A Day of Judgment.

Not the day just a day, or week, or two months... and then some. People judge, it's what we do as a species and more often than not, we have to, how else are we going to survive? We need to judge what will harm us and what will make us better, what will make our lives harder and what will make them easier... (etc. you get and are very familiar with the point).
We judge... and then we make choices.
Some choices are easy, some are so easy it's pathetic. Some are harder and require effort and time. Some require so much more and are the hardest choices to make.
Some choices make us happy. Some choices make us and others happy. Some choices make others happy. Some choices make no one happy.
In the past two weeks, Bryan and I made a choice. On Friday December 16, 2011 we went to the county court and filed for divorce.
I know that others will judge us a great deal, and I wish it wasn't true, but I cannot stop that.
Bryan is a good man, and I regret nothing about our relationship. Could I have done more? Yes. Could he? Yes. Was it entirely the fault of either of us? No. We both shared in what has come about.
Our whole relationship was filled, and still is filled, with miracles. We met because I felt I needed to come home for the summer and fall in 2010. We met through a friend of Bryan's whom my father home taught and my father needed a companion one night. Throughout our whole relationship (the first 6 months being long distance) the Lord held us in the palm of his hand. The week before our wedding the weather waffled between spitting and pouring but never sunny until the day before. The clouds thinned and then on the day of our wedding, there was not a cloud in the sky. I woke up early to a beautiful and peaceful sunrise, it was like a little wedding gift from Heavenly Father.
As our marriage came to the last 7 weeks I have witnessed even more miracles from the Lord, many being that we had next to nothing to split, we had no debts collectively, I am not pregnant, it is happening now instead of four or five years down the road, there is no bitterness, resentment, or anger between us.
I, for my own part, have seen so many miracles as well. I have the gospel and the strength and comfort of my Heavenly Father, I have felt of His love and I know that He will always be with me. I do not regret marrying Bryan, but I am rather incredibly grateful that we did met and marry. I have wept and I allowed myself to realize that it's okay to weep. I have allowed myself to realize that it is okay to not be okay. I have felt the Lord's love for all those around me so much more keen than ever before. I was able to tolerate my family for 4 whole days at Christmas time and even drew comfort being among them.
I still love him and that will never change, no matter what happens.

Heaven and Hell

I'm convinced that God (please note) allows us to go through Hell so that we can truly appreciate the sweetness of Heaven that comes afterward. Heavenly Father is a god of order and rules that He too must follow or He would cease to be God. He cannot create evil, if He did then He would cease to be completely good as He is. He simply allows to be tossed about by evil, but He never abandons us. He allows us to be tempted and given trials and to take a sip from the gall of bitterness so that we understand how sweet the cup of mercy tastes. Nothing has ever tasted more sweet and brought me more peace than knowing that He is right next to me. In my trial I brought myself to Him and I could feel Him there, I could feel His love for me. And that is something I will never forget. I have been through Hell, and I have been held in my Father's arms in Heaven and Hell was worth it.

Colors

I am obsessed with colors. I love them. I think they are awesome and I'm so glad we have them! Out of curiosity I did a google search on each color and quite liked what I see.

Red, first color of the rainbow, often associated with love, anger, health and blood. I found lots of roses, hearts and shoes.

Orange, guess what I found? Oranges, lots and lots of oranges mixed with a few other things.

 I'm not sure what orange is commonly used for, health perhaps? cheerfulness, optimism. It is a mix between the vivid enticing red and the happy bright yellow.

Yellow, the next color is bright, full of hope, the color of sunshine and bright yellow flowers.

 

           

Green, the color of vitality and life. Of renewal and beauty, nature is filled with it. And so is commercialism.

Blue is a calming color that puts those who view it at ease and in a state of calm. It is also a color found a great deal in nature.

Purple, the last color of the rainbow (I know technically violet is). I'm not quite sure what purple signifies, perhaps great peace. It is often associated with royalty.

Brown, earthy. Grounded, sensible steady, strong. Sadly, the most common pictures were brown recluses. They are pretty gross. But I did find a couple good pictures.

Black, solid, deep, dispairing, void, dark. Perhaps though it is not all bad, it can be very beautiful, photo are very enticing when the colors have all been taken out.

White, unassuming, peace, purity, simplicity, innocence.

