Ethan and Elizabeth, Chapter One

Yep... It is true...

In my life I have been blessed, through good and bad.  Trials and tribulation have come; yes.  But throughout it all I have always been blessed.  I am so grateful for my Father in Heaven who has stood by my side and guided me in those dark times.  He helped me heal.  He also brought me my best friend, Ethan..... He brought Ethan into my life before I was even ready for him.... but since when has my life ever gone as planned?

The Beginning:

Many of you have wondered about the stranger on my facebook pictures that I posted awhile back.  This stranger is Ethan, and the fact is he is actually not that new of an edition in my life.  Ethan and I have been dating for a year and a half now.  One Sunday in November 2010 my Bishop, Bishop Smart, asked if he could visit with me in his office during Sunday School.  Of course I told him yes and I had all those usual thoughts going through my head that a person usually thinks when called to see the Bishop, "I don't want a new calling, I like the one I have".... etc.  When I got to his office Bishop Smart proceeded to ask me, "How do you feel about me setting you up on a blind date?"  What? Oh crap.  I should probably take this as I sign that I need to start dating.  So, I told him it was ok.  After a disclaimer saying that this was no revelation on his part, Bishop Smart continued to tell me about Ethan.  A rough and tough undercover narcotics detective who is actually a teddy bear on the inside.  Hmm, interesting... I didn't know how to feel about this.  Because of the holidays and other various things it took awhile for the Bishop to give Ethan my phone number.  In January Ethan and I spoke on the phone for about 40 minutes.  Hmm, I still didn't know what to think of him.  In March 2011 we went on our first date, and he has been around ever since.  At times, I still don't know what to think of Ethan ;-).  I didn't introduce him to Kensie for about two months but once I did she told him she loved him the 2nd time she met him.  Yes, my daughter attaches to people easily.  But ever since, every morning Kensie asks, "Are we going to see Ethan today??!"  She adores him and he is so cute with her.

Over the past year and a half Ethan and I have had many fun adventures.  We are both nerds and proud of it ;-)  But I am sure what you really want to know are the details regarding the sparkly something in the picture up above.

The Engagement:

Kensie was going on a trip with her dad and would be gone for 10 days (which is way too long for a 4-year-old to be away from her mom... ok, it is way too long for a mom to be away from her 4-year-old!).  I knew I would go crazy with her gone so long so I thought it would be fun to plan a mini trip for a few days while she was away.  I arranged my schedule to work the first few days of the week so I would have several days off in a row.  Ethan and I then talked about going to Moab with friends... but this fell through.  We then decided to go to a cabin with friends for the weekend.  Time grew closer and our friends could only go to the cabin one night.  After Kensie left I grew frustrated... I did not get all of these days off work in order to sit around my house alone and clean.  I vented my frustrations to Ethan, who by the way, cannot keep a secret from me for the life of him.  He can keep secrets from anyone but me, it is kinda hilarious.  This time, he gave in way too easily because he could not stand seeing me frustrated.  Poor guy, my lot in life is to make things difficult for him.  He then proceeded to tell me, "It's ok, I had a surprise and was going to take you to Park Ci..."  at this point I rudely interrupted saying, "NO, no, no... I don't want to know!"  I like being surprised :-)  and the darn guy ruined it.  He needs to learn to be tough when I bat my big blue eyes and not give in.  Poor guy :-)
On Friday we went to the cabin with friends and had a blast.  The next day we came home and packed our bags for Park City.  At this point Ethan revealed to my that we had big plans on Monday morning and that this was one secret I was not going to be able to get out of him.  I wanted to be surprised so I didn't try too hard to find out his secret, although I had my suspicion's.  Instead I entertained myself by guessing outrageous things that it could be such as traveling to Europe or sailing on a yacht on the great salt lake. 
We had fun in Park City by doing things like shopping, swimming, and eating.  I knew he was planning on proposing but I knew he wanted to surprise me.  Because of this I decided he wasn't going to propose during the "big surprise" on Monday.  I even thought that we could go the whole weekend without him proposing just to trick me (later Ethan told me that he had considered it but his sister-in-law told him that was too mean... thank you Chelsea!)
On Sunday morning we went back to Sandy because Ethan's niece was having her baby blessing.  After the blessing, on the way back to Park City we decided to drive up East Cannon.  At the top we stopped and got out of the car admiring the gorgeous views.  Here, on June 2, 2012 is where Ethan proposed to me :-)
The next morning, (Monday) Ethan took me on a hot air balloon ride.  I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon, it is on my bucket list.  Lets just say I was a little excited... maybe even a little ecstatic.  It was amazing and so romantic!

When Kensie came home from Hawaii with her dad we got the chance to tell her the big news.  We decided we needed to involve her in the process.  I didn't want to just to tell her about the engagement, I wanted her to feel like she had a choice in the matter... because it involves her just as much as it involves us! So we took her to the park for a picnic.  After eating Ethan pulled Kensie aside and told her he wanted to ask me to marry him.  He asked how she felt about it and essentially asked for her "permission".  He showed her the ring he wanted to give me, she was ecstatic and asked asked if she could hold the ring while he asked!  So they came over and Kensie hid behind him with the ring in its box as Ethan told me how much he loved me and all the reasons he wanted to marry me.  Then he knelt down on one knee and Kensie with the cutest and biggest smile stood beside him and held the ring up to me... and then he proposed (again... but Kensie doesn't need to know that)  :-)

As some of you know we have had to wait a little to make official wedding plans.  But now, over three months later we finally have a date set!  We are going to be getting married In the Jordan River temple on November 2, 2012.

So there is the beginning of our story.  We are getting married!!!!!