THE PROPOSAL!!!

Ok, ok, I know I am super late writing this blog...but better late than never right!?

On October 1st Kory officially proposed to me! As many of you know, we have been engaged to be married since July but because I was in Europe, all of the traveling home from Virginia, trying to find married housing, getting started with school, etc.. . .We did not have time to get a ring and do that whole official proposal thing haha.

I went to lunch with my really good friend Emily that day. We went to Zupas (if you haven't tried it next time you are in Provo you HAVE to go!). After lunch Emily dropped me off at home, as I was walking to the door I noticed a note on my car that read, "You've Got A Clue! (Open me up! I am time sensitive.)". I opened the note:

Here's a game that you'll want to play,
All you must do is follow what I say.

Now you must travel from spot to spot,
And search for clues and give them thought.

Each place has a clue that'll show you the way,
So let's begin without any more delay.

Your first clue is a number,
Five should give it away.
But if that's not so helpful,
Then 5th floor's where I stay.

Go seek out your next clue...
Freebie Hint: (1340 N 200 W)

Kory and I met through an apartment complex called Alpine Village. I lived there fall semester then moved out for winter when Kory moved in. But I was still over there every day hanging out with all of my close friends. So we met there. After we started dating we spent a lot of time in his apartment (or mine). I found clue #2 on his old apartment door.

Good job you succeeded,
You found your first clue.
But here is gets tough,
So here's number two.

It was our first "date,"
No not the good food.
But it included a wheel,
A gift card, and tickets for two.

Go seek out your next clue...
P.S. When you arrive, your clue is with the ticket attendant.

Our first "date" started out as running errands. Then suddenly he was taking me to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, then we went to the car dealership, then the movies (clue #2), then a dance party, then watched a movie, then talked about religion forever...you get the point, we totally clicked! Then we hung out every single day after that.

I went to the ticket booth and got my clue then hurried to my car to read it.

So far so good,
You've made it this far.
But can you continue
And navigate your car?

The next clue is for sure
listed as a favorite place.
It's got horses out front
And inside good tastes.

PF Changs! As most of you already know PF Changs is kind of "our restaurant." It is a special place for us. I took Kory there the first time I took him on a date (he HAD been there before, to correct a previous blog where I was thinking he hadn't). Then we ended up going there several times on special occasions. On my way to PF Changs I was beginning to think, "How many of these do I have to do!?" I called my friend Emily to ask, haha.

I got my clue from the hostess.

Confirm 7:30
With the hostess here.
Then we'll move on
So lend me your ear.

The pursuit continues,
We're far from done.
Okay maybe we're not,
But that's half the fun.

The next place to go
Is unique among all.
It's a "center" for time,
In its tower so tall.

Kory sent me back to the OTHER side of town AGAIN, haha, to a clock tower at the intersection of University Ave and Center St. I didn't know exactly where it was, so I was slightly confused at first. But then when I got there, I found a note on the door below the tower which told me to wait there and think about what a clock represented.

I sat on a nearby bench and waited a minute or two. It felt like forever! Then Kory came around from behind me dressed ever so classy. He looked so great. We both smiled at each other, he sat next to me and neither of us could stop smiling. We shared a couple of small kisses, but mostly kept staring in each other's eyes and smiling. He asked me what my answer to his question was. I said, "a clock represents time." I think he was hoping that I would go a little bit more in depth about my conclusion, but I was just anxious to hear what HE had to say!

He paused for a moment, then started to talk about how the problem with a clock is that it limits time. The thing about eternity is that it is limitless. And how he wanted to love me for time and all eternity. He talked about how we both already knew that we had made the decision to be married. But that he wanted to ask... *grabs right hand, kneels on one knee in front of me*... Ana Lee, *I quickly pull my right hand out of his and switch is to my left, we both smile and laugh* ..."will you marry me?" YESSSS!!!!! (I loved the part where he grabbed my right hand because it made it real to me, and showed me that Kory was just as anixious as I was!).

After he put the ring on my finger we sat on the bench below the clock tower in the middle of Provo, UT and just held hands and smiled and exchanged little kisses. It was such a happy moment, everything felt perfect. I love Kory so much! He is so romantic. It was a wonderful proposal because it highlighted many things that are significant to us and took me on a little journey through our relationship.





