"Will You Marry Me?"

Hey peeps- this is the story of the night Petey and I got engaged :)

February 23, 2011

The evening of Feb. 23 my friend Laura was celebrating her birthday at Olive Garden, she invited Petey and I to attend the par-tay. The dinner was at 6:00pm, but Petey couldn't make it because he worked 5-8:30pm at the library.

My friend Alyssa had texted me in the afternoon and asked if I wanted to carpool to Laura's dinner. I'm ALWAYS up for carpooling, so of course I said yes. She offered to drive and so the plan was set. When Alyssa came to pick me up our friend Kathryn was with her too. When I got into the car the girls had asked me where my coats was and I told them I didn't want to bring it because we were just going to dinner and we wouldn't be outside for very long (so I thought!). I should have taken the hint and went back in to get my coat haha.

My roommate Bailey joined us for birthday dinner, but couldn't stay the whole time because she had a really important meeting she had to be to (wink wink). After about an hour at dinner I got a call from my sister-in-law Jennie...well actually I had missed her call and she had to call Alyssa to get a hold of me. Jennie told me that her and Tyler's car had broken down on the road in front of Old Main and they needed me to come help them as soon as I could. Instead of dropping me off at my apartment so I could get my car, Alyssa said that she could drive me straight to Old Main after to dinner to help. I had no idea what was actuallybgoing to happen...

On our way to Old Main I was telling Alyssa and Kathryn that it was weird that Ty & Jen's car had broken down because it was fairly new. Once we drove to where Tyler and Jennie were, they had their Explorer pulled off the the side of the road with the hood up (which made this set-up very believable). Once we had pulled over to talk to Ty & Jen, I noticed Bailey's (my roommate) car parked behind Ty & Jen's vehicle. I didn't think anything of it though because I just figured that her meeting was in Old Main.

Once we parked I was wondering how I was going to help fix the car because I don't know ANYTHING about cars. After a second of talking to Tyler & Jen, Jennie said "Who's that?" as she pointed in the distance towards the True Aggie 'A'. I replied with "a person"...because I had no idea who that dude was that was standing on top of the 'A'. Jen then said "Why don't you go over there?". THAT IS WHEN I FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING!!! I turned to Jennie and asked her what she was doing, she said "nothing" and then told me to get over there. That was when I really freaked out. As I started to walk away I yelled "I don't have a coat!!!" (for some reason I was way concerned that I didn't have a coat).

While in my freak-out-attack I did something dumb. Instead of walking through the pathway between the snow towards Petey, which was the way everyone had planned for me to go, I instead went all the way around walking on the sidewalk, petey had to rearrange the setup. When I was almost to the 'A' I noticed Bailey standing behind a tree with her video camera! She had filmed when Tyler proposed to Jennie, and they love having that moment on camera. So...she really didn't have a meeting she had to go to, she had to leave dinner early to help set up for the proposal!

Once I got over to the 'A' I noticed that there were a dozen pink roses, candles (the wind had blown all of them out :( ), and a pink box of temptation cupcakes! When I got close to Petey he helped me on top of the 'A'. We looked at each other for a second and then he handed me the pink box of cupcakes and told me to open my present. I was struggling to open it, so he helped me. Inside the cupcake box were 4 red velvet cupcakes (favorite!) and in the middle of the 4 cupcakes was the white ring box. He then got down on one knee, opened the ring box, and he asked me to MARRY HIM. I said YES and then we hugged and kissed! I was in shock! I knew he was going to propose to me soon, but I had NO IDEA, he was supposed to be at work! I had told Petey though that I wanted the proposal to be a surprise and it was. I love him :)

After I said YES, I could hear Tyler, Jennie, Alyssa, Kathryn, and Bailey cheering. They soon ran over to us and told us congratulations and the girls wanted to see my bling. I was shaking because of my shock/excitement, and also because I was freezing. I kept squealing because I was so happy!!

