So, my husband is the best. Hands down, no competition – THE best. Friday he proved that to me once again. Normally on Friday night I’ll come home from work and we’ll make dinner, watch a movie together or maybe have someone come over. Nothing too exciting but always nice at the end of a long week.

However, this past Friday while I was working Eric asked me where I wanted to go for dinner that night. He’d blocked out time on our calendar as “Friday night date night” and wanted to take me out. He had really thought about it and planned it out so we could have a real date night. I was totally touched. He booked reservations for us that were late enough that I would have time to shower and get all ready after work, even though I know he was probably going to be rather hungry by the time he got home and would rather just go. Then he found a movie that was probably a little more on the side of a chick-flick than he would have preferred and decided we should go to that.

We got all dressed up and went out to Macaroni Grill. I’d never been there before so it was a fun first experience. We were really lucky and got a table in the back corner, kind of secluded and next to a window. Eric wanted it to be all romantic so he started a game where we basically just went through different memories of us being together. It was really fun to just sit there and remember a lot of the good times we’ve had. And we definitely got to remember *a lot* of the good times we’ve had. Our food took forever to get there. The management was worried about it and they covered our drinks and dessert to make up for it — but really, it was nice. We had the bread there to eat so we weren’t starving, and our movie wasn’t for another couple of hours so it was nice to just have somewhere to sit and talk. Even after dating for over a year, I never get tired of talking to Eric. It just always feels like such a treat to have some time together with him.

After dinner we went to see August Rush which was excellent. It had great music and an awesome plot line, it was really really a great movie. We cuddled as much as we could with an armrest in the way but I just liked being close to him and enjoying a great movie. We talked on the way home about the movie as well as talking more about how we’d come together and everything. After we got home we talked some more, listened to the soundtrack from August Rush and went to bed.

I know that the evening overall may not seem original or anything but it was so fun to spend some dedicated time with my husband. More than anything I was just touched that he wanted to do something nice like that for me and took the time to plan something out. He is so sweet and caring towards me, more than I could ever deserve. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world. I love Eric more every single day and hope that I can be as good to him as he is to me.

Wahoo!! As of right now I am two months away from getting married to the man of my dreams- Eric Andrew Hansen. The wedding is mostly planned, and pretty much everything is now set. All that we have left is to get through to the end of finals (suck fest), survive my 3 week tour with the Young Ambassadors and we’ll be off! I’m so excited, I am the luckiest girl in the entire world. He proves that to me every day, and today several things happened that I needed to post.

Eric and I have been wanting to watch Charly for several weeks now. I know most people will read that and think that I’m one of those annoying we-have-to-watch-a-chick-flick girlfriends, but that’s not it at all (although, I will admit that for some reason, over the past several weeks whenever we sit down to watch a movie I just don’t have the brainpower to watch anything with much of a plot, so poor Eric has sat through several chick flicks with me lately). Actually, if I remember right, Eric was the one who brought it up as a movie he really wanted to see again. So, today we finally went and found the DVD at one of Eric’s neighbors and watched it. Towards the end of the movie I was watching Sam (the main character) taking care of his wife Charly as she was going through chemotherapy. It instantly made me think of how Eric has taken care of me recently when I got my wisdom teeth taken out. He has been so sweet and wonderful to me I can hardly believe it. I don’t know how I could possibly deserve a man as amazing as he is. It was really touching to watch Sam and remember all that Eric has done for me. It was breaking my heart to watch that movie and think of Charly leaving Sam. I don’t know that I could ever leave Eric. Just the idea of it just wrenched my soul and I sat there crying. Of course, Eric, because he is so amazing, just held me tight and tried to soothe me. That just added to the feeling of love I have for him, and intensified the feeling of never wanting to leave him… so I ended up crying more. Then, of course, the movie has a really sad ending with Charly dying. In the movie, there is a part where Charly is trying to teach her 1 year old son to say her name. She starts crying and asks if he will remember her after she’s gone. I can’t even imagine that kind of heartache. To know that this baby that she loves will grow up with out her, just tears at my soul.

