Only one month to go now.

Yesterday our employers at Marvellous Catering threw us an engagement party. They made us sweet pulled pork enchiladas with fresh pico de gallo, caesar salad, artichoke dip, delicious cookies, and THE BEST popcorn in the world : white chocolate with candy pieces, and cinnamon roll popcorn. So good. We had so many leftover cookies that I brought them to my Sunday School class today.

We were so lucky that Marvellous Catering threw us a party and that we had so many wonderful friends who came to help us celebrate. We work for the best people. This little party was kind of like a rehearsal reception and it made us both really excited to get married. 

Matt and I made monster sugar cookies a few weeks ago. I never posted the photos. The best one is on the bottom left-hand corner where the bear is eating his own foot. Also the one on the top in the middle is my Robo-bear and I love it. Plus, they were delicious. The sugar cookie recipe courtesy of my sis Jaime. 

Baby it's Cold Outside

For the last 3 years I've had fall roommates who insisted upon listening to Christmas music as early as possible (one year it was September). I've always fought against it. Since Halloween and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays, I hate it when carols take all the glory and we wiz by those holidays only thinking of Noel. So my rule was no Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving.

So, I'm ashamed to say that, now that I don't have roommates pushing to listen to Christmas music so early, I kind of miss it. And, please don't tell anyone, but I added Christmas music to my ipod and I'm currently listening to a French Christmas hymn!

Oh the shame!

Happy Halloween!

Matt and I entered the BYU newspaper costume contest yesterday. Early this morning when Matt was on campus he opened to paper to find that we WON (!) for most creative! How exciting. We won a $25 gift card to Target, I think. But really, HOW Exciting! We're the BP oil spill and Louisiana. Halloween is my favorite holiday. And tomorrow my lovely friend Becky is throwing me a bridal shower! I can't wait!

What a wonderful weekend.

Photo Uploads

I haven't uploaded photos from my camera since before I went to Texas...in August. Tomorrow is October. Here's what you've missed out on:

 The only two photos I took in Texas: getting frozen yogurt (mine was way too big. I made Matthew finish it for me.) and on our way to Hurricane Harbor.

 One of the bigger carrots that I grew in my very own garden.

 This tomato clam vegetable soup. It was really really good on rice or with french bread.

 Nicole and I on the first day of school. So classy, so JCrew.

 Homemade candy bars: semi-sweet chocolate, almonds and pecans. Matt's invention, my creation. They were gone so fast I didn't have time to take a proper photo of them.

Pumpkin Advent Calendar. I got the idea from the latest Martha Stewart magazine, and jazzed it up a bit. In the magazine, it's just a children's game and some of the balloons are filled with glitter or other things. In my version there are 31 balloons, counting down to Halloween, and in each balloon is a piece of candy (or several in the case of candy corn). Each night a roommate will be able to pop a balloon and reap their candy. Very fun, and I want to do this EVERY year, because I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

I also love Matt a lot. And even though he doesn't read my blog, I didn't post a photo of my wedding dress, just in case he ever actually reads it.

Pumpkin Season has begun!

We, as an apartment family, officially began our autumn celebrations with our first pumpkin! This pumpkin has been growing in my garden for a few months. I made a pie with a gingersnap cookie crust for Nicole's birthday. It was delicious.

Plus it's starting to get cooler in the mornings, and there are Halloween decorations in all the stores. I'm starting to freak out. I LOVE FALL!


When I was baking the pie, I was singing "It's beginning to smell a lot like Autumn, everywhere you turn..."

Engaged!

Last night, July 26th Matthew asked me to marry him.

He is leaving for Philmont for 2 weeks and I wont be able to talk to him or see him, or even text him the entire time. He kept telling me he wanted to have one more real date before he left. Yesterday was the day he planned. He kept every detail of the date secret, he likes to do that, but it started to rain and he had to say, if it rains my plans will be ruined. Without further clues I guessed that we were going to go on the lake in paddle boats and have a picnic. He was really disappointed that I guessed it (with frustrating accuracy he says), and he seemed a bit put off. We went to the lake anyway but after waiting a very long time dealing with Alpine Rentals we discovered that the paddle boats were all broken! Someone had some in and trashed them. Poor Matt! All his plans gone awry! 

