Ben and I have been through so much together the past almost decade now and although there have been many highs and many lows I am glad the road of life led us to where we are. The blessing through it all is getting to experience all life has to offer with your best friend. The laughter, the tears, the growth, those sweet peaceful moments when everything feels just right as well as navigating together to figure things out when the road gets bumpy as-let's face it-the great plan of happiness and growth requires, but it seems no matter how many things have come between us over the many years we have known one another, we have always kept in touch and found our way back to one another and at the end of the day that is all that matters.
We are so grateful for The Gospel and the major role it has played in our life together. What a blessing to know that we have a Heavenly Father to love and guide us and a Savior who paved the way for us to find comfort, peace, strength and love in life amidst our trials and times of weakness. I am VERY blessed to have found a man who values those same beliefs the way I do and that we have been able to build our life around it. We feel so blessed and grateful to have so much guidance, direction, perspective and purpose in life!
Through our courtship and engagement we enjoyed many of the things we enjoyed back in High School-playing at “our park” and having dominos pizza in the middle of “our bridge”, ice-skating, movies, going out for peach city burgers and banana splits from Maddox, swimming at Crystal Hot Springs, bowling, sledding, hanging out, Ben randomly pulling over on the side of the road getting out of the car, rushing to get my door, taking my hand, turning the song on the radio up and insisting we just had to dance (he still randomly dances with me-although these days it is usually when I am halfway through mopping the floor and feeling anything but cute, but I still LOVE it), and our favorite (still is) just talking to one another and having deep conversations about life, goals, dreams and then the silly-not-so-deep stuff too.
I really wish I had been more picture savvy back in the day because I have very limited pictures of the two of us through our courtship and engagement and even our first year of marriage. I think I was just too busy basking in it all, but I am grateful for the ones I do have of our courtship and engagement and here they are:
Starting to date again… us hanging out and talking by our bridge!
Hanging out and goofing off Christmas Eve 2007 (although we may not have whipped out the camera very often back then, we made good use of it when we did).
Ben and I went ring shopping the beginning of February. I had always wanted a guy to just surprise me with a ring when he proposed (not really having a perfect idea of what I wanted in a ring-I was not one of those girls who had been planning my wedding my whole life), but Ben really wanted me to pick it out. I tried to convince him to go on his own by telling him that even if he proposed with a rubber band I would say “yes”, but eventually he talked me into it and we ended to up in Ogden at Farr’s jewelry-LOVE that place! (my parent’s actually got their rings there)
To fully appreciate my experience you need to know that I am NOT very girl-savvy (let’s blame it on the whole “guy friend” thing mmmk?). Guys don’t really sit around talking about their dream wedding or ring so I am not going to lie the whole “ring shopping thing” was a bit intimidating and I felt VERY awkward and out of place and…you may want to sit down for this one ladies, but…I am not really into the whole bling-obsession-thing (weird, I know).
The second thing you need to know about me to understand our ring shopping experience is that I am extremely thrifty as far as buying things-my philosophy-less is best (why buy something full price when there are plenty of good items on the clearance rack) and first thing inside the door of Farr’s I went straight for the counter marked with the big “sale” sign. I will never forget Ben coming over as I peered through the glass overwhelmed with how to choose one ring when I had nothing to go off of in my mind, and gently putting his hands around my arms and guiding me away from the clearance rings saying “not for this, Danae. This is too special”.
Thirdly, I prefer more rustic jewelry and I actually would have gotten a pearl ring-I LOVE pearls! Luckily, Ben and my Mom talked me into getting a diamond since they are a bit more durable for such a keepsake as a wedding ring you have your entire life. I told Ben he could just get me pearls for me as gifts throughout our marriage…hint, hint, honey. ;) He actually has gotten me rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces for birthday, Christmas and anniversary gifts-I get REALLY girly when it comes to pearls, gifts and surprises-I don’t think I could ever have enough!
As the kind gentleman helping us was using terms like “clarity” and “S1” I began feeling more and more out of place. I had no idea what those terms meant. I tried to just busy myself with studying the rings, but that just made me even more overwhelmed, until I spotted it-the PERFECT band! I have to admit I was slightly proud of myself when it was also the most cost efficient as well. We then moved onto the “rock” as some girls would call it. We tried several larger ones on, but they just seemed to overwhelm the band I had fallen in love with. “Do you have a smaller one?”, I would ask our sales rep. He looked shocked every time I would ask that question (which was about 4 times). I have always loved my mother’s ring with its swirls and accenting diamonds and although some may find a 1/4 carat quaint, I love how daintily pretty and exquisite it is. We finally found the perfect diamond-a .38 carat European cut (I LOVE old Victorian-style things-so it was PERFECT too) with great color and clarity. It was all so PERFECT (do you get the idea, yet…) and cost efficient! When I proudly pointed out the fact that the ring I had picked was so cost efficient compared to many of the other selections, the sales rep looked pretty shocked and actually scolded poor Ben for making me feel like I had to go cheap. To this Ben just slightly shook his head while smiling (like he does when he thinks I am being ridiculous) and informed him that that theory was entirely one I had come up with on my own. I quickly assured the concerned gentleman that Ben spoke the truth. Here is my ring-so PERFECTLY me, most people think I designed it.
