Grateful she said YES!

I had decided that I wanted to propose at Big Springs back in April, but up until last Friday I didn't know any specifics of what I wanted to do beyond that. As soon as I heard the idea of putting together a time capsule I knew it was the thing to do, so I casually suggested it to Jamie and planned the date up the canyon. 

On the morning of Saturday the 14th we put together our time capsule at her house and made sandwiches for our hike. It was super fun remembering all of the fun times that we have shared over the past year. We included in our time capsule a lot of little things that reminded us of things that we've done together. We also wrote letters to each other to be read in 5 years. I'm actually really curious to read what Jamie wrote, but I guess I have to wait. :)

After getting everything ready we drove up the canyon to Vivian park where we took a right and followed the curvy road up the canyon until we reached Big Springs. There we parked and started up the same trail that we hiked a couple of days before I left for Chicago. It was a beautiful fall day with leaves just starting to change colors and the ground still damp from a morning drizzle. I was hoping to find the same spot where we stopped in April where a little stream splits into two for about 20 feet and then comes back together again; however the vegetation had completely changed since spring so we never did find that same spot.

About a mile up the trail it started pouring rain. Luckily I had packed an umbrella so we didn't get drenched, but about that time we reached the edge of a huge mountain meadow. We didn't feel safe crossing the meadow under an umbrella in a thunderstorm so we wandered into a beautiful little campsite just off of the trail. There we sat on a fallen tree under our umbrella singing and chatting for about an hour waiting for the rain to stop. It was so much fun that we didn't even notice when the rain finally did stop for quite a while. When the sun came out we spread a blanket out in the meadow and had a relaxing picnic in the warm sunlight. 

Then we went back into our little clearing off of the trail and dug a hole under a fallen tree by where we were sitting. There we buried the time capsule. Then while Jamie found a couple of rocks to put on top, I carved our initials in the tree above the hole. When we were finished I held her tight and with shaking knees I decided the time was right to pop the question. 

I began by remembering how impressed I was upon getting to know her last fall. I spoke about how my love only grew as we spent more time together. I told her how the Lord had shown to me in the temple about how I would know it was right if I felt closer to her as I drew closer to the Lord. I shared with her my desire to spend the rest of my life by her side, and I expressed my desire to someday grow to love her as the Lord loves her. Then I got on one knee, pulled out her ring and asked her to be my wife. I cannot express my complete happiness and joy when she cried out that she would and hugged me so fast that she hardly even saw the ring. I then sang “I swear” by John Michael Montgomery to her as I held her tight. 

We spent the next couple hours taking pictures and planning for the future. We planned to go to the temple that night, but we got back too late so we ended up going out for Thai food instead. What a perfect day it was! I don't think I have ever been so happy in my life! I can't wait to marry the love of my life in the house of the Lord!

Grateful to be Together again...this time for good!

I can't express how happy I was to pick Jamie up from the airport in Chicago. She was more beautiful than ever in a blue and white striped shirt. I greeted her at the airport with a bouquet of red roses and I decorated my apartment with streamers. I also decorated her mirror with a big heart and our initials inside written in tooth paste, but it didn't turn out to be the most beautiful thing because the toothpaste sank along the mirror. :)

We had an incredible time over the next couple of days together in Chicago. The night she flew in we went for a night time swim at the apartment pool, and then woke up early the next morning to go for a run and then to the temple. Afterwards we ate at a super nice Italian restaurant and then drove downtown to spend the evening at Navy Pier. 

It was quite the experience! Navy Pier is like a big carnival on the water. We rode the ferris wheel, played mini golf, saw an acrobat show, and went for a boat ride with a fireworks show at the end. What a perfect day! 

The next morning we packed and cleaned my apartment and finally hopped in the car by late afternoon. On our way out we ate real Chicago hot dogs at Portillo's before hitting the road to Nauvoo.

The drive down to Nauvoo was beautiful! Unfortunately we had taken so long to pack that the second half of the trip was made in the dark. Since my car doesn't have cruise control I didn't notice that I was going a bit too fast until the flashing lights behind me slowed me down. I'm glad Jamie was there with me because she makes even the worst situations fun, but I was a bit sad to get my first speeding ticket ever. Admittedly I was going 71 in a 55 zone. :)

Jamie's uncle Randy was kind enough to let us stay in the house that he rents out in Nauvoo for a the two nights that we were there. It's a cute little yellow house just a couple blocks from the temple. Our first day there we went around touring a bunch of old historical buildings, visited carthage jail, and saw a cute musical performance by a bunch of the missionary couples serving in Nauvoo. 

The next morning we did an early morning session at the beautiful Nauvoo temple. That has to be the most beautiful temple that I have ever seen!

 It was also the most interesting temple experience I have had in a while. As we were hurriedly preparing to go to the temple I pulled out my Sunday clothes and discovered that I had foolishly placed 6 cubes of butter in a plastic bag above my luggage in my trunk which had melted the day before and soaked into my luggage and through several layers of clothing. Unfortunately the melting butter also absorbed the colors of the clothing through which it soaked leaving my white Sunday shirt looking more like a tie-dye shirt with a variety of orange, brown, and black stripes across it. I was able to hide the colors with my suit and everything worked out ok, although I may have smelled of popcorn throughout the session in the temple. :)

After the temple we commenced our long journey back to Utah. I've never had so much fun sitting in a car for 10 hours straight for two days in a row! We played word games, listened to audio books, and just talked about our future. When the journey was over it was both joyful and sad. What a fun week we spent together!