We sat by the lake and had our picnic anyway. We talked about how lovely the overcast sky was and how it would be nice to live near a body of water. We threw bread to/at the ducks. I told him that I was really sorry that I had ruined his plans by guessing them. He said, "You didn't guess all my plans." I asked him what other plans he had and everything went still and he said, "Lana, will you marry me?" Without even responding, I took the ring from his hand and sobbed on his neck. I managed to choke out 'yes' but mostly I was crying.

 

This ring is perfect. It's rose gold with wheat scrolling on the sides and it's from Provo from around 1900. The diamond is the diamond that Matt's dad used to propose to Matt's mom. It's an antique, it's an heirloom, it fits perfectly, and I love it.

I feel just awful though because earlier that day I had a 'serious' talk with Matt about not taking positive steps forward toward getting engaged. I think I would have made him feel bad if he hadn't had all this in cache. I feel so badly about it now. He loves it because he thinks it's funny, and because it proves that he's sneaky and that I really can't guess all his plans.

I'm in love. It's super weird being engaged. I've wanted this for a long time, but it's very strange being there suddenly. I know we'll be wonderful together. The date is December 21. We'll have a reception in Redding, and a reception in Flower Mound. 

Paul McCartney

 

Yesterday at work someone casually mentioned that Paul McCartney was in Utah and was going to do a show. This was the first I had heard of it and, naturally, I freaked out. I instantly got online and searched for tickets. After two unsuccessful securing of tickets (people told me they were mine and then called back to say they weren't) I got some. I had to drive an hour to West Valley to get them and they were $75. But they were also $85 seats.

Matt, me and 25,000 other lucky persons were tightly packed into the Rio Tinto Stadium barely able to contain our excitement.

 

And there he was. Barely 300 yards from us, Sir Paul McCartney. My heart about stopped. I LOVE Paul McCartney. He's absolutely my favorite Beatle. Plus, I grew up hearing his songs from my brother's late father. Being there was amazing, and I'm sure if Darrell were alive he would have been indescribably jealous.

 

Paul was so great with the audience. He read some of the signs and laughed about them. He read one aloud that said, "Welcome to Utah Paul. Marry us!" He responded, "What? All of you?"

 

He told us that the greatest compliment he ever received as a musician was from Jimi Hendrix when he was doing a show and chose to play The Long and Winding Road. He told us that Hendrix used a lot of slides and back in those days that it would mess up the tuning really badly. During the middle of the show the guitar was way off and Hendrix turned to the audience and asked if Eric Clapton was there and if he would tune the guitar. Clapton was there, and he did tune the guitar for Hendrix. 

:) 

He also dedicated a song to John and everything left unsaid, and a song to Linda for all the lovers in the audience.

 

About halfway through, Paul picked up a ukulele and sang Something as a tribute to George Harrison. Apparently George was a fantastic ukulele player.

 

He commented on the span of generations in the audience (there were certainly a lot of blue hairs) and said to a little girl on her father's shoulders, "Welcome to our grownup concert." But he said it in this silly stuffy Britishy way and it was adorable!

 

You can't tell from this photo, and I couldn't get a better one, but during this song (can't remember which) Obama's face kept appearing in the background of the stage. I thought it was so funny. Not subtle at all :)

 

As you can see I'm in love with Paul. I documented the entire show and reveled in his silly dancing between songs and bouncing while playing. 

During Live and Let Die these spectacular fireworks and flames shot out of the stage. It was awesome. Before he left he ran around the stage with the British and Utah Flags. He did three encores. On the last he said, "I get the feeling that you want to keep on Rocking!" which was met with uproarious assent. Before the last song, (Sgt Peppers) he said "There comes a time when we all have to go home." Met with booing. "And the time when you go home correlates to the time when we go home. You've been great. This is the last song."

It was awesome. I loved every minute of the 3 hours with Paul. What an amazing concert and awesome opportunity. To think, I woke up yesterday with no idea that I would, in several short hours, see my favorite musician live.