That night we went to our LDS Marriage and Family class that we are taking together. Then after class we went to PF Changs for our celebration dinner. We went to our special place, had a special dinner, and then were surprised with a special desert! Kory had arranged with the manager to do something special for us. They came our with a super cute plate that had "Congrats" written in rasberry sauce and then fruit along the outside rim. Then it had two chocolate shooter deserts. It was such a wonderful treat! I took a picture!



Then when we had the waitress take our picture with our cute little desert I tilted the plate up so you could read congrats. But the chocolate shooters slid down the plate and ruined "Congrats!" I was so bummed! Good thing I got the picture of just the plate first, haha.



Overall, it was an absolutely amazing day spent with my absolutely amazing fiance! I am so excited to marry Kory in the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and be sealed together for time AND all of eternity. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for families to be sealed together forever, not just until "death do us part." Heavenly Father loves us, and he wants us to be happy and return with our families to live with Him again. If you want to know more about the plan of happiness there are two gentleman in a white shirt with the first name "Elder" that would love to tell you all about it! Click here to learn more.

I Have the Best Fiance

Things have been going so good lately. Sadie commented on my last post that I needed to make sure to journal all of my experiences at this time in our lives. I have been meaning to write in my journal, but I really wanted to start a new journal since I am entering a new phase in my life. It just seemed like a great idea, to start a new chapter with a new journal. Unfortunately, I have been looking for a new journal since I was in Europe and haven't found one that I loved and was willing to pay that much for, haha. Well the other day while Kory and I were at Walmart looking at planners for him I saw the journals next to them. I briefly mentioned that I needed to go to Deseret Book and find a journal so I could start writing about this special time. Yesterday, out of no where, Kory gave me such a wonderful and thoughtful gift. He got me a journal! It is beautiful teal leather bound, it has hibiscus flowers (I love Hawaiian flowers) and gold satin lining the pages. The best part is that it has a scripture at the bottom of every page in the journal, most often about faith or other great principles. It is a beautiful journal, and another reminder that I have the best fiance ever!

We have been crazy busy lately trying to finalize wedding plans and keep our costs as low as possible. It's not easy! But things are going well. It is such a fun time. I'm still sleeping on my friend's floor, and he's still sleeping at a friend's on an air mattress...but things are going well for us.

I have to run but I thought I would drop a quick note.

There's No Place Like Home

There's no place like home...especially when you don't have a place to call home!

I'm back in Utah now. Kory is a couple of weeks into school and he seems to be doing really well keeping up with everything. He has a pretty tough semester. He is taking the rest of his prerequisites for applying to the Business School. That includes calculus, statistics, and economics in the same semester. Kind of a lot to keep up with. I am only taking one class this semester. Kory and I are taking LDS Marriage and Family together. It is really fun to have a class together, especially one that supplements our preparation for marriage.

Other than my one class with Kory, my plan for the semester is to just work full time and do wedding planning. I have only been back for a few days, so I haven't made too much progress. But hopefully I will get more accomplished soon. My highest priority right now is finding a great job.

I am still living out of a suitcase. It is so awkward, and I really have a hard time staying organized but you do what you can. I have been living out of a suit case since the end of June. It is getting old really fast! Kory and I found our apartment for when we get married. It is a really nice one bedroom place. We are super excited about it! It isn't available until September 20th though, so Kory is homeless right now too haha. It will be a great story to tell our kids, "when your dad and I were engaged we didn't have anywhere to live so we just lived out of our cars." haha, no not really, we have been staying with friends. We are getting married November 8th so it didn't make sense for either of us to sign contracts in single housing apartments because then we would end up paying for November an December rent that we didn't even use. So that leaves us at friends' apartments until at least the 20th when one of us will move into our married apartment.

This last week we did some really fun things. On Thursday we went the dollar movie theatre and saw Hancock, starring Will Smith. I liked it. It's about a super hero who made everyone in the city upset with the ways he saved them because he destroying everything in his path along the way. But it turn out good, and has a cute ending. Friday Kory and I went on a little hike up at Sundance Ski Resort. We rode the chair lift up to the top and then walked along the trail. It was a lot of fun. We both love the outdoors, and it was something we hadn't done before. Saturday we went to the BYU vs. UCLA football game. We absolutely killed them 59-0 so that was fun. I like it when our team is good :) We were not very good the first two years I was at BYU. So overall it was a really great week.

I hope things are going well for each of you. Love you guys!

Overview of the Last Two Months!