                                    

  

Since it is Thanksgiving, I thought I would share something I am grateful for. I love color and could not imagine a world without it. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

People keep asking me how marriage life is treating me, it drives me nutz! Especially because most of the people asking me are/have been married. I want to say, "You know! You've been there! Why are you asking me?" Marriage is frustrating, hard, stressful, annoying, angering and the best choice I ever made in my life. I couldn't be happier even though every often I want to scream or cry. I have never loved another person as much as I love my husband and every time I do scream or cry it only intensifies my love for him. It's actually interesting how that works, the more you go through for the ones you love, the more you love them.
But love is more than the feelings you get when he walks in the room, or he holds your hand or kisses you ever so gently, or passionately. It's a choice and a feeling that feed off each other, the more you choose to love, the more the feeling grows, and the more the feeling grows the more you choose to love. And if you ever stop choosing to love, the feeling grows less until you remember that love is hard work. It is support when you really would rather do your own thing. It is knowing that he and you both have flaws that just might drive one another absolutely crazy, but that you are loved in spite of the those. It is being there when he is going through a hard time, just being there and letting him know the love you have has not, and will not ever, lessen. It is knowing that he will be there for you when you are in the darkest hour of need. It is knowing that you might have to sacrifice the movie you really want to see or the party you might right want to go to just so he knows that you would rather spend your days by his side.
And most importantly it is being open. Without open communication and trust marriage cannot work. He needs to know when you are upset, and when you are happy, how much it means to you, and why. You cannot hold onto those things that bother you and think they will go away, they don't. You also cannot blame him for everything, you are causing at least 50% of the problem (if not more!). He is trying too and you are doing things that bother him too. Trust him, open your heart to him, tell him your fears, joys, hopes, dreams, and wishes. Just sit and talk, or sit in silence and enjoy one another's company. Making him happy is (and should be if it's not) your number one focus, nothing matters more than your marriage. Nothing. Don't forget, he wants to make you happy too.
It's hard work at first, and may be (most likely will be) for the rest of your life. But it is so rewarding. I regret nothing and would do it all over if I had the choice.

Why?

Why is is that Heavenly Father deals you a staggering blow and before you can even barely deal with it he deals you one that keels you over, flat on your back with no breath in your body?
With great knowledge comes great responsibility. Great strength is only won through great trial. Those who lie down under the force of the wind never know it's true strength.
I am not sure I am as strong as He seems to think I am. I am not sure how to deal with this next crushing blow.
But, even as I say that, I know that He wouldn't have let this trial come my way if I couldn't handle it. And I know that He will not desert me as I do. So I will weather these trials the best I can, I only hope I am not too tempest tossed on the other side.

(I found this talk and thought it worth a perusal, especially if you are having a hard time. The Power of Scripture)

The Wind and her Cries

Listening to the wind literally howl right outside my door this morning made me think about how people used to tell stories to explain nature, well, here's my simple attempt.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Where are you?" he raced through the old large house desperate to find the wisest man in the whole world.
"I'm here Son. What's wrong?" As the old man stepped out of his bedroom the little boy felt relief sigh through him. All was right with the world when he was in those strong old arms. No one was better at making him feel protected than Grandpa and his parents. The child clung to him for a few minutes before explaining to him about the monster in his bedroom. It kept shrieking words that the boy couldn't understand and frightening him. The wise man followed back through the large house until they reached the room the little child was sleeping in. The wind whipped the trees into a frenzy outside and it's icy fingers searched for a crack in the window.
"That sound you hear is the wind searching for her long lost lover." His grandchild could feel a story forming behind that first sentence so he let Grandpa tuck him back into the large bed next to his favorite stuffed tiger. "Many years ago, back when God had first formed the world, there was a young girl more beautiful than any alive today (except your grandmother, no one is more beautiful than she). Wind was happy and danced every where, seeming lighter than the air we breathe. Then she met a handsome young man whose bright blue eyes melted her heart and made her happier than she'd ever been before, he was gentle and loving always striving to make her happy. The two fell in love from their very first meeting and from then on nothing could separate the two. They were both very happy for years and would have been so forever had young Sun not also been in love with the girl. He was very strong and had a magical power over her. She was drawn to him, but why she knew not. He could be gentle and sweet, but was more often harsh and unforgiving. She knew she loved the first young man more, but when she was around Sun, his power weakened her and eventually when she was in his presence she forgot her first love. Sun did all he could to keep Wind beside him because he knew when he left, she would run away with her true love. One night while Sun was sleeping, her true love came and stole Wind  away, trying to escape before Sun awoke. They almost made it away, but a servant woke him and warned him of the lovers flight. In his wrath Sun tracked them down and dueled the young man. Sun was strong, but the young man had a just cause and he gained the upper hand. About to deal the blow that would free the two lovers, he was turned aside by Wind. She plead for Sun's life and explained how much she loved him. Again under Sun's power Wind forgot her love and her heartlessness broke the young man's heart. With no reason to stay, the young man left. Wind never saw him again and she searches for him still. In the summer she dances and plays for the Sun, sweet and gentle, doing all he bids her. When clouds cover the Sun and in the winter Wind remembers her true love and races through the world trying to find the one who made her truly happy, wishing to tell him how wrong she was and how much she truly love him and none other.
"Don't be afraid of her cries, she doesn't wish to harm anyone, she is only crying for the one she loves. She tell him that she still loves him and hopes he will come back to her." 
Grandpa's voice faded in the darkness and he and the little boy sat in silence for a moment.
"I hope she finds him. Do you think she will?"
"I don't know Son. I believe in happy endings, I believe she will find her lover someday, but I don't know."
"She'll find him. Good always wins. Goodnight Grandpa, thanks for the story."
"Goodnight my boy. You are welcome. Sleep tight."
"And Grandpa,"
"Yes?"
"I'll never forget that I love you, no matter what."
"And I'll never forget how much I love you too. No matter what."