Although I already knew the ring would be no surprise, the proposal still would be and I couldn’t help but wonder when, where and how Ben would “pop the question”. As Valentine’s Day got closer I wondered if he might do it then, but was not sure if the ring would be done by then. On Valentine’s Day as I was getting ready for work, my sister Cami did a very good job of convincing me that although Ben wanted to propose that day the ring was not yet ready…little did I know my mom and her had met a very excited Ben just off the freeway to “oooo” and “awwww” over my ring that very day. I was a little bummed but figured that would be the case and was still looking forward to mine and Ben’s date that night. He had the whole thing planned out a total surprise-my FAVORITE!
I worked in customer service at Kent’s Market at the time and spent my ENTIRE shift blowing up balloons and making bouquets for customers that were all too often less-than-pleasant. I kept thinking to myself, it is Valentine’s Day, where is the love? Needless to say I was not in much of a romantic and excited Valentine’s Day mood when Ben picked me up to go out. Seeing how I was feeling he decided a little game of bowling would break the ice before he popped the question. I might add here that I am very a tad bit competitive and also don’t play too well when I am frustrated. Ben decided it would be a good idea to let me win the second game…smart boy (although he will never admit he did let me). I am sure at this point Ben was really wondering what he was getting himself into by asking me to marry him. Lucky for me my passionate and spirited ways did not scare him off.
After winning bowling I felt much better and our happy and romantic evening was able to begin! Ben took me to “our place” (Pioneer Park) as we had come to call it and we walked over the bridge and through the walkways of the park while talking, laughing, holding hands, randomly slow dancing on the grass and sharing an occasional kiss or two or three…or more. It felt good to leave work and stress behind and just be with my Ben.
As we were crossing the Bridge to go back to the car to continue our date Ben stopped me in the middle of the bridge and began acting very suspicious. Before I knew it he was down on one knee and I kept thinking to myself that the ring could not be ready yet and this was a horrible trick to play on me with how on excited I was for the proposal. I kept asking him if he was serious and telling him he better not be playing around with me about this. He then pulled out a beautiful, fancy-looking, white box…this was it, I thought! Much to my surprise he opened the box to reveal a tiny red hair elastic where a ring should have been and I immediately started scolding him for playing with my emotions. He told me I told him I would say yes even if it was a rubber band and told me to put it on. Playing along, I put the hair elastic on my finger and let out an over-dramatized “YES!” and proceeded to tell him how gorgeous it was, and he shouldn’t have and it must have been SO expensive…yada yada yada. When the laughter died down, I told him this was a really cruel trick. To that he just laughed and said, “You didn’t even notice, did you?” What was he talking about? At that point he grabbed my left hand and tugged on a string that was tied to the elastic around my finger. I suddenly got very curious and VERY excited. I grabbed the string and pulled my actual ring out of the sleeve of his shirt. It was at this point that I (despite promising myself I would not be one of “those” girls) became overwhelmed with emotion, excitement and happiness and began to cry. Shortly following the first tear falling down my cheek I immediately became frustrated with myself and started saying (out loud, I might add) “I promised I wouldn’t do this!” over and over again. Ben quickly grabbed my hands looked at me gently and said “Danae, I think this is the one time it is okay to cry”. To that I cried a bit more and before we knew it we were kissing for the first time as an official ENGAGED couple!
Our first picture of us ENGAGED!!! (We may or may not have been cheesy enough to have this picture put on our debit cards when we were first married)
The rubber band from that special night (like I said sentimental junkie).
I was in such a daze that I don’t really remember going back to the car or driving to Maddox where Ben was treating me to dinner that special night. I was SO completely content and happy and hopeful about my life for really the first time ever I could not really focus on anything else! As we waited for our table I could not help but keep putting my hand out in front of me and admiring my ring (also something I promised I would not do-this may or may not have continued periodically throughout our meal, the rest of the night, the next day, that whole week and even still today…). Dinner was delicious! I got my much beloved turkey steak dinner. I was BEAMING and LOVING all the “Congratulations” of the servers and the “oooing” and “awwwing” over my new treasure.
When we got back to my parent’s I was so excited to tell my family and show them my ring (much to my surprise the already knew) and to give Ben his Valentine gifts-including a balloon bouquet (yes, I loved him enough to make just one more). We were both beaming and excited and cheesy and in love and took lots of pictures to prove it.
When I went to my bedroom that night I was met with yet another surprise Ben had my entire bed decked out with candy and hearts (wish I had a pic) and all sorts of mushy-gushy love stuff including this bear which our 1-year old now likes to tote around the house with him. Needless to say my Valentine’s Day of 2008 was the BEST!!!
Being the stuffed animal lover that I am…they are frequent gifts from Ben.
We began planning the wedding-not my favorite thing (remember my not so traditional girly ways), but I was looking forward to the end result-being married to my best friend! We made sure to fit in plenty of fun alongside all the work and planning as you can see from the photos below (still really kicking myself about not taking more pictures of our times together back then).
Just after we got engaged Ben took a trip to Saint Louis, Missouri for a leadership seminar. I missed him, but he had a really good time.
A fun center in Layton with my family including black light laser tag- SO fun and a picture before we went out sledding together.
Our pre-wedding hike trying to work on our tans (not the easiest feat when you are as white as us) up in Sardine Canyon. Re-living a date from our past back in High School.
Stay tuned for some of our Engagement Photos!
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