. We hadn't told each other the 3 scary words yet, and that didn't help anything. Brett was getting worried about commitments, and being totally comitted because we were dating seriously, and I still wasn't sure if I knew what i wanted. Well as many of you probably know, being apart makes the heart grow fonder. On Christmas Eve we had been texting and I remember Brett telling me in a text, "Maybe I act that way because I'm falling in love with you." That night I told him how I felt. After that things seemed to get better. A funny little thing we would do is tell each other stories about far away lands, and princes and princesses, referring to our selves which was way fun!

For Christmas, I was given a guitar, so I decided to write Brett a song and surprise him. Here's the words:

"Sitting by a window watching the snow fall down.
Usually a wonderful sight, but seems so lonely tonight.
Christmas has come and gone, and so have you.
I don't mean to be so blue, but I don't know what to do.
When will I see you again? I hope that it's soon.

And then I think of all the times we've spent,
sitting on roofs watching the stars in the sky.
Halloween dress up and birthday surprise.
Just being together you and I.

The days go by slower when you're not here.
Oh how I miss you, and wish you were near.
Memories flood my mind, you're all I see.
I don't mean to be so blue, but what else can I do.
I want to see you, it will be soon!

And then I think of all the times we've had,
fires and 4-wheeler rides and no one is sad.
Stories of castles and far away lands,
Just being together hand in hand."

Maybe one day I'll record it and put it on here. New Years Eve came around, and I was able to go and stay with his family and enjoy that holiday in Wales. Everything was alright again, and we were just glad to be together again!

Birthday's & Halloween

Brett's birthday is on the 23rd of October, and mine is on the 28th. They just so happened to come up when we had just barely started dating. On Brett's birthday I took him to lunch at Los Amigos in Ephraim, and I can't remember if we did anything that night. Well my Birthday came around, and I could tell that Brett was up to something. The day before my birthday, i came home and Brett and my roommates were gone. I called them and they both happened to be at wal-mart. I put two and two together and figured they were going to do something for me! The next day came and I went to classes, and everything was normal. I got some happy birthday's but nothing special. That night I had to go to a practice for the CES Fireside, as our institute was singing, and I was playing the piano. Brett didn't get home until around 7 from work, so we ended up going to Subway for dinner because we didn't have time for anything else. I went to the practice and came home. My roommates had made a cake and decorated it all cute, and Brett got me a cute snow hat that I wanted. Brett went to my roommates for help with the present because he had no idea what to get me. That is why they ended up at Wal-mart together. It was a good Birthday Surprise!

On Halloween at Snow they have the Tunnels of Terror, so Brett and I decided that we would dress up and go. I wanted to be a barbie doll... but it didn't turn out so well. In the end we ended up being a 70's couple. If I do say so myself, we were a good looking 70's couple! :)

After the tunnels we went and played in the leaves, and then went out to his cabin and watched a movie. It was a great Halloween!