Ungrateful? Maybe a Little

I'll be honest, I have been a straight up whiner lately. You'd think being married would make me less of a whiner, but no, I whine about everything now. Sad, just sad. I realized yesterday that I have been way too focused on myself. Yep, you heard me, I'm selfish, and ungrateful. I have not been as grateful to my husband as I should be, especially because he puts up with my whining (to a point). Luckily he has started calling me on it and I am now taking steps to overcome my addiction to whining and self-centered-ness.
First off I would like to give a shout out to my hubby, Bryan. He is so good to me, I ask him to do something and he does it, I ask him not to do something and he doesn't do it, I ask like a moron and he simply laughs and tells me cute (I'm beginning to think he is really saying I'm cute the way a puppy chewing on slippers is cute...), I forget that he doesn't like most of the foods in existence and he forgives me, he lets me cry all over his shirts (but draws the line at snot), he protects me from my rash decisions (such as buying that extra bag of chips, one of the number one weight gaining foods), he patiently teaching me things I want to learn but hate being terrible at (case in point: bowling on Saturday, I made him play three straight games in a row where he taught me how to bowl properly. My thighs are now protesting so loudly I still limp up the stairs and my score declined rapidly from 89 to 32, oops). But most of all he loves me for reasons that I know but still can't seem to understand.
Secondly, I would like to tell you about a small miracle that happened in my life today. As you know I work with special ed children, well today I thought I was experienced enough to handle one of our problem children. Ha! My bad, he was all over the place and finally ended up grabbing at me and got a good hold on my shirt collar (luckily it was a t-shirt) and gave it a yank. In that fistful he also had my necklace and when he pulled something broke in the back of it. I was upset because I really liked the necklace, but I put it in my pocket and pried his hands off me before I was rescued by another assistant. Later as I examined it, I found that one of the chains was just open wide enough for the other link to slip out. So I slipped it back in, no harm done. Then I realized if that chain piece hadn't opened the boy I was working with could have done some serious damage to my neck. You can bet I said a little prayer of thanks right then.
I will let you know how my selfish and whining detox goes. Wish me luck! Be sure to have fun this week, Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year!

Magical

A short (but sweet) addition to the previous post.

I don't think I added a very important part to my post. The bouquet and garter toss! Well, Erin caught the bouquet and Evan, her boyfriend, caught the garter. I wonder if he didn't work it out on purpose... It is definitely something he would do... Anyway.

For all you doubters out there that believe it doesn't work. Exactly a week and a day from the reception I got a text from Erin telling me that Evan had proposed. MAGIC! It works!

Tell your friends.

9/10/11 12:00

Yes, we are that cool that we were married on 9-10-11-12! And the day was PERFECT!!!! From the Saturday (9/3/11) we arrived in New York to the Thursday two days before the wedding it rained constantly, alternating between pouring and drizzling, but it was basically constant. Then, Thursday night it cleared, Friday the sky was only half full of clouds that didn't rain, and Saturday was a cloudless beautiful.
Friday was the rehearsal at the golf course gazebo and as you can see it was pretty much the perfect setting. A gazebo amongst greenery with a lake in the background, what more could a girl ask for without actually being able to scout out sites?

