What "week 7" looked like.

Last Friday night our friends April and Patrick hosted a Filipino dinner. It was a fun, small group and we enjoyed trying all the foods they love & grew up eating.  For dessert we had "ice cream".  I knew that it would be a funky flavor, but they wouldn't tell us what we were eating.  So I tried the orange ice cream first {it was less scary to me than the deep purple/white swirly one}.  I put it in my mouth and thought, "this tastes like a smell I know" then, something chewy... interesting.  Next thought, "I don't want to eat this anymore", then I realized what I was tasting; feet. Yes, it tasted like feet.  Turns out it was cheese flavored, there were actual chunks of cheese in the ice cream. Eeek. I don't even like cheese in it's non-dessert, un-frozen, zero-sugared form-this was a lot for my gustatory system to handle. The other flavor was potato/coconut, a special potato {apparently purple in color} but it tasted just like the cheese one to me. That said, the dinner was lovely & it was fun to be with friends and lounge around afterwards.

The next day we took engagement pictures. That was Saturday. It was 100 degrees outside. Actually it was 98 degrees, but with humidity it felt like 105 degrees. That's according to the weather people, according to me it felt like 305 degrees.  We took pictures outside & literally melted.  I don't really even like to think about it, it was that painful.  We were sweaty and sticky and I was frazzled. We brought a towel to dab off with, seriously, who brings a towel to wipe sweat up during an engagement session?!! We do. Best. Despite the heat and the not heat friendly clothes {swimsuits for these picture would have been more appropriate, and less at the same time} it was a good couple of hours. Our photographer, Stephanie Hyde, was wonderful and shot lots & lots of pictures.  Mckay is bringing the proofs over tonight and I'm excited to pick "the one"!

On Sunday I went to my first Temple Prep class at church.  Mckay and I will be getting married in the Logan, Temple and because of the sacredness of this place, those preparing to enter can take a short class to learn a little more about it.  We talked about The Plan of Happiness that a loving Heavenly Father has instituted to help his children receive a fullness of joy.  It was wonderful to review and remember the perfect plan he has set forth.

Monday morning Mckay found out that he passed his Level 1 CFA {Certified Financial Analyst} test. Remember how on his birthday in June he spent six hours taking that monstrous thing? Well, they finally got back with results that made for one relieved & elated boy and one proud & doting girl. He studied over 260 hours for this test and all that work paid off!  Next June he'll take Level 2 and in June 2012 he'll take Level 3. I'm just happy we get a study break until January {I say "we" because I was alone during those 260+ hours}. We're having a celebratory dinner this weekend!

Addresses, addresses, addresses. That's what we're doing now.  Invitations are at the printers & I can't wait to get them. Shout out to Shey at Shey Doodles for doing an incredible job! She is a good friend of mine & worked so hard to get me exactly what I wanted.  She does beautiful work, is unbelievably affordable, and so patient and kind when you{I} change{d} your{my} mind 50 times {that is not an exaggerated number}.

I get to go home in a week & help my Mom, I'm excited for that. I'm dreading the part where I have to find/buy/borrow a dress though, blah.

{dress inspiration}

"Mazel tov, honey" count: 4

averaging 2 per week, not bad.

8 Weeks Ahead

According to our handy-dandy wedding checklist, we're right on schedule. We've: set a date, scheduled a temple time, found a venue, picked a color scheme, found a photographer, compiled guest lists, designed invitations, contacted a florist, scheduled and E-session {new wedding blog lingo}, and bought a plane ticket for a quick "get stuff done" weekend. 

We got engaged last Wednesday night. It still seems a little surreal, but natural at the same time. I love it. My Mom is the most wonderful woman on earth {duh}, she is constantly working out glitches and figuring out all the wedding stuff back in Logan for me.  His sisters are all over the Open House in Texas, it's going to be great.  Mckay is so supportive & involved, last night he told my Mom that the planning is "fun".  He's cute.  He made a code word last week {it's mazel tov} & when he says that, it means I need to calm down. He's only had to use it twice so far.  Phew.

Last night we went to the city for a delicious Indian dinner on the Lower East Side with Mckay's college friend, Ghram. This is what the inside of the restaurant looked like. It was a little claustrophobic, but so fun and crazy. Come visit & we'll take you here.

Our sweet friend Patrick picked us up celebratory calories {those ones don't count} from Magnolia's Bakery in the city.  We ate {read: inhaled} these in five seconds, they were delicious. Red velvet and chocolate swirl cheesecake. Thanks Patrick!

RS sleep over on Friday, it was fun.  Mostly telling our engagement story a frillion times, showing off the ring, & Sydney screaming in excitement was fun. 

Skyped {such a clever/useful invention} with Ashley & Scott, Ash snapped a picture of me being excited to get married. Guilty.

I have no idea what to wear for our engagements, blah. I tried on a few dresses for Mckay but the most I got out of that was a "that's nice". Hhhuummm. Classy fashion guru genie please come help me, & bring some money.

That's it for week 8.

the story.

Here's how it went:

Yesterday afternoon Mckay text me from work asking what I wanted to do that night. I responded, "go get me a gold band so that we can announce an engagement" {background: we had decided on Sunday to get married on Sept. 17th & I was so anxious to be engaged and start planning but we didn't have a ring-so I was content with a fake just to get going}. He said, "Haha. Yeah right. I fundamentally cannot do that. Please understand. I would, however, go ring browsing with you tonight if you so desire...". Jackpot. He made it clear that we weren't buying a ring, this was just to get an idea of what I liked.

