Return of the Blog!

So, after a long and winding road, my laptop has been returned to my possession with only a few handicaps. 1) Everything has been erased and re-installed. I do still have my pictures and documents so that's good. 2) The wireless thing-a-ma-jig hiding deep within my computer is very much broken so now my laptop is the proud wearer of what looks like a USB drive on steroids. Haha. In order to get wireless internet, I must plug in this giant stick that looks like it ate three other USB drives. All in all, I'm happy I have it back.

How about an update about whats been going on these last couple of weeks? Ok.

Daniel and I registered a few weeks ago at Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Macy's. I think the process was much less painful than Daniel expected, and I tried hard to make it quick and easy. The worst part was probably listening to the lady at BB&B ramble on and on about how she rambles and truly doesn't really like people. Yeah, she was a gem. Macy's took a grand total of maybe thirty minutes. We were starving, and done shopping for the day. But wait, the story gets better. Just last week I was checking all our registry stuff online to make sure everything was okay and shop for more presents. On the BB&B website a bunch of our quantities were off so I spent some time fixing those up, no big deal. But then I came across some rather bizarre stuff. I found that "apparently" Daniel had registered for 30, yes 30, $350 tiger print rugs! Yeah, tempting but no. I was rather perplexed as to how that happened, but no matter, I deleted it and it was gone. It gets better. Do you know what I found next? A breast pump, stroller, and some book on raising children. I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my chair. Honestly, no idea how any of that stuff got on there. And if you buy us any of the previously mentioned products, well the rug...that's kinda weird and unnecessary for you to spend so much on something that won't fit in our apartment, and any of the latter stuff, well.... that's just uncalled for. Haha. There are no kids coming our way for a while.

All the way back on the 12th was Daniel's birthday. Yay! I was so stressed about what to get him, and I have no idea why. I guess I always pressure myself that I must buy the most perfect gift. I don't know how well I did, but he seemed to like everything. We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my mom and his parents, and then cake and ice cream at his house, and then Daniel and I went to see Angels and Demons. Cool movie, but we really didn't like watching old men burn to death. It was a good weekend. Even if he had to drive all the way back to Rexburg to work Saturday. (This whole commuting thing has gotten old quickly for both of us.)

Newest wedding annoyance has been wedding announcements, bleh. I've seen nearly 12 drafts/proofs of announcements that have been everything from way to retro to just ugly. I gave the announcement people exactly what I wanted except it had tulips, and I wanted daisies. Not that difficult eh? Sure it is! It took them nearly three weeks to get me something that I was actually pleased with. What a pain. So now we are in the process of hand addressing each envelope with love. They'll be going out next week. Hope everyone likes them! And if for some reason I don't have your address please send it to me via Facebook or email me at ashleymarie8907@hotmail.com. If you think for just a second that I don't have it, just to be safe, send it to me again.

So that's all for now. We're really looking forward to the long fourth of July weekend and for the month of July in general. Summer finally starting to peek its little head out from behind all those rain clouds, and July is packed with lots of wedding to-do's. 51 days, 5 hours, and 6 minutes. Not that I'm counting....

A Shout out to Moms.

Can I just say what an ENORMOUS help my mom has been in this wedding planning process? She just spent two hours with me "mock" registering so Daniel and I don't have to spend four hours doing it on Saturday. And he and I both know we can get frustrated with each other while shopping. I think it is the combination of each of our indecision. My mom has gone with me to every single appointment, consultation, and website possible. She has always provided great advice and she is greatly creative and that helps a lot. She and I made all eight centerpieces in under an hour Tuesday night! How impressive is that? She is great at helping me find what I want. (But sometimes I do what she wants just because I don't want to fuss over it, haha). She is great. Daniel's mom is equally great. :) Having been through three weddings already, she has a wealth of knowledge and is always enthuisastic about whatever new thing we are working on for the wedding. I really got super lucky with fantastic in-laws. Even though this has been what feels like the never-ending engagement, all this time has really made the planning process as stress-less as possible. Which in turn keeps my mom's stress level at a minimum. And I'm just lucky because I'm the only girl and this is my mom's only chance to be the one throwing the party. :) I can't wait to see the final result! 72 days!

Thanks Mom. You're the best!

The Proposal :)

So since nothing exciting is going on right now, except the usual wedding plans, I figured I would post our lovely proposal story.

Last semester Daniel was working in Rexburg and living in IF, so every time that I could I would go home with him for the weekend. One particular weekend (February 7th) he told me that he wanted me to come home with him on a Saturday night after work to have dinner with his parents. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary, so we made our way home and we so often did. I wasn't necessarily expecting a proposal that day. I knew it was coming, but no idea when, although I did have a hunch it would be on Valentine's Day, which was also our 6 month anniversary. I was wrong. So, we showed up at his parents house and lo and behold there is no food. Curious.... His mom fed me a very well played lie (I can't believe she lied to me! Haha (: ) about having Daniel and I take some book to a friend. Daniel and I jumped back in the truck. He claimed he wanted a CD so he ran back in the house and grabbed one, and I'm supposing a ring as well. :) We drove up in the hills in Ammon and I was as oblivious as can be. I didn't suspect a thing until we pulled over on a random spot of road. It was then that my heart started racing and I lost all feeling of my arms and legs. I was frozen in the car until he came and opened the door and let me out. We stood there and admired the beauty of our cute lil Idaho Falls admist a gorgeous golden sunset. It was perfect. Daniel seemed relatively cool and unnerved but when I get nervous I talk a lot. So I was chatting away as fast as humanly possible. But he quickly got to the point. And before I could say anything else he was on one knee in a pile of snow with my beautiful ring in his hand. He bravely ventured to do the whole thing in french <> with only minor pronounciation errors. :) It was perfect. My mind spun while I decided to answer in English or French, and I did exactly what I said I wouldn't do: I said "yeah". Haha. Oops. But it all means the same thing. He had cleverly collaborated with my mother and roommates and he had my lil black dress and shoes and stockings (the whole deal, he is good) ready to go for a fantastic dinner. And that's that. We're getting married and couldn't be happier. :)