Just as the movie was ending Terry Jr. (a big wooden cutout of a nutcracker that the guys have in their apartment… don’t ask, it’s just there, accept it) was thrown back in through the window by Eric’s roommate (he had thrown it outside during conference… again, don’t ask, just accept it) and it landed on my head. That hurt, and since I hadn’t quite pulled myself together from crying before, it set me off again. Before Matt could even come in Eric had jumped up off the couch and was ready to defend me. I wanted to stop him, because I really was ok and I knew that it wasn’t intentional, but it was so sweet. I don’t know a better word for it. I just totally felt like Eric was there watching out for me, I mean, I always feel like that, but it was just really touching to see that in action. Of course, that again just increased how much I love him and the waterworks continued. I was just so overwhelmed with this love that I have for him. He finally was able to calm me down. I was so impressed with his patience, just holding me and stroking my hair etc. while I tried to pull myself back together. Eric is the first person outside my immediate family who I have cried to since… at least since I was 9 years old. He’s way too good to me. I can’t even describe how much I love him and how much he means to me. I’m eager to be sealed to him for time and all eternity in a couple of months. I truly believe that I am the luckiest girl in the entire world 🙂

Eric and I were driving up to Brighton on Friday night and he told me about some advice that his mom had given him. He said she’d told him to write down all the reasons he loves me now, so that he doesn’t forget some day. I’d been feeling like that was something that I ought to do too. Not because I’m worried that I’ll forget, but mostly because I’m not always the best at telling him. He deserves to know all the amazing things I see in him. Also, he’s made comments about him not doing for me what I do for him, which is ridiculous, but I’m not good at coming up with the things he’s done for me on the spot. So, today while I was waiting for a bishop’s interview I tried to write out things Eric has done for me and reasons why I love him.

I love that he is strong in the gospel. It’s really cool to watch him because you can tell that he knows what is right, and then he goes for it. Regardless of how much logical sense it may or may not make to an outside observer, he’s strong enough to just go for it. Which kind of ties into the next one… He’s very spiritually in tune. He knows how to get answers from the Lord and he’s not ashamed to ask for them. Even more so, once he gets his answer, he’s so sure of it that nothing can stop him from doing what he knows to be right.

I love how intelligent and accomplished he is. Seriously, he is crazy smart. He was technically a valedictorian at his high school and was selected to work for the church’s network support department as a freshman in college. He’s super talented when it comes to the violin (no joke, he’s so incredible I can’t do it justice in words. Let’s just say that he played for my family while he was in California and… *melt*). But that’s not the totally cool part. I love that he can do all of that and I am seriously in awe, but what keeps amazing me is that he can be so smart, and still be so respectful towards me. I’ve never been smart like that. I learn things quick and I’m not an idiot, but I’ve never had those kinds of skills or outer intelligence. I say a lot of things that are dumb and I sometimes try to come up with explanations and I don’t quite get things right. But he doesn’t criticize me or cut me down, ever. He’s always there listening to the things I have to say, and when he does correct me it’s in such a gentle way, he never makes me feel less about myself for things I don’t know. It’s so amazing because it really makes me feel like I can tell him anything. Any stupid idea going through my mind, any random stubborn thought, he’s there to listen and not to laugh at the things that I say. I can’t really describe what that means to me. I don’t know that I’ve ever had anyone who is simultaneously smart enough that I can tell them about any of my thoughts without feeling like I’m leaving them behind, and so smart that they could easily discount everything that I am saying, and still kind enough to hear me out and give me the time to think things out aloud. It’s the coolest feeling in the world.

His priorities are so right on it’s incredible. Even the things that I’m too shy to admit are priorities to me he’s not ashamed to be bold in espousing. The gospel comes first, then family, then everything else. I have always had those priorities, but I wasn’t always as vocal about them. I guess I’ve always worried about appearing self-righteous or something. Somehow if I admitted that what I really wanted more than anything was to get married in the temple and raise a family that somehow people would think less of me. Eric is so openly for these things, it’s really refreshing.