Here we all are, you can't really see the lake, but no worries, it will show up later. The whole time we stood up there I was thinking, this is going to be a really nice wedding for someone, everyone looks so nice. It just didn't feel real to me. It was a little amusing I have to admit because it really was for me, it was real, and it was most definitely happening.

Here we are listening to speeches (I was really grateful I didn't have to give one, I'm terrible at speeches). One from my father and one from Bryan's. The adorable little guy you see down there is Bryan's (and now my) nephew, Chase. He is a little ball of energy, he makes all of us run around in circles and when one of us gets tired he makes someone else run with him.

The girls entering the limo the next morning. It was my first time riding a limo, I was very excited. I had to be the last in and last out though.

Bryan, Craig (Bryan's father), and me after the ceremony.

The whole bridal party. From left to right: Autumn (my matron of Honor), Kelli, Erin, Emily, Kelly (in back), Cate (in back), Me, Bryan, Brad (in back), Kurt, Brian, George (in back), Brett

My new sisters! Both of whom I love! Cate, me, Kelly

Me and my family. Seth, Mom, Dad, me, Bryan, Autumn, Derrick holding Edison, their son.

 

That says it all.

Isn't the cake beautiful!

Good ole cake smashing. :) He got it up my nose if you couldn't tell, gross. Yes, it certainly was.

Our first dance. "I have and I Always Will" by Dave Barnes

Father/Daughter dance. "Butterfly Kisses." Yes, we did both bawl our eyes out. The wedding wasn't really real to me until my father walked into the bridal room. Then it was suddenly real to me.

Love, love, love, love this picture!

Me and my girls all previous roommates. Erin, me, Kelli, Emily

I couldn't raise my arms as high as everyone else.

A yellow fuzzy worm that Kelli found and put on her bouquet. We're passing it from my bouquet to hers.

My first nephew, Edison Byron. Isn't he adorable? I thought so too. I had to be really careful though because he had been spitting up all day. Don't you just love babies?

Best day ever!!!!!!

Tribute to the Silent Heros

As my boss stated so perfectly this morning about working with special ed. "If you don't love it, you don't belong." You either love, or you hate working with special children. They are demanding, exhausting, frustrating, adorable, sweet, surprising, and always something new.

As any teacher I already have a few of my favorites.

One boy who drives me up the wall, but always surprises me with how smart he is. I finally have gotten him to listen to me. Favorite moments with him. "I'm bored." (one of his favorite things to say)

"Find something to do, help with the puzzle, play a game, or play on the wii."

He wandered into the corner and pretty soon everyone was ignoring him. (He's very dramatic and loves attention so we ignore his attention grabbing behavior). "I found a stick and I'm going to break it in half." Then after no one responds. "OW! I cut my hand! Ah, my hand! I cut it! It stings!" "How did you do that?" "I broke a stick." This kid is a high functioning kid, he doesn't need to be babysat. The stick he grabbed was pretty thick, we all had assumed it was a twig he had picked up. Guess he won't be doing that again. One of the aids fixed it up for him and he started playing wii. Half an hour later he was still saying sporadically. "Ow, my hand. I cut it." Ah, that boy. Another of his favorite sayings is, "Haha, sucks for you!" and "I'm gonna get in a fight at the park." and "I'm moving to Phoenix." (Which he never does. Shame).

Another of my favorites is an autistic girl who looooooovvvveeesss colors. When you wear the same color shirt she does, here's the response you get, "Gasp!... Gasp!... Blue!... We're the blue shirt girls!... Yes we are."

She loves her coffee too. "Do you want some coffee?"

"Gasp!" then very calmly, "yes."

"Do you wanna do a crossword puzzle?"

"Gasp!... yes."

"Do you want to help with the puzzle?"

"Gasp!... yes. On the white table? In the blue chair? Yes." "He's being silly in the blue chair. ... Yes he is. ... He does that. ... Yeah, he does that." Ah, precious, precious girl.

One kid forever gets on all the teachers' and the aides' nerves. "Sit down." "Let us handle that." "What did I just tell you?" "Don't talk when someone else is talking." "Please talk in a normal voice." "SIT." "SHH!" "SIT DOWN." "What did I JUST say?" It takes a lot of patience not to grind your teeth when you see him walk in the classroom.

