Sticking it to the Man

Oh Provo, the "dry"est town this side of Texas, where people get thrills from throwing snowballs at policemen and packing ten people into a five seated vehicle, I love you! Where people buy IBC root bear six packs and have chugging contents, where one must think creatively to find missionary opportunities, Provo, you provide endless hours of entertainment. On Friday, I looked out my window and witnessed a pack of thirty or more bikers casually biking north past my apartment with a police car following close behind. Rory opened the door and shouted, "What are you doing?" The reply came, "Just riding our bikes. Every first Friday of the month! The police can't do ANYTHING -- It's AWESOME!" Oh Provo. The end. :-)

the proposals... (yes, plural)

Okay, I am determined to finish this story today. On Saturday night, at the opera, I was teasing Clayton during intermission. He responded by getting down on one knee, in the middle of the theatre, and starting “Erika (insert last name here)…” I got a little antsy and thought, this isn’t right and grabbed his arm and started to pull him up while he finished, “Do you mind if I tie my shoe?” Argh. Frustration. And very funny actually. The next day at church, in the middle of Sunday school, he took the wrapper from the Hershey’s hugs that we had gotten to keep us quiet (as is necessary for young single adults) and started to wrap it around my left ring finger. I just knew that that wasn’t right either, so I grabbed my hand away and gave him a look. You know, the look. :) Finally, after ward prayer, we were sitting on the couch. I was sad because I was figuring that he would never propose. Also, I was on my email when our love note delivery came. (Explanation: love notes are written during “munch and mingle” – the social event after ward prayer—and put in a bowl with the recipients name and apartment number on the front and are delivered upon cessation of the munch and mingle activities). Well, Mariah announced to me that I had received a love note and set it on the table in front of me. I didn’t look up for a while (poor Clayton was probably getting antsy) and finally I glanced up, noticed some rubber ducks on the table and went back to my email. Then I thought, “Wait. What are ducks doing on my table?” and picked one up. On the bottom it said “marry”. I put the ducks together and they said “Will, you, marry, me, and ?” Clayton had gotten each of my roommates to write a word (or question mark) on the bottoms. I looked at him and he handed me a duck with a ring around its neck. :) Then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Fortunately, I responded in the affirmative. Therefore, we are getting married. Yay for stories! Also, yay I don’t have to tell this again, I can just refer people to my blog!

P.S. Did I mention that I cried...a lot? And about five different completely random people (we do not often get visitors) walked into my apartment during the affair. Very strange.

Two weeks later...

Oh man oh man oh man! I’m getting MARRIED!!!! YAY! Okay, so I just need to write about my weekend that I had with Clayton two weeks ago. It was just plain LOVELY! So, he came up on Friday and I had to take a Kinesiology test and I didn’t take it that morning like I wanted to so he ran some errands while I took my test. Then I had an appointment with Ron, the dance trainer, and Clayton sat and waited. I was so excited to see him though! I almost ran down the hall when he first got there, but I restrained myself to a brisk walk. Man it had been FOREVER! Anyways, we had fun Friday night. We went over to the bishop’s house for a ward social. I ate a bunch of the snack food because I was hungry then neither of us wanted dinner when we got back home. Kind of silly. I ended up making it and sticking it in the fridge for the next day. Then we cleaned my kitchen and fridge (we had cleaning checks in the morning). And, we watched the Office with my roommates and sat on the couch and talked. It was so so so nice just to see his face while I talk to him. Anyways, I felt bad because I’d made him help me make dinner and clean my kitchen all night. Oh well.

Saturday we got up and went to the dance building at six thirty in the morning so I could work on a project.  And we left to go snowboarding at eight with Cam, Russ, Ben, and some other man whose name I cannot recall. It was really fun though. After the torturous first one down the mountain that took an hour. I pretty much just sat down and cried halfway down when I was completely stuck. However, I found a little more determination and made it down. The second time I only fell two or three times and the next few runs were a lot more fun. I’ve decided snowboarding is very fun. And I will try it again. Next year.
Saturday night we were both EXHAUSTED, but managed to find the energy to make dinner, then run up on campus to buy ice cream before going to the opera that I dragged him too. He was a good sport though and stayed awake the whole time. He enjoyed a couple numbers (don’t tell anybody).

So Sunday we made pancakes (puffy oven pancakes, which were amazing) with my homemade cinnamon syrup. It was quite lovely. And we went to church and I was wondering all day if he would ever propose. I didn’t think he was going to after I’d gone to choir practice we ate chicken and dumplings for dinner (which are AMAZING) and then we went to ward prayer. All in all I was very disappointed that he hadn’t proposed yet. And, I’ve got to go make lunch and go to church…so, the good part of this story will have to continue this evening. You probably all hate me by now. Oh well, at least I started.

Dear Lauren...

I will post my version of the engagement story as soon as possible. Hopefully after I type it up for my journal. And as soon as I finish this paper -- that I can't bring myself to start!