Eric is a blast to be around. He is happy, friendly and silly as can be. I love it! I can’t possibly be down around him. He has the power to lift people up and make them better just by being there. And on top of that he’s so funny. We can laugh and joke and just have a good time being together. Tickle wars, silly faces, random funny movie clips- we can have fun doing just about anything. He’s a really fun-loving guy and he makes anything fun.

Eric is totally easy going. He has the ability to just go with the flow and be happy with anything that’s happening. However, he is able to do this while constantly maintaining structure and commitment in his life. He’s really good with responsibility- if he says he’ll do something, he’ll do it, no questions asked. He knows when and where he needs to be places and he can do it. I so admire him for this because it’s something I’ve never been super skilled with, and it is so much a part of who he is. He really makes me want to be more like that just by watching his example, and not by any outward condemnation. He knows what’s important and he’s totally on top of it.

Eric has a good work ethic, but in good moderation. He likes to party when it’s time to party, and work when it’s time to work. He’s not afraid of hard work and he can stick to a task until it is complete. But he’s able to do it on his own terms. He knows when it’s time to take a break or to put something off for a little bit.

Eric is confident in himself and seems able to take charge in any situation. I think I admire this so much because it’s something I’m not as good at. I’m one who has a hard time making a phone call to someone I don’t know. He on the other hand seems able to talk to anyone and everyone. He has an air about him like he knows who he is, where he’s going and what he’s doing that is absolutely inspiring to see.

Eric is passionate about the things that he does and things that he loves. I’ll admit that there are few things I love more than seeing Eric excited about something, and luckily he gets excited about things often. Seriously, even little things like me buying tortellini seem to make him so happy! And if you get a chance to see him play the violin, you are one lucky duck. It is evident in the way that he plays that he isn’t just accomplished because he has practiced a lot (although that is definitely true), he is accomplished because he has a love for playing that is evident in every movement he makes.

Eric is easy to talk to about anything. Seriously, anything. The other day we had an entire discussion about bridal showers and lingerie. He is so open with me about his opinions, thoughts and dreams I can’t help but feel like I can tell him everything. Unfortunately I’m not quite as good at being open with him as he is with me. Not that I keep secrets from him, just that I’m not as easily candid with him. Ok, so for example… when we were having a whole discussion there was a question I really want to ask him before we get married… and our discussion would have prefaced the question perfectly. But I still felt like it ought to be a taboo subject (even though I don’t really think or feel that it is… it’s just that British part of my brain that wants me to be totally proper) that I kept it back. Eric doesn’t seem to have those same qualms. He is able to come right out and say what he wants to say. Not in a candid or uncomfortable way either. He’s just.. honest.

These last few aren’t as much attributes as things that he does that have just made me love him more and more. They’re the silly things he does for me that speak volumes. One thing that totally has impressed me is the way he defends me. This was especially evident when we were back home. My brother Cody and I have a silly thing we do where we call each other fatty and then poke each other. I don’t know why it started but I’m fairly sure I started it… Whenever Cody would do that Eric would threaten him… not like violently, but more like “hey, that’s my fiancee and if you want to insult her you have to go through me first.” I never thought that I would find that attractive. I’ve always liked feeling like I could watch out for myself. However, I can’t deny how good it made me feel that he would defend me, even on something as dumb as Cody calling me fat in teasing. I feel so safe when I’m around him. It’s one of the best feelings there is.

Eric seems constantly aware of the things that I need, and I wish I could be more like this for him. Whether it’s a phone call, or an embrace, or just somehow being there when I really need him…. he’s always there. He seems to constantly be a step ahead of me, ready to do anything in order to make me happy. Even things as silly as my lack of decision making ability. He somehow knows how to help me make decisions without actually making them for me. Somehow he’s even aware of things that I really want when I’m saying otherwise. For example, the other day I really wanted to go back to my apartment for just a couple minutes, but I felt really dumb saying so and I didn’t want to admit the reason (I needed to take care of some feminine hygiene issues, which I couldn’t really do in a guys apartment). I’d tried to sorta direct us back there, without actually saying that I wanted to go back. Then I just conceded that we could go to his place. He somehow picked up on the hint that I wanted to go back, while I was saying aloud that it didn’t really matter to me. I don’t quite know how to explain the situation clearly, but just know that there is nothing that I said that clearly should have indicated that I really wanted to go back. Yet, he somehow figured it out and back to my apartment we went. I so wish I could have that same ability to know the things that he wants but doesn’t say. He is too good to me 🙂

