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a weekend in colorado springs

Well, on Thursday night Daniel and me and his brother, Nick, and Nick's girlfriend, Dana, flew out to Denver. Daniel's dad picked us up at the airport and we made the drive down to Colorado Springs, and Hayley flew in the next morning. It was a really fun weekend despite the weather being a little cold and rainy.

Friday morning, we all studied for a little while and then Nick and Dana and Daniel and I drove around and looked at Colorado Springs. Their family has some land where they are going to be building a house and we drove out there to see it, and we drove past their high school, and I can't really remember where else we went. Daniel's mom's mother flew in Friday afternoon, too, and so we had some lunch and then Daniel and I picked up his youngest sister, Sydney, up at school. And after that, Nick and Dana and Daniel and I went out to Garden of the Gods park to hike around.

Garden of the Gods park is a city park in Colorado Springs (kind of over by Air Force Academy) that has some really cool red rock formations. I was kind of surprised that it wasn't a state park or something, and I didn't really understand Daniel's explanation of why that is, but it was beautiful, regardless. Anyway, so I didn't really want to go because I was feeling really tired and kind of dehydrated, but Daniel talked me into going anyway, because Nick was going to propose to Dana and he wanted us to go with them and then they'd split off and he'd pop the question. But let me just tell you that that was the only reason I decided to go. Well, that and Daniel seemed disappointed when I told him I didn't want to go. So we went. We found a place to hike and got out of the car (Dana had no idea she was going to be proposed to - it was great). We hiked around a little bit. Daniel and I kind of lagged behind Nick and Dana because we wanted to let them go do their thing. We hiked a little bit higher and found a place where we could see the rocks and we stopped and took some pictures. We were trying to get pictures with Daniel holding the camera but we couldn't get the rocks in the background, too... so Daniel suggested that we try taking a picture with the timer function - that way it could be further away from us. So he had me stand back a little ways while he set up the camera. The countdown light started flashing and he started digging through his backpack and he pulled out this little box. He walked over to me and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was completely shocked. Amazed. I don't really have any words. But that was the last thing I had been expecting. And I said yes.

So anyway, we're engaged! And we're getting married December 20th in the Salt Lake Temple. I'm so excited. I wish it was a little bit sooner but we decided it would be better for me to finish the schoolwork that has to be done in Provo before we get married because we'll be moving to Denver. So now I'll be able to finish everything else with independent study classes. And now I have plenty of time to plan everything.

Unfortunately, all the pictures that we have of this momentous occasion are on his camera. I'll post one as soon as I get them.

The rest of the trip was a blur. We all spent Saturday and Sunday in Denver because Sydney had a dance competition. Saturday, Daniel and I looked around Denver at the medical school (he's going to be starting there in August) and places to live. And we found out how poor we really will be. But I guess that's okay, we'll make it.

And Sunday night we all flew back to Salt Lake. It was a really fun trip.

a weekend in hollister

This past weekend Daniel and I flew out to California to visit my family. And I Daniel talked "business" with my dad. And my dad gave his okay. I can't believe this is really happening.

Anyway, we flew out early in the morning on Saturday. On the plane, we started doing a Sudoku puzzle but quickly lost interest and I fell asleep. What was wonderful was that I slept the whole rest of the plane ride. Mom and Dad picked us up at the Oakland airport (I don't know why we didn't fly into San Jose) and we drove the hour and a half down to Hollister. Johnson called us on the way down to see when we were going to get there (apparently he was really excited to have us come visit). Saturday, late morning, we all went down to Monterey to have a picnic and walk around. We looked at the tidepools and the houses and walked around and enjoyed the sun. We drove down to Carmel but there wasn't any parking so we didn't get out to walk on the beach. We drove 17-mile Drive, near Pebble Beach, to get to Point Lobos but I fell asleep and didn't see a whole lot of anything. Then we drove back up to Monterey and then to San Juan Bautista, where we walked around the mission and looked at antique shops and waited for our reservations for dinner. We had dinner and then went back to Hollister for cake (it was my birthday dinner, even though my birthday is actually today). While the cake was baking, Mom and I ran to Target while Dad and Daniel talked. I was so nervous for him, I thought I was going to throw up. I knew it was going to be fine but I was still a little nervous, mostly that my dad would be scary or intimidating or something. We got back and they were done and Daniel was playing the piano and everything was fine. We had to wait for the cake to be done and Daniel and I went for a walk and he told me that my dad had given the okay. I still can't believe this is all happening.

Sunday we went to church and it was funny because everyone talked to us (at least, everyone who I know - it's been a while since I've lived at home and the ward has changed a lot). They all wanted to know who Daniel was and some of them even asked how serious we are. It was really funny. Dad had some ward conferences to go to and when we saw him after church he told us that he had talked about us in a lesson he gave for combined meetings in the third block. I was so embarrassed. Well, I guess embarrassed isn't the right word for it - it's more like, I was not sure how to feel about it except that now everyone in my entire stake (even people who I don't know) know that I am getting married relatively soon. For dinner we had really good food and we had berry pie that my mom made. It was amazing. I love homecooked meals that my mom makes.

Monday we drove around Hollister a little bit so Daniel could see where I grew up... and then we went to In-N-Out Burger and went up to the airport again. On our way there we stopped at the Oakland Temple so we could walk around the grounds, since we were up that direction anyway. And then the weekend was over.

Below is a picture of us - it was taken I think the weekend before general conference but I can't remember for sure.