The Rings

I picked up Nathan's ring yesterday. My ring literally fits inside of his. That is what happens when your fiance's finger is twice the size of your own. At least it is not the other way around, that would definitely be awkward.

Choosing a man's ring is easy. You have about five choices. If you are ever considering marriage in the Rexburg, Idaho area I recommend going to see Frank over at Main Street Diamonds. You get a free man's ring with any engagement ring you buy. My bank account loved that. Nathan gets a ring and my wallet didn't have to suffer for it. Now I can spend that money on paying our first rent payment. Woot.

Also I like to keep my ring sparkling and clean, a trick that I have learned is that if you let your rock soak in a little bowl of warm water mixed with mild dish soap for a few minutes, and dry it off with a soft cloth, it comes out looking like you just brought it home from the jewelers.

Home vs. Home

I have recently concluded that there are multiple types of homes in this world.

I can think of quite a few places off the top of my head that I have at some point or now currently consider home.

To name a few:

Idaho

Utah

Kansas

Nathan Hartshorn

Heaven

Disneyland

The Mountains

In a Saddle

What do all of these places have in common? Certainly I have lived in some of these places, but some of them I have never lived. 

As my brain was mulling around to make connections between these homes of mine I realized something. They all have in some way or another a piece of my heart.

Cheese fest here. Shed tears if you must, but truly home is where the heart is.

Home is simply a place where you have invested time, memories, emotions, relationships, experiences, etc. Home is any place that has any sort of significant part of you. (i.e. your heart)

Did you know that spanish speakers refer to their stomachs when talking about their feelings? Not their hearts. That seems strange to me. Sooo. . . I could just feel it in my heart equates to I could just feel it in my stomach, aye aye aye. Seems like a strange place to me to feel anything other than indigestion, perhaps the Latin world mistakes gas to be emotions. Who knows.

Well forgive me if this whole post was pointing out the obvious, but it had just occurred to me today that I have more than one place to call home. I kind of like it like that. It lessens my chances of becoming a homeless person. 

And I Will Live in a Box

I have always dreamed of living in a box.

Not really, but I have joked around about it before. When Nathan and I began our apartment search naturally I anticipated that our first place would be very tiny and cozy, and look at that my dreams came true!

This is our new place! All 543 sq ft of it!

While yes, it is possible that I can probably reach the front door from my bed considering the fact that we have no real walls separating anything (bar the bathroom), I find it quite charming. In all honesty I am really quite thrilled to be moving into my very own apartment with my brand spankin' new husband.

Thanks to a bunch of furniture that I inherited from my Great Grandpa Crompton we are even pretty much set with all of the basics - couch, table and chairs, bed, etc. All we are missing is a dresser and we bought one off of KSL last week. With a little bit of repainting, reupholstering, and some other re-doings our new little abode might even look like a Pinterest board!

Eeeee!! I cannot wait :)

The Proposal

It is strange because you go through your entire life imagining what it will be like when a handsome young lad gets down on his knee and pops a certain question. You lay awake at night staring at the ceiling trying to picture his face, the words that will be said, the time, the place, the ring.... and then one day it actually happens to you, and you are kind of like - wow, that just happened to me.

Come, come gather and let me tell you my story.

Preface

Nathan and I had been talking about getting married for around two months, we were simply waiting to iron out certain issues and being the traditional boy that he is we had to wait for him to find the perfect opportunity to go down to Utah and ask my father for permission.

I had no idea when all this would take place and so for a while I was in a not so lovely limbo land. I was frustrated because I wanted to start planning and telling everyone but felt as though I did not yet have the right to announce anything because of its unofficial-ness.

So I sat around and waited very patiently.

Now for the story

October 13th, 2012. A lovely fall Saturday morning. Earlier on in the week Nathan had been alluding to a surprise that might occur over the weekend. I had suspicions that he might be proposing but thought that it would most likely happen Sunday night, so I was honestly expecting nothing. We had planned a nice horseback ride with his Uncle Gary. 

We saddled up and headed into the mountains, our destination would be Gary's hunting camp to check on things and stop for lunch. 5 miles later we arrive. A warm little camp fire is started, the sandwiches are eaten and then Gary, the mustached uncle says he's gotta go check on a salt lick up the hill and that he'll be back in a little bit.

I continue to sit on my little log, warming my hands, thinking nothing of it.

Nathan mentions that he would like to talk a quick walk to stretch his legs before we have to head back to the trailer. I oblige him with my company.

We walk up into this pretty meadow called Elk Flats. Being that it is fall time all the grasses are brown but it is a particularly pretty place anyway because of the misty clouds that have settled into the pine trees that outline the area.