I guess the last thing is just that he accepts me the way I am. With or without makeup, sick or in good health, tired, hungry, stressed, early in the morning, late at night, with my family, among friends, in leadership positions… he’s seen it all and he still loves me. I don’t know how that could possibly be. I’ve admitted to him my weaknesses and secrets and he loves me just the same. I could not possibly deserve the kind of man that he is. I really am the luckiest girl in the entire world. I hope one day I can show Eric just how amazing he truly is. I’m not always good at telling him on the spot or thanking him for all of the wonderful things that he does, but I want to. He is everything I could have possibly asked for and more. I love him now and will love him through all eternity!

Wow, I definitely did not think this would happen this fast! Eric Hansen and I got engaged on Sunday, December 17th. I figured since this is the coolest and most important thing that has ever happened to me in my life I should probably write about it. I am so in love with him I can hardly believe it. I am the luckiest girl in the entire world! We’re planning on getting married in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple in Pleasant Grove, UT on June 16th, although that’s still up for debate.

I figure I should post how this all came about. *Warning: this is the long version… If you don’t really want to read it I won’t be offended* So, I’m going to start at the beginning.

At the end of this summer my family went to Australia, which meant that I needed to find another way to get my car up to school than just driving it up myself. So Taylor and I asked Paul and Tyler if they would drive it up to school for us. Since they had my car I didn’t feel too bad asking them to pick us up from the airport. By the time Taylor and I arrived in Utah we were pretty exhausted. Our trip had ended with a whirlwind adventure to get us home. We flew out of Australia at noon, to arrive in New Zealand in the late afternoon, left New Zealand in the early evening, and after flying for over 12 hours arrived in LA earlier than we had left Australia that same morning (because we crossed the international dateline). Then we flew to Utah, and waited for awhile for Tyler to come and pick us up from the airport. All in all we’d been traveling for over 24 hours and were pretty messed up at that point. Anyways, Tyler picked us up and we had to drive back to his apartment first to drop him and Terry off. I’d also given Tyler my cell phone while I’d been out of the country so we had to go in to their apartment so I could get the charger back. While we were there I wanted to stay for a minute and say hi to Paul and meet their roommates and such. It seemed like the polite and sociable thing to do.

That was when I met Eric. It wasn’t like a pillar of light and we started singing “I’ve seen that smile, somewhere before”. However, I do remember thinking he seemed really cool and the thought definitely passed through my mind that I would like to date him, but I didn’t really take it seriously. I was as good as drunk at the time with jet-lag, I was so tired that most thoughts going through my mind were discounted. We didn’t stay for very long because Taylor wanted to go home. So, we actually ended up making a pretty abrupt exit. I felt really bad about it because I wanted to be gracious for the guys bringing my car up to Utah for me and the least I could do was stay and visit for a bit. When I got home I realized that I had some things in the car that weren’t mine, which gave me the perfect excuse to return to the guys’ apartment and be gracious. It was really funny going back because the one person who I remember being totally hospitable and kind was Eric… this random guy who I didn’t know at all. But I totally remember him being the one who invited me to stay for ice cream. I stayed for as long as I could, but then they pulled out Dance Dance Revolution, and I was about to pass out cold on their couch. So, I finally went home. But Eric had definitely left an impression on me. I wasn’t going to act on it or anything, I honestly never thought it would go anywhere but I totally remember thinking he was a really nice guy and I would like to get to know him better.