4th of July (or Banana Bread French Toast with Pure Kenyan Sugar)

 Here in Provo Independence Day seemed to last the entire weekend because the 4th was on a Sunday. Saturday Matt and I went up to Squaw Peak to watch the fireworks. Luckily we got there several hours early, or we would never have been able to get a spot.

 

While we were up there, I kept hearing someone speak in a British accent. Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask him which part of England he's from. He said, "Reading." I asked if he knew the Perry's then. Looking stunned he said, "I am a Perry." I was so excited. I told him how I knew his little brother David Perry, and his wife said, "Oh you're Lana. Yeah, I remember hearing about you." I was so excited. It's amazing to meet someone half way across the world on top of a mountain who knows someone (let alone is related to someone) I knew well in London!

  Sunday, which was the 4th was fairly uneventful. We all went to church and before we watched our Sunday Documentary, I got to visit with Becky, and then Matt blew up some fireworks. We put bottle rockets down the tube of a broom, and placing the bristles on our shoulders like guns, shot them into the sky. Then we blew up a disgusting tissue box holder sent from Korea. Sorry Sophie, Lauren made me do it. (Though I honestly didn't protest.)

 

Monday was a long day. The parade was going on in the morning. We didn't go see it. But Matt and I tried to navigate threw it to get to a bakery that ended up being closed. So I made Banana Bread French Toast with Pure Kenyan Sugar. It was delicious. It was especially delicious because I didn't have milk, so I had to water down sweetened condensed milk into which I whisked the eggs. 

After Breakfast, we all (which always means Me, Matt, and Lauren) worked on my garden. It now looks beautiful! And then headed to Lauren's grandparents house for a barbecue (which we learned is not actually spelled with a "qu", who knew?). We had hoards of children attacking us. And it was wonderful.

After the Barbecue, we all met up with some other friends to float down the Provo River. I was advised strongly to not take my camera on the river, though, having completed it unscathed, I wish I had.

 

The river was SO COLD! We had a really hard time getting used to it. We had a really great time all in all, even though Lauren claims she hated it. We know we had fun. All of us had fun, except one. She was hurt pretty badly. I felt really awful for her. But she's alright now. 

  

After the river, Matt was craving bucketed chicken. So we had to go to KFC. I can't remember the last time I actually ate there. At the time it tasted really good, but I'm kind of regretting it now. I picked some green beans from my garden, and we made some fries and had a picnic in my living room and watched The Edge.

It was a really good weekend.

Popsicles

Happy Official First Day of Summer!

The solstices and equinoxes are my favorite times of the year. I love the change to a new season. I love each of them for a different reason. I love the summer solstice because I am warm from head to toe and I can live off of popsicles until September!

California

This weekend Matt and I roadtripped out to my hometown of Redding, California. Driving out there isn't bad, unless the rental car you secured doesn't have cruise control!

The Sundial Bridge

When we were walking on the river trail with one of my oldest friends, Adrienne, we found a mulberry tree. Some of the berries were too high for us so Matt had to take his shirt off (the berries stain EVERYTHING) and pull down branches for us. Mulberries are so tasty.

Skipping rocks at Brandy Creek.

The area around Whiskeytown Lake is so beautiful. It was especially green from all the rain. I shot so many photos, while we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Nor Cal...

My little brother graduated from High School, so some old family friends came to help us celebrate. We had a lot of really delicious foods. Matt couldn't stay away from all the berries. My mom supplied us with a refilling cache of berries. Matt was in heaven.

The day of the graduation it poured all day. We weren't sure how that would go for the walk. But by the time it started the sky was dry and beautiful.

When I'm in Utah, I miss my cat Noni. Matt loves her now too. Especially since she slept with him every night.

Saturday we went to Lake Shasta Caverns with Adrienne and Evan.

The caves were so cool. Photos from my little Cannon just don't do it justice.

Cave Bacon.

Sunday we drove back to Utah. I was unbelievably carsick almost the entire time and poor Matt had to drive a lot. We saw this lovely little gem of an election poster in Lovelock:

She needs a better photographer.


When we arrived in Utah Valley there was the most beautiful lightning storm overhead. I was still too sick to take many shots but I got this one over the Jordan Temple. I couldn't believe how colorful the sky was. I was in awe. And I am very thankful to be home and not in a car anymore.