One of my other favorites is a lower functioning girl who LOVES to sing. "Bad boys, bad boys..." and she wants you to finish it. She loves Backstreet Boys, Christmas and Broadway songs. "Hit the road Jack.... Hit the road firedrill... hit the road chair... hit the road (insert whatever she thinks of at that moment." "Can I have a scratch?" She loves being scratched. And the fair.

There really is a lot to love about these kids. They are sweet spirits and most of them are a shoo-in for the celestial kingdom. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to work with these spunky hilarious kids.

Favorite moment of today. "Bye ______, have fun at math." WHAM! Down goes one chair. "Bye ______." WHAM! Down goes another. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! He really didn't want to go to math. Luckily the kids had already cleared out. So, I ignored him. WHAM! One last chair before he left. Bye _____

A Little Different

I noticed that a few of my friends started out their most recent posts with apologies for neglecting their blogs. :) I understand as I have not been as attentive as I should to my own.

I am getting married in a day less than two weeks.

Answers to frequently asked questions:

Yes, I am crazy excited and a tiny bit nervous.

Yes, I realize it is a huge change and I am enormously excited to tackle the challenge. I love challenge because it means I get to grow and become better.

We are going to live where we are now because we both have jobs here.

The wedding plans are coming along just as they should and I have had very little stress to deal with (minus the initial not wanting to make decisions stress).

His father is officiating the ceremony as he is a Justice of the Peace.

We will be getting seal in the Draper Temple within the year.

He is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and I do love him more than life itself.

I am 21, he is 29. Nope, I don't think I'm too young and I don't think that is too big of an age gap.

We met through a mutual friend and just sparked it off a little while later.

I am getting married literally across the country because that is where his family is, and it is so much prettier in New York than it is in Arizona in the Fall.

Another change that has happened is that I'm an aunt! My younger brother has gone to college. My dear friend from college is getting married in a little more than a month. I found a job at the high school. I am more comfortable with myself now than I have ever been. My almost sister (we're practically family anyway) moved away to go to college two hours away, not too bad if you ask me. I will be moving out of my parent's house for the last time.

All of these changes are good and I am glad they are happening. I especially love my job even though it makes me grind my teeth and wish smacking were legal in schools. I tip my hat to all those who work with special education and thrive on it. You are amazing super humans and you are underappreciated. But that is a post for another time. I promise I will be better.

It Doesn't Matter, Hurry Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-1_2LEVAZQ

I think this song is one that Heavenly Father sings to all of his children.

"It doesn't matter what you've done, I still love you. It doesn't matter where you've been, you can still come home. Honey, if it's you, we've got a lot of making up to do. I can't hug you on the phone, so hurry home."

He will never give up on us. We always have the chance to hurry home to Him.

Trial of your Faith

I do not like to plan. Ever. I don't like making big decisions. I like to work in the background and offer suggestions but I do not like to plan. Which is unfortunate because weddings take a lot of planning. And, of course, since it's my wedding I have to make a lot of decisions. Ewww! On top of that our wedding is literally across the country. So I have little to no knowledge of anything that goes on over there. Luckily for me I have a very decisive efficient man as my better half. He easily finds the best deals on wedding things and his family lives back there so at least we aren't working from nothing. It works out though, he makes decisions and I change them to my liking. Works like a charm.
I also tend to get very stressed out when I have to make decisions. So lately, I have been less then my peppy cheerful self. Oddly enough Bryan didn't think I was that different, which means I am either really good at controling my stress or he seems to think I'm a serious crab all the time. I like the first one, but I'm not so sure I like the second... Fingers crossed.
I finally asked my dad for a blessing and after that everything fell into place. I was offered a job at the local high school which means I will have the same days off as Bryan. I knew everything was going to be okay. It's like the Lord was just waiting for me to ask for help. I swear He does that for me all the time. All you have to do is ask. How simple is that? Just ask. I'm learning. Slowly but surely. I'm learning.

Keepers of the Wild, for reelzzzz

So this Wednesday I actually got to go to Keepers of the Wild and play with the weeds, tease Kyle, name some animals, plant two trees, sweat like a pig, and get checked out by a monkey. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera so I didn't get to take any pictures of the actual animals, so I will insert pictures from the internet of animals that look a lot like them.

