Engagement Pictures

So...Richard and I went and took our Engagment pictures today. My friend Nickell did the pictures and we took them down at the Shops at the Riverwoods in north Provo. We took them from 9 to 11 this morning. It was 17 degrees outside, so yes it was freezing. We would take breaks for 5 minutes at a time to sit in the car and warm up our hands and faces because they were turning red. No one wants red faces in their pictures right?
Well they are really fun pictures and I am so excited to see them all.
If you or your friends need engagment, bridal, or wedding pictures Nickell is a great photographer. You can go to her website: www.photosbynickell.com

Valentine's Day

Our first valentine's day together was amazing. I didn't feel too well, but as any other Thursday goes, I had meetings all morning, so I still had to go to work. But I came home at noon. I came home and took a nap, told Richard to call me when he got off work, and then played on my new computer, downloading songs and put pictures on it, etc. Richard came over after work and brought me a beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses, in a gorgeous vase. He is amazing!

Richard wanted to go home and take a nap and get ready, and he told me he would call me later. So all my roomies were home and we were all waiting for our "boys" to come around...ya know how that is. Richard came at about 7:00 and we exchanged gifts. He gave me some beautiful gold loops with diamonds on them. I gave him a card with content that made him cry, a triple combination in Portuguese, $30 gift certificate to Goodwood BBQ (one of our favorite places), and the Moulin Rouge CD....he has been wanting it for a while now. Later when we were in the car on the way to dinner, I told him that I wrote a poem and put it in his card, and he had not read it. So I got jittery because I really thought this poem was SO lame...but he loved it! Of course, it was from me.

We went to Sizzler for dinner and it was so good, it was great service and we had a good time eating good food and talking about future plans. WE get to be married in the temple in 10 weeks...crazy! Then he took me to see the movie "Definitely, Maybe". And it was really cute, Richard even liked it.

It was 11:55 when we came out of the movie theater and when we got in the car and started on our way home, Richard said he was sad that the night was over and curfew was at 12:00. He wanted to be with me longer...

Life is fun! This was my first Valentine's Day with a man, and it was a blast. It was fun to have someone to love and to spoil, although I got spoiled a whole lot more. I have caught the most amazing man in all the world.

I hope all you had a great V-Day (or Singles Awareness Day). Loves!

Holidays

As with any other couple, holidays are crazy. Especially when you are soon to be married and you want to be together and both of your families want you home. So we started the compromise. We went to St. George to Richard's family's house for Thanksgiving and to mine (Allysa) in California for Christmas. Thanksgiving was a blast. Richard went fishing with his dad, and then I was privileged to watch as Richard and his brother Michael golfed. We did have fun with the two older guys they golfed with. It was definitely different for me to be having Thanksgiving without my family. And since I had started this new job and Richard had his job, we were only there on Wednesday and Thursday (the day before and the day of), and we had to drive back on Thursday night to attend work on Friday. But life is good, we are grateful for jobs.
Going down to my house in Cali for Christmas kept us busy. I flew down the Friday afternoon before Christmas and hung out with my family, and Richard came down Sunday early, so he could attend church with us. It was only a day and a half and it seemed like forever that we were apart. Everyone enjoyed meeting him, and I enjoyed introducing him to everyone. He looked so handsome in his suit. Sunday night we had our usual "Sunday before Christmas" get together with our friends and we had dinner and acted out the nativity. Monday we got everything ready for Christmas the next day. We worked on the back room that needed sheetrock on the walls and the ceiling. My dad only worked a half day and brought some old carpet from his building home with him, and we put that down. Monday, since it was Christmas Eve, we were having a Round Robin with some of our friends and we were doing Soup and all that at one family's house and then we were having dessert and gift exchange at our house. So we set up all the chairs in the backroom and then mom decided she wanted to have a Christmas Tree in the room, so Richard and I were sent on a search for a Christmas Tree. We got a 7 foot tree for $10. Sweet huh? We brought it back and decorated it. We had a blast at our Round Robin. The third house we went to, after ours, we did gingerbread houses and acted out the nativity. It was neat. Then we went home and went to bed. Christmas was wonderful. Richard gave me a beautiful necklace of a heart with a star inside and also a girl's cut BYU football jersey (what do you expect). We had fun. Then we drove home the day after Christmas.
This is only a short synopsis of our first holidays together.

THE Talent Show

Then the next night, Friday, November 16th, we had our ward talent show. He was the last act, as he asked to be. He told everyone to stand up and stretch. Then he told allthe guys to sit down and all the girls to put their left hand in theair. Then he said, "If you are not wearing a ring on your left ringfinger that I gave to you, sit down". So I was the only one standingwith my left hand in the air. Everyone started hollering, yelling andcheering. It was funny! (Richard told me the night before that hedidn't want me to tell anyone yet, so there were very few people whoknew). Then he sang a song to me, had me come on stage with him anddance with him, and it was a blast…good thing I don't get embarrassedeasily.

Engagement

I got engaged November 15th!!!
So the week before we got engaged, I told Richard that I was going toget a day off of work because the director at work had been gone for 2weeks and I was the "acting director" during that time. So when shereturned she told me that once everything settled, I could have a dayoff. So I asked for Thursday 15 November, because Richard told me thatI should.So when Richard got home from work that Thursday (15 Nov) and after hegot ready,he told me we were going out to lunch. And when he came toget me hesaid I needed a jacket because we were going up the canyon.
***BACKGROUND: We go up the canyon often, because we like to go up at night when it is dark and dance to music under the stars. He knows that it is one of my most favorite things to do. ***
So we went and got some food (Café Rio) to go and went up the canyonand found a grassy area. He laid down a blanket, and we started eating and talking. Then he decided to get out his stereo and he started playing"mood music". Which was a CD that consisted of songs that he has previously sung to me, or we have previously danced to, or that he just liked, that reminded him of me. He named theCD, as I we later figured out, "Allysa's Engaging Collection".
Then after we were done eating he said, "we should dance" and of course I wanted to do that. But before we got up he got on his knees and started telling me all the things that he liked about me, and then he said, "but I would rather be dancing with my fiancé, than my girlfriend." I was still sitting down, but he got on his knee and proposed..."Allysa Wilson, will you marry me?"...
Of course I said yes, but I was hugging and kissing him so much he had to say"hold up, I need to put this ring on your finger." my first thought came out in words and I said "no" just because I was so excited and having so much fun hugging him! hahaha! But then I realized that he really wanted to put the ring on my finger, and really I wanted it there. And I was also making him nervous, and I figured that it probably was important to let him put the ring on. :)
So he put the ring on my finger, then we danced for a long while just enjoying being in each others arms. Then went for a walk up the trail, up to see Bridal Veil Falls. We sat and watched the falls, and we sat on a rock and talked for quite a long time. Oh what a man he is, I am so excited to marry him. He is intelligent, amazing, loving, kind. And he is all mine!
I came home, the door was locked, and as I entered my apartment, Mariah was there! She had a big smile on her face. Mariah and some of my other roommates had decorated our front room with posters saying "Apt. 312 loves the future Mrs. Beers", and "Congrats Allysa" and "Here comes the bride". And they had a sash and tiara that said "Bride to be". My roommate does wedding bouquets and she made me one of red roses. And there were candles and hugs and kisses all over the table. It was really fun. We had a celebration, an informal engagement party if you will, that night, with glasses of sparkling cider and confetti bombs to top it off...it was pretty fun! :) ALLYSA