Through the semester I stopped by their apartment sporadically. The second time I went by their apartment Eric happened to be the one to open the door. He asked if I remembered his name, and unfortunately I’m pretty abysmal with remembering names. I knew that the three roommates that I didn’t know were Matt, Greg and Eric. I also knew that Matt was the tall one (it was easy for me to remember because I have another good friend named Matt who is really tall) so I could eliminate that one.  So it was down to Greg and Eric, which unfortunately share a lot of the same phonetic qualities so I hadn’t gotten the two straight.  I also remembered that this was the roommate who had offered me ice cream and made an excellent impression on me… but it was still a debate between the two names.  So I just took my chances with 50/50… and guessed Greg.  Oops.

Natalie and I stopped by one night to visit and ended up watching part of a movie with Paul and again, Eric said hi to us and was totally nice to us while the guys were less enthusiastic to see us. I would see Eric sometimes if I was walking home from school in the right direction after my Phonology/Morphology class (maybe that’s weird, but you get used to knowing the people you know who you’re going to run into, and like I said, he’d made an impression).  In fact, because I thought he was a pretty cool guy, and Mondays and Wednesdays were my frumpier days, I sometimes intentionally walked a different way so that he wouldn’t see me while I was frumpy 😛

My mom made sweet rolls when she came down and we took them some and Eric helped Taylor find her target for the BYU Facebook Squirt Gun Street Wars. I remember thinking at the time that I should mention to my mom that there was one of the guys’ roommates that I had a minor crush on, but I decided against it.  In a way that was good because it gave her a chance to get an unbiased first impression of him. After that night he added me as a friend on Facebook. A little while later he sent me a message on Facebook. We messaged back and forth pretty regularly for a couple weeks up until YA tour and Thanksgiving. Then I got busy and was sorta neglecting all that stuff. I figured it was more important to take care of people in my real life rather than the make believe people on Facebook- no matter how cool I thought it was that Eric was talking to me on Facebook.

After Thanksgiving I finally started having time in my life again (huh, funny what happens when you’re not working 36+ hours a week for Young Ambassadors). It was the weirdest feeling in the world. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I started praying that I would find worthwhile things to do with my time. Then came fast Sunday. I’d been really frustrated and I knew that what I needed was more patience. Patience to know that things were going to work out according to the Lord’s plan. Plus I’d been feeling lonely, just like I was missing the other part of me. It seemed insane for me to be really upset about this. I have some of the best friends in the entire world and I’m in the best place I’ve ever been. It seemed like everything in my life was going perfectly and I felt extremely ungrateful feeling lonely because it meant I was focusing too much on the one thing I didn’t have rather than all of the things I did have. Anyways, so I was praying that day for patience that the will of the Lord would prevail and somewhat secondarily that the Lord would help me to find a man to love, if it was His will. I believed that the Lord *could* do that, but I don’t think I really believed that He *would*, if that makes sense. I figured I could tell Him the desires of my heart and if it was His will it would happen, but in all honesty I expected Him to tell me to continue with my plans of serving a mission and put those desires on hold.

That night I was online and I saw something that I wanted Paul to see. So, I sent him an IM really quick. Paul wasn’t there, but Eric responded on Paul’s behalf. We chatted for a couple minutes. Apparently Paul & Tyler were there on the other end and suggested that he ask me out for that Friday. He thought it sounded like an alright idea and so he did. I’d been bored out of my mind and thought it sounded like a lot of fun so I accepted, but it was getting late and we both had early classes so we both went to bed. I really didn’t think anything was going to happen from it. I thought it was going to be fun, but I honestly didn’t think it would go past that. I have a tendency to over-analyze and I didn’t want to do that and so I didn’t think on it. On Monday Paul told me that I should talk online to Eric, and apparently he had told Eric the same thing so we started talking. It was a lot of fun. We talked for awhile about just… different things. It just kinda clicked. We talked for an hour and a half before we really had to get offline, but we agreed that we ought to talk some more later. So… we did. We talked again on Tuesday night for three hours, and then again on Wednesday night we talked for another hour and a half. It wasn’t long before I found myself drawn to my computer frequently in hopes of seeing Eric online and getting to talk to him for any amount of time. I couldn’t help but being super happy while I was talking to him and it was amazing how well we got along.  Even on weird random things we would agree and I kept questioning myself whether I was just agreeing with him because I liked him, or if I really did agree with him.  But our view points were so closely aligned that I couldn’t find anything to disagree with him over.