We agreed to meet at the Westchester Mall that evening. He text me later in the afternoon that he had some projects to finish up and wouldn't be able to be there very early. I said that was okay and that I would still go early and scout out the ring shops. He ended up getting there at 8:15ish, by that point Tiffany&Co. had closed, and I was a little bummed because I wanted to do the super lavish upscale thing for fun. We {finally} met up {me trying to not be cranky about his tardiness/missing out on Tiffany&Co.} and went to Zales. 

Zales didn't have a huge selection and we weren't really interested in anything. The store closed at 9pm and we left empty-handed, which was what I expected, but it was fun to try on the rings anyway.  We headed to Tarrytown to our favorite Greek restaurant for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with the most delicious lamb gyros we went back to my house.

{what i thought was our ordinary scrabble game}

When we got home I made him look through some bridal magazines with me, he was so thrilled I'm sure, but after a few minutes of that he suggested playing a game. Scrabble is our favorite, so I ran down stairs to get it. We started {I drew the "A" so I got to go first, my lucky night for sure} and made it to the point in the game where you're just drawing out all the stinking vowels and it's hard to make words. By this point I was a little distracted and checking my email during his turns. My turn rolled around, I put "heal" on the board and then reached into the scrabble bag for new letters.

My heart just stopped.

I pulled out a ring box.

Was so confused for a few seconds, I remember thinking, "Did he get me something at Zales?! No... Is this a joke?"

Then I looked at him and said, "What is this?"

He just grinned & said, "Open it"

So I did, with shaky hands. At this point I had started to cry.

I turned around to him, and he got down on one knee, I was sitting on the edge of my bed and he started to speak but then got chocked up. He put his head on my shoulder and I nuzzled him and cried a little. Then he gained composure and said, "Honey, I love you. Will you marry me?".

Of course I said yes, we kissed & he put the ring on my finger.

{tears}

{the happy couple.}

{Turns out, he hadn't been working late, he'd hardly been working at all. He'd spent the last two days in the city working with a jeweler to find me the ring.}

He stayed over until about 3am and we just laughed and talked and smiled.

We called family and friends {the picture below is probably my favorite of the night}.

And talked more about our wedding and future.

My favorite part of this whole experience, besides staring at my gorgeous ring & having Mckay as my fiance, has been the outpouring of love and support from friends and family.  It has been incredible and I just feel so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life to share this with.  My grandpa wrote me a sweet email this morning and said, "hold tight to each other". I am so excited to do that.

So this is the start of our new life together.

engaged! {07.14.10}

picture taken five mintues after mckay proposed.

sharing the happy news with my family.

what i did today.

1. spent all the money in my checking account on new bras.
2. ate an entire pint of this:

*i didn't really mean to eat the whole thing, i just kept digging for those dark chocolate covered almonds, and by the time i'd found them all, i'd also consumed all the ice cream in the carton.  don't worry that there is 1,050 calories worth of ice cream sitting in my gut.  an awful stomach ache is fast approaching, bleck.

hopefully tomorrow will be an all around better day; more productive, and less gluttonous.

happy 234th birthday, america!

i know this is the most of a picture, but i couldn't help myself. i just love the 4th, a lot.

it was a great holiday, chucked full of food & fun & friends.

we ate hamburgers all weekend long, swam a bunch, got sun-kissed, saw movies {the killers & grown ups, they both made me laugh}, did a little shopping, sang patriotic songs at church, played with friends, drove fast cars, learned to play pool {me}, got eaten alive by mosquitoes {me}, played soccer {him}, and watched new canaan's amazing firework show at waveny park.

it was practically perfect in every way.

sweet land of liberty-
i am so very grateful for this country and the men that founded, protected and governed it & for those who continue to do so.

the best part of the trip.

surprising regan on her 19th birthday!

holy cow was it hard to keep that secret. multiple times she called me & begged me to just "fly out for the weekend" to celebrate but i kept telling her it just wasn't plausible. so many times i almost [or did] let slip our plans. it was mckay's idea to have kenna take her to the bathroom and then have the two of us sneak in to surprise her. we had trouble with the parking stuff so they were already back from the bathroom when we walked in. mom, thinking fast [teehee], grabbed regan's arm and said, "i'm going to vomit!" and hauled her off to the bathroom. when she came out and saw me she just froze in her tracks and burst into tears. it was the sweetest.

dad bought us all dinner at p.f. chang's and after we finished stuffing ourselves [chocolate cake anyone? seriously, so delicious.] mckay left to meet up with his friends for a movie and i stayed with my family for some craven family quality time. we went to temple square and then down to orem to stay the night with my dad's parents. we laughed the entire night, it was so wonderful to be with my family again. when i went to bed that night, with kenna in bed next to me, regan on the floor, and trevor on the couch, i was overwhelmed with tender, intense feelings of gratitude and love for my family.

a little sunday afternoon ping-pong in the basement. my grandpa frank craven is the most sweet-tempered, gentle man alive. 

{see, he's the most adorable thing- love his mickey mouse tie! don't worry that he has a mickey mouse phone in his office to match.}

the lovely birthday girl.

we had some unexpected family members drop in as well, my uncle frank and his wife and some of his kids. my uncle phillip and his wife and daughter also stopped by. the hoards of people over whelmed me, but mckay seemed to handle it well.

late afternoon we said good-bye to my family, amazingly [i'm still confused as to how this happened] i had dry eyes! okay... they were a little misty when regan started to cry, but no actual tears. i was proud, because normally it doesn't go like that. anyways, said goodbye to my family and went to visit mckay's grandmother delma who also lives in orem. she was probably the sweetest lady i've ever met. we visited with her, and one of his cousins for a few hours, and then went home to pack and head to the airport. his gma is cooler than us both and has an iphone and showed us every single picture she has on that thing. it was funny & cute.

home safe in new york now.

kind of wishing it could have been a longer visit.

excited to see them again in september.