FINALLY!

Poor Russ. I can't believe he still wanted to propose to me after all of my whining on Friday night. I must have been hormonally-challenged at the time, and combined with the stress of both finals week and of dealing with my dirt-bag landlords it just wasn't a pretty sight. I complained for about an hour friday night about how mean he was for making me wait so long to be engaged. I told him that every day I would get my hopes up and by the end of each night all of my hopes and dreams were shattered and that I would cry myself to sleep. It wasn't a pleasant way to live.

According to what Russ told me last night he wasn't going to propose until next wednesday but after experiencing the magnitude of whining that occured he had a change of heart. Saturday after i was done taking a final he told me we were going on a picnic. It is necessary at this point for me to provide some background: when Russ and i first met I made a list of 4 things I wanted him to do for me on a sticky note ate work, and I made him sign it. Although he was supposed to accomplish the four tasks before August of last year I will still give him credit. The four items on the list are: 1. take me on two motorcycle rides (this may be considered our first date) 2. teach me how to play the bass guitar until I am basically a professional (he did attempt to teach me once but let's just say I'm not cut out for certain things) 3. Cook me an authentic Filipino meal (he served his mission in the Philippines) and 4. go canoeing with me (I used to draw pictures of canoes and give them to him at work. i reminded him daily) He kept this list in his wallet and until saturday tasks 3 and 4 had not yet been completed.

Okay, back to the story. . . we went on our "picnic" which involved sharing Filipino-style Top Ramen (seriously) from a tupperware container while sitting on the grass/dirt near Utah Lake while small dust particles blew into my eyeballs (did anyone notice the 75mph winds that occured yesterday?). After taking about 2 bites he told me he had a surprise and I immediately asked if it was a cookie. Unfortunately, it wasn't. After waiting for me to finish the rest of the food he told me that the surprise was the canoe conveniently sitting on the beach next to us (how did I not notice this?). I squealed with delight until I remembered the abundance of violent winds that were causing dangerous waves in the lake. I tried to be brave as we were tossed to and fro upon the waters but let's just say that it might have been a sequel to the bout of whining from the night before.


Russ continually assured me that it was going to be okay, even as we were inches from crashing into the rocks. ITS NOT OKAY i yelled at him and begged to go back to shore. During our short time on the water Russ told me some really mushy lovey-dovey stuff that I will not repeat at this time. He then told me that he had (finally) completed the four things that I asked him to do and that he would only ask me to do one thing..................... which was accept the pretty flowers that he pulled out of his backpack. Up to this point I had been about 99 percent sure he was going to propose. But after the flower trick I was almost certain that he was just trying to get back at me for all the whining the night before. I was almost ready to push him out of the canoe and head for shore but I had mercy on him and instead I suggested we carefully row our way back to shore. I was incredibly relieved to be back on solid ground. I wanted to go sit beneath the shade of the willow tree next to the lake (it wasn't really a willow tree and it didn't provide a bit of shade, but it sounded nice). Instead Russ took me behind a small shack next to the shore (to avoid the wind or to keep his friends (whom i will later learn were parked just feet away) from seeing us i do not know). He told me that he lied about asking me to do just one thing. I pulled a "ha really" on him (a classic for those of you who are familiar with the ha and the really, namely Jeff and Passelly) and then he proposed.

We finished off the night by eating at our favorite restaurant - Carrabas - and going to a Kalai concert with Jeff and Passelly who were the aforementioned friends sitting feet away from the proposal. I wanted to get more pictures of us at the Lake but I was too worried about falling in the water that I forgot. Russ did get one of me during one of my many whinings, though.



To anyone who may read this (which can't be very many since I know of only 3 people who read my blog) I apologize for the length and any boredom you may have experienced.