My goodness, I have had SO much happen in the last two months. It has probably been some of the most exciting two months I have ever had in my entire life. Let me give you an overview of what I have been up to since my last blog. (By the way, I deeply apologize to each of you who have been patiently waiting for it to no longer be "Sunday" ha!).

June
25: Flew to Virginia to be with Kory!
26: I went to the Matt Nathanson concert Oceanside at Virginia Beach while Kory worked.
29: We made Sunday dinner with friends and played games then went to the beach!
30: Kory and I went on a very nice date to PF Changs (one of our favorites).

July
1: I hated saying goodbye to Kory then had to catch my international flight.
2: I arrived to Edinburgh, Scotland.
4: Missed America, and the 4th of July, and Kory... a lot.
5: We did baptisms at the Preston, England temple.
6: Saw Liverpool, England for a few hours.
7: Arrived in London, England.
10: Saw TWO shows for cheap! CHICAGO and Jersey Boys.
11: Day trip to Stone Henge and Bath.
12: Flew to Amsterdam.
13: Held our own testimony meeting then toured Amsterdam.
14: Drove through Belgium, stopped to visit EU Council in Brussels (and eat waffles).
15: First full day in Paris, France.
17: Day trip to Normandy.
19: Toured the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
20: Attended church at Geneva ward where they spoke french, then met ex-patriots.
21: International Business Presentation by Nestle.
22: Full day in Zermatt, Switzerland where we saw the famous Matterhorn.
23: First full day in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland one of the most beautiful places.
25: Travel to Salzburg, Austria.
26: The Sound of Music tour.
27: Matthousen Concentration Camp.
28: Day trip to the BMW factory in Munich, Germany.
29: Tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle (the one Disney's was based off of).
30: First full day in Milan, Italy saw The Last Supper.
31: Venice! We saw a phenomenal Vivaldi concert.

August
1: Spent the day shopping in Venice.
2: Florence, Italy where we saw Michaelangelo's David.
3: Bore my English testimony to the Italians. Then day tripped to Cortona Tuscany.
4: Rome, Italy!
5: Day trip to Pompeii (the preserved city) and the Italian beach.
6: Saw the sites and enjoyed making our last few memories.
7: Put a package together for my cousin Jonathan serving his mission in Rome.
8: A LONG flight back to the USA then a WONDERFUL REUNION with Kory!
9: I knocked door to door with Kory and watched him make a sale, so fun.
10: Kory and I sang as parts of a quartet in his branch sacrament meeting.
11: Kory finished his last day of work! We celebrated with PF Changs.
12: We got in the car and left Virginia Beach and headed for DC.
12: My first time to Washington DC! Played tourist, visited my good friend Kylee.
13: Drove to Cleveland, OH to see Carissa then Toledo, OH to see Kelli and their fams!
14: After checking to make sure the car was ok, Kory and I started driving again.
15: Kory and I made it back to Provo, UT!
16: Kory and I had lunch at my cousins Jon and Gina Cheney's.
18: We jumped back in the car and drove home to Boise, ID!
19: Kory flew home to Washington to chill with his family.
22: I flew up to Seattle to see Kory again! He picked me up with beautiful flowers!
22: Kory and I had a blast spending the day in Seattle and a the Mariner's game!
23: I met Celeste! Then visited my cousins in Puyallup (Don and Jodie Fowles' family).
24: So much fun enjoying the sabbath with Kory and his family.
25: Kory and I flew back to Boise.
29: HAPPY 6 MONTHS to ANA LEE and KORY! We had a cute picnic by the Boise River.
29: Somehow Kory and I squeeze in ANOTHER road trip this summer...Priest River, ID.
30: Kory, Mom and I do yard work at grandma's house and attend graveside service.
31: Attended church in Priest River then went to Lind, WA for Sunday dinner and drove home. Kory got to meet a lot more of the family! We loved seeing the Fowles.

September
1: Kory leaves for Provo after spending the day with me. School starts tomorrow. I will join him next week. But I am missing him loads already!


So as you can see I have a LOT to write about and a lot of pictures to share too. I don't even know where to begin? At least you have the overview now? haha. It is late so I am going to go to bed. But I hope you enjoy my little calendar of events!

Love you all!