On Thursday morning I realized that he had his playoff game for the intramural soccer championships that night. When he had initially mentioned it I couldn’t have gone because we had YA rehearsal, however, rehearsal that day had been shortened because Randy thought we deserved it. At this point I was really enjoying getting to know this Eric guy and I was falling for him pretty hard, but we hadn’t really spent any actual face-to-face time together since we’d started talking that week. So, I thought it would be fun to go, even though we were going on a date the very next night and we could easily see where things were really going then, I just wanted to see him. So, we arranged that he would pick me up at the KMB on his way to the game.

Well, YAs got out even earlier than anticipated, and Taylor happened to be at the KMB. She was on her way to my apartment to steal my car for… something… I can’t remember now what she wanted the car for but we’d talked about it earlier so it was no big deal. But since I didn’t really have anything to do while I waited for Eric we decided that I would walk home with her and she’d drop me off on her way back to the dorms. It actually worked out fairly well because I hadn’t had a chance to curl my hair and it gave me a chance to sorta spruce myself up before going to the game (and yes, I curled my hair to go to a soccer game… don’t judge me). So, we did that. The game was a lot of fun. Afterwards Eric invited me over for some hot chocolate. I really wanted to accept, but I had a meeting that I needed to have been to at 7pm… and it was already past then. I had told the people in charge that I’d be late, but I definitely had promised to be there. We arranged that I would call him after the meeting and we could get together then.

So, afterwards I called him and he came over and played cards with my roommates and me. We played “And it Came to Pass”. It was really funny because both of us were trying to test the water… without actually testing the water. So, for the entire game we were on the largest of my apartment’s couches on our own, and sitting leg to leg with the whole rest of the couch open. It was a blast. And then he left all of a sudden saying that he had some homework to do.  I figured I’d blown it. I’d come on too strong and the next night was going to be super awkward now. I cleaned up our card game and tried to brush it off.

However later that night Eric came on line and we talked online for another 3 hours.  Apparently he really did just have homework and had to go (I’ve discovered since then that Eric does just tend to make abrupt exits, but he doesn’t mean anything by it). While we were talking Eric told me that he thought he liked me as more than a friend, and I conceded that I liked him as more than a friend as well (as I had conceded in my blog the night previous). The next morning he sent me a Facebook request to declare us as in a relationship and I accepted. It was kinda a relief because I wasn’t exactly sure what the outcome was of our discussion the previous night, so it was nice to see it actually spelled out. So.. yeah, we hadn’t been on a single date yet and we had declared ourselves as dating.

That night we went with Paul and another girl to Taylor’s end of the semester vocal recital. Eric came and picked me up and he looked incredible. It was kind of a funny situation because we were definitely dating but we’d still never held hands or anything. I’m not going to lie, I was really scared I was going to mess things up. I hadn’t held hands or anything with a guy in over two years and I just didn’t really know what to do anymore. But on our way racing into the MOA for the concert he grabbed my hand and we walked in hand in hand. It felt so… complete? We kinda played with holding hands during the concert. When the concert was over I discovered that Eric is a very cuddly guy. It was so nice just to be held and feel loved and safe again. We had a blast just walking around the Museum of Art and looking at the displays and all that. After the museum we went back to his apartment to play Settlers of Zarahemla (which, don’t worry, is one of my favorite games of all time) and drink hot chocolate. We had a moment while we were alone in the kitchen just cuddling and waiting for the water to boil. Although I’m not normally a kiss-on-the-first-date kind of girl… this was a completely different ball game. Even though we’d only been talking since the beginning of that week and this was technically our first date, I felt like I already really knew him… so yeah, we kissed. After Setties and hot chocolate Paul took his date home, but Eric and I stayed and watched some part of a movie with Terry and Marissa and then he walked me home.