Brett, Bryan, 10 missionaries and myself piled into an 11 passenger van, I got to ride shotgun. We arrived at Keepers in Valentine, Arizona and could hear the animals waking up and roaring out at the day. The lion, Sultan, had managed to poke his eye on a stick and had to have surgery on his eye, he looked quite melancholy (mel-on-call-y) and slept a lot.

He is quite the big beautiful animal and roared once when a car rumbled past. And when one of the elders got a little too close taking pictures (too bad he wasn't a little closer, he might have peed his pants). The rest of us got a laugh as the elder sprang back as fast as he could. Sultan has quite the roar. Many of the missionaries worked at putting another fence in between the lion's cage and the tiger's cage. The tigers gave us a couple shows, one suddenly rushing at and springing on another. Ruckus and Apollo were their names and Apollo left a lovely gift of spray on Brett's shoe, and boy did it smell strong. :D Remember Brett, it's a privilege.

Kyle was the first animal I saw and the first one I named (someone said his name was Marvin but I think Kyle fits him better). Bryan named the other ostrich Eddie. Kyle and I got into a hissing match and more than one eye contest that I won. :) Coward. It was fun to hear him hiss though. Lucky for you I actually found a picture of Kyle! Here he is in all his glory!

Bryan and I cleared a whole area of weeds and then planted two trees, one of which took forever because the ground was so ridiculously hard ground. The other Bryan did mostly by himself. I enjoyed watching him, and lifting the tree into the hole in the ground. We made friends with a llama I named Tina, and whose real name was Snickers. Apparently Snickers almost got into a boxing match with one of the elders the last time they came. He rose up on his hind feet and came at the elder quite determinedly. The Elder Lindsey took a page from Karate Kid and waxed off Snickers right onto his back. This time Snickers picked on Elder Lindsey's companion, Elder Kioa. Everytime the elder walked by Tina started following him and trying to spit on him. It was very entertaining.

The monkey village proved the most entertaining. One monkey had a very long reach and kept trying to steal peoples cameras and glasses. He also took an interest in me and we had a staring match. As I was staring into the intriguing monkey's face Bryan tried to cover my eyes and told me not to look and the zoo keeper apologized. Then he addressed the monkey, "You're pretty proud of yourself aren't you? Yeah, he always has to show off for the ladies." Then I noticed the monkey was showing off his man parts. Oddly enough the men were more uneasy than I was and I hadn't even noticed until they pointed it out. But, I figure, whatever, he's a male. It's nature, they can't help it. ;) What makes that experience even more priceless is that I was the only girl with 11 other guys.

There was quite an array of animals at the Keepers and I would have loved nothing more than to go an cuddle with one of the big cats. They truly are beautiful creatures and I don't mind helping out.

Keepers of the Wild

I thought we were going to a service project, planting trees at the Keepers of the Wild Preserve.

Bryan picked me up at eight am in his work clothes and told me we had to stop by his house to pick up the water jug and meet the others. We parked outside his door and he told me he wouldn't be long so I could wait in the truck. Ten minutes passed and then he called me and asked me to help him in the kitchen. Luckily for him I actually heard his phone call, that could have really messed with him.

I walked in to see him dressed in a shirt and tie. I was taken aback but I knew immediately what was happening. He sat me down on the couch and told me I could not interrupt him, so I sat and looked up at him.

"It's hard for a man to shop for a ring, so I have the empty ring box but you'll have to wait for the ring." I was confused but as promised I did not interrupt.

"Now, I'm going to give you five things to show you how much I love you. The first is a hug." He pulled me up from the couch and hugged me. "The next is a kiss." Which he gave me. "The next is flowers." He pulled them from behind the couch and handed me these beautiful babies.

"The next is a card. Let me know when you finish it." He handed it to me and I admit I cried a bit when I read the card. He'd been telling me about a card he'd found and planned on saving for the girl he proposed to.

"The next is a book."

"It has the seven novels of Jane Austen and I wrote something even better in the book." He handed it to me and I stared at it in my hands and looked up at him, "Can I read it now?" He chuckled, "Yes." I opened it to find this:

I could do nothing more than stare at it and cry. He knelt down and picking up the ring asked me "Will you marry me?" All I could manage even though I wanted to give some smart alec response was, "YES!"

We didn't end up going to Keepers of the Wild, but I don't really mind that much.