Engaged 3 Years Ago....

No, not like Pam and Roy from The Office. We've gotten married since then. :-) The engagement date was a surprise. We'd picked out our rings 2 weeks before, and the ring guy said they'd be ready in 3 weeks. What I didn't know was that he pulled Mark aside to tell him that they'd be done a week earlier, so that Mark could spring it on me before I was expecting it. 

The weekend before, we drove home to WA for a couple days so that Mark could meet my parents. That was a lot of fun, and very sweet when my dad gave us his blessing before Mark had even mustered the courage to ask him. I know my dad knew Mark was right for me, and there was no use wasting time. :-) After getting back home, though, I had a horrible week because I realized I was doing really badly in 2 of my classes. I knew I couldn't catch up, and it was too late to withdraw, so I decided to just fail them, retake them the next semester, and focus on my remaining classes and wedding prep. So Mark had a good reason to take me out that Friday afternoon, November 9th, and I wasn't suspecting anything serious, even when he blindfolded me during the driving. I figured it just added to the fun. So he blindfolded me for an hour and we ended up at the Hogle Zoo! Yay! And it was so magical... 

I knew this zoo trip would be extra special because one of the first things we saw was this poor little monkey with the worst case of hemorrhoids. It was dangling 2 or 3 inches!!! At first we thought it was something else, haha!

Across the way from hemorrhoid monkey was this cute little family. Aw!

The zoo trip became even more awesome when we witnessed a zebra taking a big dump. We were mesmerized.

We got a closeup of the rhino. That was pretty cool except that he wasn't killing anything; he was just eating some grass. Oh well, I guess I can't be wowed ALL the time!

This rhino was way more fun!

"Don't tell Mark I said this, but I think he's kinda cute!"

Okay, I wasn't really that surprised, but I did think it was pretty neat to see an albino alligator!

What can I say? We had fun playing with the gorilla.

In case you don’t know birds, this one is feeling a little pissy. He did not like Mark! He was alright with me, though. Haha! I wish we’d gotten video.

“Am I not turtley enough for the turtle club? Turtle, turtle, turtle!”

Snapping turtle. They always look grumpy.

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.  – Bernard Meltzer

Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.  -Hans Christian Anderson. Mark's a manly man. He won't be offended if I call him a swan... right?

This duck was the cutest thing ever!

So precious! He didn’t even care if I didn’t have food - he kept pecking at my hand. Keep your eye on the duck in both videos, he is so cute! Proof that ducks can be awesome.

 

My FIRST foxes in person! Bat-Eared foxes, and they were sleeping right next to the window. I just sat and stared at them for so long… I wanted to cry. Highlight of the day! (Thus far…)

I have my own pictures somewhere of the grey fox we saw, but I don’t know where. I wish I could take credit for this picture – he’s beautiful!

No ring… yet! I think Mark wanted to take a picture of me for that reason, and I had no clue. ;-)

When we were done at the zoo, we got back in Mark’s truck and he blindfolded me again, telling me we had one place left to go. We drove another hour. This time he didn’t take my blindfold off right away. I held onto him as he guided me, seemingly in circles, over concrete, over grass, over curbs, past chatting people, until I heard some water like a fountain. He sat me down on some cold marble and took off my blindfold: I was sitting at the apex of the fountain facing the courtyard of the JFSB at BYU. He got down on his knee and my heart started beating like nuts. He pulled a penny out of his pocket and said, “Heads: we call the temple today and make an appointment for a sealing. Tails: we wait a little longer.” He tossed the penny into the fountain behind me. I turned around to look in the pond, where I see a gigantic pile of pennies in the water, shaped like a heart, and every single penny is heads. Then he pulled a ring case out of his pants, and my heart stopped. Was it empty? He opened it and it wasn’t. Had he had that in his pocket the whole time?! The ring was so beautiful. He asked me to marry him, I said yes, he slid that ring on my finger, we hugged, we kissed, we sat and gushed and chatted for a while, and when it got dark we went and ate grilled cheese sandwiches in the CougarEat. :-)

Some pretty pictures of the fountain that I found online.

My beautiful ring! It’s the most unique diamond I’ve ever seen. It’s hexagonal with a tension setting, and on the underside is a “phantom rose” cut that you can see when the diamond is clean. :-)

This is pretty similar to my diamond, except mine is white and more awesome. :-) And the “petals” are more pointed.

A little too bright, but so is our love. ;-)  

Happily Ever After!