I used Jennie's phone to call my mom to tell her and my dad the good news, but they didn't answer! I then called my dad AND Tanner and neither of them answered either! My mom soon called back, but her and my dad could hardly hear because they were are the BYU men's basketball game. Her, my dad, and my Grandpa Saunders were at the game and they told us congrats and that they would call us back and get the whole story when they could hear. My dad already knew that Petey was proposing that night, because Petey had told him 4 days before when he asked my dad for his permission to marry me. My dad didn't tell my mom, so she had no idea what Petey's plans were for the night of Feb. 23 :)

After the phone call with my parents, Tyler and Jennie invited us all over to their apartment for hot chocolate. I could hardly sit still because I was so excited and I was texting everyone. My parents soon called back and I was able to tell them the whole story, and later I talked to my little bro and gave him all the deets. We all hung out at Ty & Jen's for a while and then we left. I thanked everyone for their help and support!!! I was/am so appreciative of what everyone involved did to help set up for the proposal!

After we left Petey and I went to Arby's to get some food because we were both staving! When we got to my apartment I showed my roommates my ring, told them the story, Petey and I ate our Good Mood Food, and then we both had a red velvet cupcake :) Then we officially changed our facebooks to 'engaged' :)

We got married June 10, 2011 in the Salt Lake City Temple. I'll write about that story next time!! But here are some pictures from the night of our engagement!

The cupcakes

The pink roses

My lovely engagement!

I got a wedding band too :) !!

After he 'popped' the question!! I said yes!

I've never become a True Aggie yet, but I

think getting engaged on the A will

suffice! :)

Birthday Boy!

[I'm taking a timeout from all the mushy gushy love stories to talk about my husband's birthday! YAY!!!]

Petey turned 23 yesterday and it was a great day!!! We were both able to get the entire weekend off from work, and decided to make the most of our free time!

Yesterday morning I got out of bed around 7:00am to decorate our kitchen and living room for Petey's birthday. When I was younger my mom would always decorate our rooms for our birthdays and I always LOVED it! So I got up early and hung white and blue streamers throughout our tiny apartment. The only bad thing was that someone texted Petey while I was hanging the streamers to wish him a happy birthday. The text woke him up and he realized I wasn't in bed, so he came to find me....while I was in streamer mode. He was happy and surprised though, even though I wasn't finished yet :)

After I was done decorating we went back to sleep for a little bit. Once we were up and ready for the day it was time for cupcakes and presents! Yay for being 23!!!

My attempt at birthday decorating

I love making/eating cupcakes, so naturally that is what I made Petey for is b-day treat :)

Presents were up NEXT:

The gift!

The suspense of opening..

His face when he found out he got a....Kindle!!!!

He was so excited! It was darling :)

I was very sneaky in keeping this gift a secret. He's wanted a Kindle for a long time so I decided that his birthday was the prefect time to get it for him. I didn't want to buy it with our joint account (because he checks our account like everyday, and I wouldn't want him to see my purchase), so I used my old single girl bank account I have with Zion's to buy the Kindle. We've talked about closing my Zion's account down, but I'm so glad we haven't yet so I could keep this gift a secret! I also didn't want the Kindle mailed to our apartment...because hello obvious spoiler alert, so instead I had the package sent my lovely cousin Brittney's apartment. The surprise was a success!!! After presents we drove down to Salt Lake for some lunch.

A few weeks before his birthday Petey started to sign up for all of his favorite restaurants birthday clubs, hoping to get a sweet birthday deal. He signed up for all sorts of restaurants, but the fanciest place with the best deal was (drum role please.....)

Rodizio Grill gave Petey a birthday coupon that was buy one 'Full Rodizio' and get one free (which is a killer deal!!). We drove down to Salt Lake to eat at Rodizio's for lunch, so instead of having to pay like $50-60 we only had to pay $17 + a tip (because of the coupon and we went for lunch). I was a little nervous about going to Rodizio Grill because I'm not a huge meat person. I like my hamburgers and my chicken, but besides that I don't eat much meat. But....I tried some new kinds of meat that they brought us and they were all delicious. Petey was in heaven! He doesn't get that kind of cooking from me!

After lunch we went and walked around The Gateway for a bit, I ran into my high school friend Kimber, so that was fun! We walked around the mall, stopped and got a treat at The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (chocolate truffle...yes please! I bought 2 of them!). After wasting some time at the mall we went to the Salt Lake Bee's game. It was a BEAUTIFUL night for baseball, and to our surprise the first 100-ish people got a free bumble bee bobble head. Wooo woooo! We were excited for the free gift :)

Nice arm shot, I know

Our free gift!