On Saturday evening we had planned another date, but ended up just doing our own thing back at his place. On Sunday he had to work, so he came to church with me in the morning. We got together again that evening and went to his sister Julie’s house for a family Christmas dinner.  I posted earlier about how I really fell hard for Eric that night.  Just watching the way he was with his nephews and his family totally melted me. We saw each other pretty much every possible moment after that, studying at his place, or mine, or the stats lab or the Wilkinson Center. We went to the temple with Taylor and Jeanine after classes on Wednesday to do baptisms.

On Friday night we had an actual date set again- my dad was in town for business meetings and had tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert down in Salt Lake City. We ended up running way behind because Taylor and Rob couldn’t leave early and we got stuck in major traffic. We let Taylor and Rob out before we parked so they made it into the concert but my dad, Eric & I were too late and weren’t able to get in. So, we walked around Temple Square and watched a high school choir concert in the Visitor’s Center until we were kicked out. So, we went over to my dad’s hotel and went to the bar there (yes, I can officially say that the first time I ever went to a bar was with my dad) and got some virgin daiquiris. It was kinda funny watching my dad and Eric interact because we all knew that my dad was trying to grill Eric and find out everything possible. It was interesting after my dad’s threats for years of presenting any guy that wanted to date me with a shotgun threat, to see how my dad really acted.  It was a lot more like how I’ve seen him act as a businessman.  Very professional and engaging, and trying to present his very best side while conducting important conversations.  It was really interesting to watch.

We had dinner with Taylor and Rob and then we had to go home. The whole evening went really well. It was soo good having Eric there with my family and everything just fit so well together. He totally felt like he belonged there. On the way home it was snowing pretty badly, and I am not at all qualified to drive in snow… especially not in my little Kia Sephia. But, I had driven us up there, and it was my car. So I was driving and it was getting pretty scary. Literally, there were a couple dozen times that I looked at the road and couldn’t tell if I was in the lane I intended to be in, or any lane at all. It was probably the worst driving conditions I have ever been in (and I know… I’m from California and that’s not saying much… shut up. It was still the worst I’d ever been in). However, I had the strangest feeling of peace and serenity just knowing that Eric was in the car. I’m not entirely sure how to explain that. Normally I would have freaked out and been totally hyer-ventilating, and having other people in the car would have made it ten times worse. However, just Eric’s presence was enough to keep me calm and under control. It was a totally amazing and indescribable feeling. However, regardless of how peaceful he made me feel by being there, I was even more grateful when he offered to take the wheel. We switched drivers when we reached Lehi and Eric drove the rest of the way home. I was soo grateful I can’t even explain it. We dropped off Taylor and her date, then I dropped Eric off and went home. I hadn’t been home for more than 10 minutes when Eric called me. He had work in less than 3 hours and was planning on foregoing sleep that night rather than getting a disgustingly inadequate amount of sleep. He asked if he could come over and tell me something. I was just getting ready to change out of my dress and into PJs so I quickly agreed. I met him outside my front door (it was past curfew) and we talked for a little while. Finally he said, “I think I more than like you.” and I conceeded that I more than liked him as well, to which he replied “I think I love you.” and I told him “I think I love you too.” It was the warmest feeling in the entire world. We stood there talking for awhile, still in awe that after only one week we could even be considering, let alone saying those words. Love? In a week? That’s ridiculous! There’s no way we could possibly already have those kinds of feelings for each other. But they were there so strongly there was no way I could deny that it was exactly what I felt for him, ridiculous or not. We talked for a while longer and I resolved to myself that I would go and pray about marrying him. Not that I thought we were imminently coming to a place to make such a decision… but I just felt like I should at least be considering that option and praying about it.  More than anything I wanted to check in with the Lord that I was on a good path.