Trip To Utah

Mom and I spent last week in Utah. I had to go down for two wedding receptions and to take care of some other things. We had so much fun! I have been to four of my friends' weddings in the last month, haha. It's that time of year I guess. The first wedding reception was one of my really good family friend's, Natty. He and I met when we were 15, our families were on a tour group in Europe together. It was a total blast! Our families got along great and we became really good friends. I spent a lot of time at his house the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school. I spent pretty much the whole summer in Utah doing summer camps at BYU. I became really good friends with all of Natty's friends also. The next year I played club volleyball and my team traveled to Utah every other weekend for tournaments. After the tournament was over I'd go hang out with all of them for the rest of the weekend. I have many, many great memories with that group of friends. It was really fun to see all of them again at the wedding reception! I wish I had more pictures, but believe it or not I totally forgot the memory card for my camera in Boise, ugh! So all of the pictures I have were taken with my phone. The reception was held at Natty's house, which brought back so many memories. They have the most beautiful home I have ever seen.


This is what the refreshments were sitting on. It was totally cute to have small portions in individual small dishes sitting on these tall decorative shelves near the pool. It looked really classy. They also had a crepe bar on the other side, yum!







n+t = Natty + Tacia. Natty is a graphic designer and that is their "logo," totally cute. I love the flower design on the cake too! He probably did that.

My hair was totally flat and not very cute by the end of the night. It had been a really long day out and about! I didn't get to touch-up before the reception. Oh well.



The second wedding reception that I got to go to was for my old Kauai roommate and Del Sol girl, Sarah. It was so fun to get to go to her wedding! It was great having all 4 of us Kauai girls reunited again. Hailey has been living in Maui this whole year managing one of the Del Sol stores there. Katie and I see each other every now and then. For a while we were going to the Temple together once a week so we were keeping in touch pretty well. It was really great having all of us there together and get the chance to catch up. I don't have the pictures of all of us together, but I have some. Sarah's reception was absolutely beautiful. I was in a greenhouse with gorgeous flowers and plants throughout the whole room. There were fountains, stone paths, and gazebos. It was very romantic. When it came time for the bouquet toss all of us single ladies gathered together. Sarah tossed it up in the air and it came right to me, haha. So I caught the bouquet! I have no idea what that means ;) haha. It was a lot of fun though. There is a pic of that also.










The Del Sol Kauai girls! ...minus Sarah.


Sarah looking at the decorated car with a look of disgust, haha.


Sarah and Sam went to Park City on their honeymoon. We were joking about how I might run into them at the outlet mall that weekend. On Saturday I got my hair done in Salt Lake and my friend Casey (the girl who Stephen dated before his mission) came and picked me up from the salon. We went to Park City to go shopping at the outlet mall. Sure enough, I'm looking at dresses and all of the sudden I see Sarah walking towards me. We both started laughing and gave each other a hug. It was really funny that I saw them while they were on their honeymoon. I didn't talk to her very long and soon made my way to the other side of the store so they could continue enjoying each other. I felt bad like I was totally interrupting. But seriously, what are the odds we would be in the same store at the same time!? Note to self, go further away than Park City for my honeymoon, hehe.

After shopping Mom met up with Casey and I. Went went to a pizza place off of Main St. downtown in Park City. Park City is so fun! I love it. It just has a fun atmosphere and it always feels like you are on vacation when you go there. It's great! I wish I had more pics from the weekend. It really was a bummer that I left my memory card in my computer at home! Oh well, at least I have some pictures.

We saw a lot of Cheneys (my cousins) this weekend. Kerry and Leon were in town because they chaperoned a church youth activity. They went to the Manti pageant and to Salt Lake Temple Square to see on of the church movies. I think they had a really good time. Katie was at EFY all week, then they picked her up and all of them went to Jon and Gina's house. Mom and I went over to Jon and Gina's and got to see all five of their cute little blonde girls plus Kerry, Leon, and Katie. It was so much fun to catch up with all of them! We have had family reunions every year pretty much my whole life so I am really close with my cousins. I always enjoy it when I can go to West Jordan to see them because it really isn't too far from Provo.

These pictures are dedicated to my cousin Sadie who living with her husband across the country in Jersey for a few years. Here are pictures of my Uncle Klyn (Sadie's dad) and the farm! Gooding, ID has such a beautiful landscape view from my cousin's house. It is fun to visit and enjoy the peace and quiet. On the drive to and from Utah we stopped and said hi to Aunt Kay Lynn and Uncle Klyn. It was really great to get to visit with them.



Klyn's really cool little truck. Its stearing wheel is on the wrong side and its a stick shift. He told me that I could try to drive it if I wanted, but I was tired from traveling all day. Now that I am thinking about it I wish I would have tried it. It would be so crazy to shift with your left hand!