Love us some baseball

Some lovin' for the birthday boy

We had a great day, and we celebrated Petey's birthday to the fullest!! I love him so much and I hope he knows it!!! Next post will by lovie warm and fuzzy again. Loves!!

Our Summer Apart/ I Love You

[Sorry if any of you are getting sick of all these lovie posts, but I just want to write all of this stuff down before I forget it all!]

Last summer was a really interesting one for Petey and I. He was moving to South Carolina to install security systems, while I was staying in Logan for the summer to work. Our last night before he left for S.C. was a very emotional one. I was nervous for what the summer was going to have in store for us, since we would be living many miles apart while starting to create and hold onto a relationship. I remember our very last night together before he moved to S.C., he told me to call him a lot, and that he would text/call me as much as he could. I'm not a big fan of phone conversations, especially with boys, but sure enough I called him while he was driving to the East Coast that first night and we talked for a looooog time. It was surprisingly easy to talk to him on the phone. We talked on the phone during the summer every night but 4. Even when I got off of work at midnight Utah time, he would stay up to talk to me. Sometimes he wouldn't get to bed until 4am Eastern time because of our long talks...he must have really liked me :)

After Petey had been gone about 2 weeks I decided that I was going to mail him a package. I was really starting to miss him so I wanted to do something for him. I went to the store and bought random stuff; I sent him a card saying that I missed him, lots of candy, and a picture of us. While I was at the post office mailing his package I got a call from my then roommate (now sister-in-law!) saying that 'something' had been delivered to our apartment for me. I asked her what it was/who it was from but she refused to comment. When I got home there was this lovely arrangement with my name on it :)

The card that was with the flowers said that he had he hoped I loved the flowers and that he missed me a ton. I LOVED THE FLOWERS!! How ironic is it that these flowers arrived at the exact point in time that I was sending him a package? I guess we were meant to be :)

I remember I was at my house in Payson visiting my family for the weekend and I could tell that I loved Petey. I had never felt so giddy, happy, or had so many permanent butterflies in my st0mach. I could just say his name in my head and my stomach would go crazy with warm fuzzies (I know this sounds super lame, but hey I loved the boy :)! ) I had a feeling that Petey was going to tell me that he loved me soon, and of course I didn't want to say it first so I was waiting for him to make the first I LOVE YOU move.

It was the morning of May 25th when it went down! We had just gotten off the phone and we were texting until we fell asleep. I was starting to doze off when he texted me and told me that there was something that he had really been wanting to tell me. He told me that he didn't know how to describe what he was feeling other than using the words 'I love you', he told me that he loved me so much and hoped that I felt the same. I was starting to doze off when I got that text and believe me, I woke right up!!!! I was so happy and was just ooozing with warm fuzzies (lame I know, bite me). I told him that I loved him too, I had felt it for a while, and that I had never been so happy!!!! I still remember I got that text at 1:18am, I read it over and over again. It was the first time a boy had ever told me that he had loved me!!! I was so happy and we were in love...officially!!!!!

By the end of June Petey wasn't happy with his security installing job, he had to rely on other people to make the sales, and if they weren't making sales he had nothing to install, therefore making no money. He had talked to me about coming back to Utah and living in Vernal with his mom and working out in the oil field. He spoke with one of the guys he knows out in Vernal, he used his connections, and BHI (some oil company) gave him a job!! He called me on my lunch break and work and told me that he was coming back to Utah. YAYY!!!!!!! I was so happy that I almost cried. I called my mom a.s.a.p. and was freaking out! Petey and I planned that he would come to visit me in Logan just a few days after he arrived back in Utah. I immediately filled out a time off form because I NEEDED those days off! Seeing him again was a very scary thing. I didn't know if we would be awkward in person, or if we would become even closer now that we were physically in the same place. It wasn't awkward at all :) We had so much fun going to the zoo, going out to eat, watching fireworks, hanging out with friends, and just being with each other. Although he had to go back to Vernal to work, we still talked on the phone nearly every night and we got to see each other about every 2 weeks. And now look....we are HAPPILY MARRIED!!!!!!! YAY!!!! <3 <3

Although last summer, our summer apart, was a very difficult one I am very grateful for it. You don't truly get to know how you feel for someone until you don't get to see them everyday. I learned SO much about Petey over the phone, and it meant so much to grow closer even though we were over 1,000 miles apart. We didn't have the physical element in our relationship for the first few months during the summer, so we truly got to know and care of each other and love each other for the individuals that we really are. Last summer was a hard, yet amazing and I wouldn't change anything about it!

