hers. (very elaborate...logistics nightmare becomes a proposal for the books)

once upon a time i never wanted to get married. with maturity and experience i became open to the idea- if the right circumstances and person presented themselves. then i became keen on the thought of having a built in best friend. but then i met jared and after a hard fight (on his part to get me and my part not to give in), several months, lots of dates, and a mushy heart later, i decided that i wanted to be married. forever. to him. and luckily for me, he shared my sentiments. our actual engagement has been a long time coming, but the story of how it all went down that evening has been a constant question. so here it is from "her side".

i do not like surprises. i am awful with them. i hate being caught off guard. and since i knew a proposal was coming soon, i made sure to do my hair everyday and to paint my nails. i was also incredibly nosy... wanting to know everything. which he cruelly hid from me. on friday night, jared and i dressed up and went on our monthly fancy date.  i wore my new dress, pearls, curls and freshly manicured nails. he wore his favorite shirt, new shoes, combed his hair and was sweet as ever. this was it. it was happening tonight. we went to the best restaurant that we have been to together (and we have been to A LOT) and then went to the grand america hotel to watch the jazz band and have dessert.

our waitress was so kind and dug out an old game of uno for us to play while we sat in back, listened to the band and ate our delicious sorbet.

 i was quite nervous because although we were having the best night, i was still sure it was going to happen when we wandered out to the courtyard after the show....that was until my mouth began to tingle. and then my lips and tongue and then i couldn't swallow and we had to rush to the hospital because i had a sudden allergic reaction to my sorbet.  i was freaking out physically and emotionally thinking
1. i could die.
2. i ruined the perfect night and now he won't propose.
i took benedryl and survived (thanks to nurse nancy).  but the benedryl put me to sleep immediately for about 15 hours. i groggily awoke the next afternoon about to burst into tears. i had ruined our night and had slept all day and now jared was going out of town.

earlier that week, jared had informed me that he was going to have to fly to LA for work.  he would be leaving saturday night at 10:30pm. we were already planning on attending a dinner for one of my best friends that night and since we were already in salt lake, we decided to go to the dinner and then straight to the airport.   

we drove up with katie and spud to see dacia, dave and baby. it was so fun for jared to meet the smiths and for us to all spend some time together again.  after the dinner we took jared to the airport. i helped him grab his luggage, told him to make a good impression, kissed him and sent him on his way.

katie, spud and i left the airport in search of a starbucks... 20 minutes and a jamba juice later, katie exclaimed that she had to pee and since she hates public restrooms, suggested that we just stop at her parents' house in draper. with no objections we headed there. i said that i was getting sleepy so i would just wait in the car. when to my surprise i looked over and saw some car just sitting in the parking lot. i realized that i recognized the car as it belonged to scott, jared's roommate. i rolled down the window to wave and say hi, blown away at the coincidence of him knowing someone there. but it was not his roommate...it was my "driver". he stepped out fully suited, holding a white board that read my name. katie practically pushed me out of the car and they drove off.  i had no choice.

i incredulously went to the back seat and allowed scott to chauffeur me to wherever it was we were going.  all of the sudden i realized, JARED NEVER WENT TO LA!!!!

we drove up to the mountainous area and he stopped at a park where a golf cart was waiting. we got out and took the golf cart to this estate:

it was breathtaking. the landscape was amazing. i was brought to the bank of this beautiful pond and greeted with 

and a lovely man (clever little stinker) waiting at the end of it. luckily, i love docks and he looked good, so i kept walking.

some very sweet, confectionate words, promises and a question later, this was us:

i was sure that he was in LA and that i would have to wait a couple more weeks at least. such an intricuate ruse was happening right in front of me and i had been clueless. and now we are official. thanks to the help of great friends, several sneaky little (valid) lies created (as jared says) a logistics nightmare but it turned out to be the best night of our lives. 

he designed the perfect ring, said all the right things and got the answer he wanted.  according to my left hand, i would say that this was the best st. patrick's day ever.

our date is set for june 2 in the draper temple. and we are moving to LA after the honeymoon to settle down and as an all american married couple.

well...maybe not settle down but at least into a new tax bracket and into a higher degree of glory.