Nathan then asks me to dance with him.

You have to understand that for Nathan to ask me to dance with him really was nothing out of the ordinary. He asks me that all the time and so in no way were any sort of suspicions aroused.

However I did grow to be a bit suspicious when he took an iPod dock out of his backpack and started playing George Strait because generally when he and I dance in random places we don't have music. Especially at the top of a mountain.

As we are dancing he begins to say a lot of really nice things. I do not remember the exact words, just that it was very nice and something about love. I then feel him take his hand off my waist and reach into his pocket.

My heart stopped. 

wait a minute, is what I think is going on really going on here

He suddenly gets down on one knee, opens the box and . . .

**FULL BODY TACKLE**

I jump right on top of him before he can really say anything and I begin attacking his face with kisses. Somehow between breaths he is able to get out a "will you marry me" and I am so excited that I just keep showering him with kisses and I believe at some point I said yes.

We then stand up and I am jumping up and down with pure joy acting like a complete dork but at this point do not particularly care about my state of dorkiness.

Once we get back to camp I realize Gary was in on this little con the whole time and congratulates us. We get back on the horses and ride back home.

Nathan is from such a small town that I half expected everybody to be lining the street with posters and confetti when we got back, that did not happen, but we did make the rounds to tell the people that matter most throughout Teton valley. When we got to his grandma Kay's house she grabbed us both and kissed us.

I was beaming with happiness and I have not stopped smiling since.

Blush and Bashful

If you were not aware the title of this post is a reference to Steel Magnolias. Fantastic movie, highly recommended to those of you who enjoy Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton before her plastic surgeries.

A few weeks ago Nathan and I visited the paint section of Wal-Mart and picked out our weddings colors.

drumrollplease

please try to ignore the fact that my right eye is creepily looking through the hole of that paint sample.

Anywho, what we came up with is 'sunflower yellow', 'from the heart pink' and cream (which is not pictured here). I know, I know, I am getting married in winter. I think the bright colors I have chosen proves that I may or may not be a bit in denial about the time of year I am getting married in. I always dreamed of a summer wedding.

But alas.

It's going to be bright and pretty and most likely there will be snow outside, but hey, that's alright.

Weddin' Boots and Other News

     On the quest for the perfect cowboy boot to wear to my wedding the above two were the ones that I found to be the most desirable.  I will be the first one to admit that I have a bit of a fascination with cowboy boots. Unfortunately for me they are too expensive to be a collectible item and so I only have four pairs (maybe that is a lot??). Anyway, all of my old pairs are pretty worn and tattered considering I wear them every where I go. In fact you should see the soles of my riding boots:

     A little sad. They need to be taken to the boot repair shop. So needless to say I have been searching for a pair of pretty, decorative boots to be wed in, something not yet scuffed up and covered in mud with my big toe poking through the leather.

     I am pretty sure I am going to be ordering the black and pink pair. Nathan says they are 'dangerous', and that is not a typical adjective people use to describe me so I think it would be kind of fun to venture out of my comfort zone and be a little bit more edgy.

Aye aye aye. 

     In other news I accidentally swallowed my bagel wrong today and it went up my nose. It was quite discomforting.

     In other other news I skipped all my classes and rescheduled a cleaning appointment because I had a bit of an emotional break down this morning and decided to stay in my red thermals and finally get to wedding planning that I have been neglecting and take some much needed quiet time to myself. I hardly get to be alone anymore.

     And that's ok. HORT 232 will go on without me, so will REL 201.

     Also I need to admit that before I was engaged I hardly touched pinterest, but now it has literally become my best friend. We spend countless hours together.

A Sneak Peak

Salt and Vinegar Chips

I have this issue. It's called - if I were to die tomorrow then all I would eat today is salt and vinegar chips and diet Dr. Pepper. And lots of it.

It's a serious problem. Those two things and french fries are my vices. And I love them. Yum yum.

And then when I wake up tomorrow and find that I have a gigantorous canker sore due to the excess of acidic-ness that I have ingested I will be kicking myself in the pants. But until then I will salt and vinegar it up.

In other news I have been trying to figure out how I would like to do my hair for my much anticipated wedding day. Here are some of my ideas.

I have a veil that's about seventy miles long, so I was thinkin' putting it up and then sticking the veil at the bottom of the up do.

Love this. Minus the Grecian head band. This is a wedding for heaven sake's, not a toga party.

Pretty.

So we shall see. Planning a wedding and being in school at the exact same time has proved a challenge, but certainly not impossible. It has been done many a time before, after all. Nathan and I made a chain last night to count down the days until we are marriaged. 54 days, people!!! So close. Cannot wait.