Next time I'll write about our engagement!!! Get ready :)

Our First Kiss/First Date (in that order...)

FIRST KISS--- Okay... so Petey and I had been hanging out for a couple of weeks and we had started to establish a relationship. We had cuddled a few times but we still hadn't kissed yet, nor had we gone out on an 'official date' yet. I was trying to wait patiently :) The night our first kiss happened there was a Utah Jazz game on tv. My friends and I had started to routinely watch the Jazz games with his friends, but when we had asked if we could watch the game at their apartment that night we didn't get a response. My friends found somewhere else to watch the game (curse having no cable!!). I told Petey and he was pretty bummed out. I told him that I would leave where I was watching the game at half time and come join him to watch the second half. Well one thing led to another and I ended up staying for the whole game with my girlfriends. Petey got a little upset with me...oops! After the game was over though, I went straight over to where was. There was a big group of people at the apartment and I felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't pay attention to anyone else but me. I've always been awkward when I'm around a guy I like when we are with a large group, but he gave me his full attention and I could tell that he wanted me there.

Eventually the crowd died down and the only people that around were Petey, myself, and his friend Antonio (who was asleep on the living room floor). We hopped up on the couch and talked and cuddled for hours. We talked about our families, we talked about where we've traveled, where we'd like to travel, our dream jobs, our hobbies, etc. After a few seconds of silence he turned my head towards him and we had our first kiss!!! I wasn't expecting it at that moment, but it happened! We kissed once more and continued to talk and get to know each other on a deeper level. I only got like 2 hours of sleep that night because we stayed up so long talking. I learned A LOT about him that night, and after that night I liked him 20 times more!

FIRST DATE---- May 1st, 2010 - Petey had finally asked me on our first 'official date' and I was very nervous and excited! I was nervous because he was leaving for the summer to install security systems in South Carolina and I knew I was starting to fall for him. I was excited because I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could before he left for the summer. I didn't know how things were going to work out with us living on separate sides of the country during the first part of our relationship. He had a week left in Utah and we were going to make the BEST of our time together.

For our date Petey had asked me to go on a hike with him. His good friend Nate had asked a girl and they were going to join us. The day of our date came and it was a torrential downpour! He texted me like 2 hours before our date and asked me if I was still game to go on our hike even if the weather wasn't good. I wasn't really looking forward to hiking through the mud and rain, but I wanted to be with him so I said yes. About 30 minutes before our date he called me and told me that we were going to a Real Salt Lake soccer game instead. He loves soccer and I've always wanted to go to an RSL soccer game, so I was happy with the change in plans :) The weather was still really bad so I brought a sweater, my coat, and a blanket for our trip. Nate's date ended up bailing on him, but he wanted to come with us still since he loves Real Salt Lake too. It wasn't awkward because Nate had become a really good friend of mine over the past few months, so it was just fun to all hang out together.

On our way down to the game we grabbed some food. The Real Soccer game was so much fun!! It rained almost the entire time and we were both freezing, but we cuddled up close :) RSL won the game so that made the night even better! On our ride home it was raining sooooooo bad that I was honestly scared for our safety. Petey was driving in his little Ford Escort and we were hydroplaning all over the road (he did an amazing job at keeping us safe though!). We managed to escape the weather unscathed but it sure was a ride! When we got back to Logan Petey dropped me off at my apartment and that was the end of our first OFFICIAL date... we had so much fun together!! It was a great date!! Next time I'll write about our crazy summer apart and our first I LOVE YOU

At the Real Sale Lake Game...Petey being a dork :)