So, I did. I prayed about it on Saturday and we hung out again that day. I decided to fast about it on Sunday. I felt so at peace it was rather uncanny. Nothing has ever felt so right in my entire life. But, I still didn’t think I was imminently approaching truly making the decision, I just knew what my answer was when we got to that point. That day I attended both my ward and his as well as various other church meetings. After Eric’s ward I stopped by Bishop Klein’s office to visit him for a little while. Then Eric and I made dinner together before going to a Christmas fireside his ward was putting on. The fireside was a lot of fun. When it was over we were talking to the high councilor assigned to Eric’s ward, who was asking us about how long we’d dated, to which we replied not very long. Then Eric asked the man how long he had dated his wife before getting engaged, to which he replied “nine days.” Eric and I both looked at each other. That day was day nine for us. We giggled and assured him that we weren’t planning anything of that nature right then.

But it sparked a conversation and we sorta talked about things as we walked home and around to my ward prayer and stuff that night. We’d discussed things like life plans and number of kids we both wanted the day before, and then we talked about what ward I would attend if we hypothetically were to get engaged. Finally, that night we were sitting out in his living room on our own just talking. We both shared how we’d gained our testimonies and talked about other equally important things. Then Eric asked me how I was feeling about where our relationship was going. I’d been fasting and I already felt like I had an answer, but I didn’t know how much to say… I mean, we’d only been dating 9 days! I totally thought he would think I was insane for even considering praying about it. But, since his question was just how I felt about it I gave him a very honest answer, I told him that “I feel REALLY good about where this is going. And then I turned the question back to him, and he agreed that he also felt REALLY good about our relationship’s direction. We talked a bit longer and he asked me something about dates but I wasn’t focusing really well at that point, I was far too excited. Then, Eric pulled us both off the couch and stood up in front of me, pulled of his CTR ring and offered it towards me and asked, “Brittny Anderson, will you marry me?”, to which I obviously answered “yes!” and accepted his CTR ring, which happened to fit me perfectly. And, that was that.

Some people might think that was a really lame proposal, but I love it SO much. I absolutely love that he asked me with his CTR ring one night while we were just sitting there talking. There’s nothing contrived about it. It was the most natural decision in the world. I’m so happy it wasn’t tainted by a lot of planning and scheming and scripting. It was just Eric and me. There’s none of the accepting the ring instead of the man that I hate so much, or anything like that. It wasn’t the big production with the bells and whistles and a ton of people, just the two of us. I wish I could explain better what I mean, but to me, it’s the most romantic story in the whole world. We went out and bought a real ring the next day and he’s planning on proposing for reals sometime later… but in all honesty, I’ll be kinda sad to give up his CTR ring, even though it’s kinda bulky for my hands. Not that I’m not excited about the engagement ring, because I’m not a moron- it’s a gorgeous ring and I am really excited about it and can’t wait. But, I just like looking at this CTR ring and thinking that it’s really Eric’s and I’m wearing it, and I’m really going to marry Eric! I remember sometime when I was younger (like probably 10-12 kind of younger) for some reason I was talking to one of my friends about getting engaged or rings or something and I TOTALLY remember saying that I would be just as happy if a guy gave me his CTR ring as if he had some big rock. I was wrong, I’m infinitely happier! Eric is so amazing. He has definitely made all of my dreams come true in ways that I didn’t even expect. I still can’t tell you how this all happened right now. The timing is impeccable. There’s no way I would have had time to give this relationship what it needed back in November during all of the insanity that is YAs, and I won’t have this kind of time again when YAs gets going again. But right now… it just all works out so perfectly.

So, yeah, I could tell you more, but I’ve already been working on this entry over two separate days and I want to post it. I’m sure I will write more in days to come. I’m just beside myself with joy! Eric is the most amazing guy I have ever met in my life. I wrote an entry about that earlier so I won’t go through all the reasons I love him again, but you can rest assured that I love him more than anything. I don’t know what I could have done to deserve him in my life, but I will be working for the rest of my life to keep myself worthy of this blessing. Every day I find more and more things that we have in common and reasons that he is truly the most incredible person I have ever met. I hope I can live up to his hopes and dreams because he has totally surpassed mine.