2 WEEKS!

So life has been pretty crazy lately. I finally finished school (ish) about two weeks ago. It was a crazy ending. My lease ended the day after finals, so Ben and I were busy packing up my apartment and moving my stuff to his place soon to be our place. This triumphant end of the craziest school year of my life greeted me with viral pink eye in both eyes. I unfortunately do not have glasses and thus was rendered legally blind without my contacts. I didn't accomplish very much my last week in the area of unpacking. I did however, manage to figure out the horrible bridesmaid dress ordeal. After several trial and error attempts at getting bridesmaid dresses, we finally selected one from Ann Taylor that might match the original dress that I selected. The only problem has been finding shrugs to cover up the shoulders of this spaghetti strap dress. Ben and I got to work searching the internet and all our many options. Turns out, despite all the advertisements, there were not many options. Davids Bridal made this frustratingly clear after we called numerous stores all over the country. They had all of 4 of the items we needed in the entire country and not in the right sizes. When we finally ordered a short sleeve bolero they gave us a long sleeve bolero for the blistering 115 degree heat of Arizona. It was kind of a mess. I eventually gave up on uniformity and selected something simple, practical, and cheap for the girls who needed it.

As I said, things have been pretty crazy and I don't think it will calm down. There is still a lot of planning to be done for the Chicago reception. This week was filled with meetings with caterers, directors, cake decorators, and my wedding dress shop. Next week promises to echo the same sort of itinerary. Fortunately, my wonderful fiance will be here starting Wednesday.

Amidst the many hours of stress and frustration there have been the necessary moments of bliss that make everything worth it. Ben and I have not had a ton of time to relax and take in the beautiful transformation of Chicago in the summer, but we manage to take a few moments where wedding talk and preparation is formally banished from our lives. The last week I was in Chicago we took a walk up to the point and had a picnic. Afterwards we talked about all the simple things that we have been unable to talk or think about since our engagement. It was a beautiful reminder of the simplicity and purity of our love for each other. We also had a night in watching lost and eating a sushi dinner I prepared. That was a ton of fun.

The Home Stretch

Well, its been a very busy engagement. March feels like yesterday, and here we are, three weeks away from the big day. We are currently apart because Natasha is making preparations in Arizona and I am still in Chicago working, but we will be together again in Arizona next week and hopefully after that we will no longer have to be across the country from each other as we were for far too much of our relationship. Thankfully, this separation was preceded by a lengthy period where we could be together every waking moment that I was not at work or she at school.

In a way, this current separation is a good thing. While painful, it reminds me each day of how much I care for Natasha, and our marriage will be that much sweeter in the context of this separation.

While many things are falling into place, the mounting list of details still not attended to threaten to overwhelm us. Its during these times that I for one have to remind myself that it will be worth it when we can enjoy this special moment with our families and friends, and that we can look forward to a joyful, rich, and challenging but rewarding married life. We just have to finish putting together the party that is attendant to the far more important part of the day, the sealing in the temple.

We appreciate everything that various people have done to help and support us during this period of planning and preparation. It will be good when July 12th finally arrives.

The Proposal

Ben and I have been talking about marriage for a few weeks now, and he decided to propose the Saturday before Easter. We had only slept about 3 hours the night before, but we were up bright and early to have a pancake breakfast with the family. While I was perfecting my guitar hero skills, Ben disappeared. I was called outside and told to follow the path of rose petals. I followed to the park where Ben was waiting. He proposed to me Saturday morning with my mother's engagement ring. I quickly accepted when a bunch of people started cheering and clapping (there was an Easter egg hunt going on).T

We spent the rest of the day running around enjoying each other’s company. We checked out a possible venue, did a bit of shopping, and went to a late lunch with my parents. We decided to go to the Temple to see the Easter Pageant that night. We wanted to have a small picnic, so we stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up the essentials. When we got back into the car, Ben told me that we had one more stop to make before going to the Temple. I was blindfolded as Ben drove to our mystery destination. When we arrived I was told to not take off the blindfold until I received the call. It is pretty crazy to sit in a car when you don't know where you are and can hear the commotion of what sounded like skateboards and men's voices all around. Not to mention I had no idea what area we were in or how Ben knew his way around Arizona. Luckily, it was Freestone Park. I finally received the call and saw a note card on the dash. Each note had a reason why he loved me and clue leading me to the next card. I found most the cards pretty easily but there was one that was kind of hard. Ben, sensing I was lost, called and gave me a hint. By the time I finished it was pretty dark. I had to walk around the other side of the lake to find Ben standing on a hill with candles lit. He got down on one knee and proposed (again) with the ring he bought for me. It was such a beautiful engagement with a beautiful ring.

We ended the night hand in hand watching the Pageant at the place where we will be married for time and all eternity. It was an amazing day. Oh yeah, we topped it off with Bahama Bucks (the best shaved ice in the world).