the date is set! 10.14.11

In just 78 days, on October 14th, at 10 am, I will be married to the love of my life for all eternity! I can't wait! :) The reception will be the next day, Saturday, in Eagle at the Park Lane church building. So many exciting things are happening...it's so wonderful being in this stage of life. We take off for Paris in exactly 7 days, and will be there for 3 weeks. I haven't seen any of my family on that side since my baptism...12 years ago! Engagement pictures will be taken in France; they'll be awesome I hope! When Jonny and I get back, we will be taking off to NYC just a couple weeks later for a weekend full of new experiences (including a Broadway show!)-then its back to BYU-Idaho on Sept. 9th for Fall semester. School starts the 12th, so wedding planning will be stressful. I will have just a few weeks to find a dress, and plan! Yikes! Wish me luck :D

the engagement ♥

I'm ENGAGED! 07-17-11

Here's the story:

Just a few days ago Jonny told me that Mandan and Jordyn (some friends of ours) wanted to go to Wrightsville Beach this weekend and that we should go with them. Early Sunday morning, he took me to a Spanish-speaking ward (which he happily translated most of the time) and when people would come up and go off in spanish to me I just nodded and pretended I totally knew what they were saying. Very nice people.

Haha, once we got to the beach we played in the ocean for a while (little did I know that I would be taking "after-the-fact" pictures, and of course didn't pay attention to how the salty water played a part in how my face...and hair looked...who cares anyway?) Welp, Mandan and Jordyn took off along the beach looking for seashells while Jonny and I layed out. A few minutes later, I get a text from Mandan asking us to come join them because there's some pretty cool shells to collect on the other side of the pier.

So we're walking along the shore, searching to meet up with them when I see something spelled in the sand with shells. "Marty and Erin?" Aw that's cute. No, it says "Marry me Erin"? awhhhh.. :) WAIT. That definitely says "Marry Me Emi." My jaw dropped; I turned to look at Jonny just as he smoothly knelt to one knee and asked me to marry him. I was so surprised and caught off guard! SO many people along the beach were applauding, whistling, and clapping!

A precious little girl brought me a handmade bouquet with beach daisies and some kind of rosemary plant she'd wrapped together with grass, and explained that the plant stands for remembrance. Next, a guy ran up to us and said he was a wedding photographer and just happened to see the proposal happen and could he please take a photo of us...(he had a SWEET polaroid camera with him.)

Sorry this picture isn't the best (it's glossy so it reflects and it was hard to take a good shot of it) but in the photo you can definitely see "Marry Me Emi" behind us.

We then ate an Argentina-style picnic that he'd prepared beforehand...actually didn't eat that much, I was too excited! But that's the story. It was wonderful, romantic, just absolutely perfect. It truly couldn't have been any more perfect! I really don't know how I found such a genuinely sweet, righteous, wonderful guy-- but I must've done something right! :D

Here are some after-the-fact pictures:



I woke up and it wasn't just a dream!!!! haha :)



and then i realized that my grandmother and i have very similar rings. how cool!


I can't wait to start our life together in just 3 months!!!!
♥

Off to DC!

So this weekend Jonny and I, along with the rest of his company, took a quick trip to DC :)

• 4-star hotel
• free museums
• delicious restaurants...
• awesome monuments

It all equals GREAT fun...

yeahhhhh!

the air and space museum was very cool...unfortunately not as cool as the Holocaust museum which we didn't have enough time to see :(

us girls at the 4-star hotel our amazing boyfriends got us!

biggest spider i have yet to see in my life, besides a tarantula of course. can you believe that thing? sheesh.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (my favorite by far!)

headed down to the metro! ah!

and of course jonny promised he'd buy this hope diamond for me. no big deal. :) he's such a good boyfriend.

yummy mummy.

it was so hard to get a picture of the butterflies; they were everywhere, just hundreds of them!

can you imagine being cramped in that space for 4 days?

first hot air balloon to cross the world! wow!

"go to school, go to church! do what yo momma says!"

of course i had to get cheesecake. mmm

what a man.

our cool friends :)

all around town on the metro together...most of the time packed like sardines. gotta love it.

oah!

man, that door to the National Archives just wouldn't budge!!

Ray's Hell Burgers (Man vs. Food)

you know he loves his bacon

this was called the Big Punisher. I have yet to finish it.

 That's all for now folks!

my first blog.

Why yes, I have decided to blog. :) This summer/past year has been way too fun not to remember. So here goes my very first blog..

There was a really cute guy named Jonathan.

(i love him)

We met at BYU-Idaho at the end of January 2010, and that is where our adventures together began. Since last February (24th), we've explored Vegas, McCall, the Grand Canyon, a few beaches of North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and more. Oh, and we're flying to Paris in 29 days....no big deal.

This summer Jonny started working for a new company in Raleigh, NC. It just so happening that I used to live here, I had some family aka grandparents that were awesome and willing to let me stay with them for a few months. They rock. Therefore we've been able to continue our adventures. I'll post some pictures to illustrate. Actually, this particular post will probably contain a large amount of photos.

When the plane finally landed in Raleigh, I was greeted with beautiful roses :) 

Blue Ridge Parkway/Mountains

we got to take some sweet rides on the parkway in this.

a hike well worth the...well, hike.

sadly this would usually be an easy hike...i need to kick my butt back into shape.

sweet rides and sweet views

jonny getting to know the evans :)

i had to introduce jonny to the country side of me.

Visiting Duke Gardens/Camping

nature :)

smoke to the face.

Myrtle Beach :)

some awesome friends (josh and carissa!)

jonny rented a moped for the day and it was the best purchase i think he's ever made.

romantic walks along myrtle beach

some other awesome friends (chase and liz) who are engaged to be married in just 24 days! whoo hoo!

scary roller coasters

just the sweetest kid ever.

This past weekend Jonny and I visited the NC Art Museum (where I got in trouble for taking pictures, oh, and for taking my heels off too. OUCH for blisters!) and then the Museum of Natural Sciences. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit the latter very long, but we are determined to go back!

my favorite piece.

RAWRR.

This is my best friend Haley Hudson. Most down to earth person I know. She keeps the country side of me alive.

making friends with my cousin's bird "Charlie."

Charlie is definitely one cool bird.

And to finish things up...this is the 1 yr. old boy, Cohen, whom I enjoy babysitting for. What a handsome little guy.

I sure wish I had some neat pictures of fireworks for 4th of July and all, but it was raining hardcore. Instead, Remii, Alyssa, Jonny and I had a Twilight/New Moon movie night. I fell asleep. It was great.

But hey, here's to some patriotism!!! Happy belated birthday USA!