Angela and I in DC

Angela and I on Dewey Beach

Angela arrived out here late on the night of the 28th. It was so good to see her after so long. We had a spectacular 5 days!

On the 29th, we wore ourseleves out walking around all the monuments (8 or 9 miles at least). It was unseasonably warm, so walking around really wasn't too bad. Except I'm out of shape. Then we had a great (though expensive) dinner at Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria's Old Town, and (a pleasant night-time 20 block stroll down King St to get there).

On the 30th, we wore ourselves out again visiting museums and looking at the Capitol building. We were so tired, we just decided to go find a bench on the Mall and sit for the last half hour. Then we met my parents and Amy and Bryan for dinner at Memphis BBQ. Then we went to the DC temple to check out the lights and listen to a choir.

On the 31st, we drove out to the beach. It took three hours to get there, but it was a very scenic drive, over the Chesapeake Bay and through a lot of farmland. We arrived at Dewey Beach (in Delaware) and tried to get a mid-afternoon bite, but everything on the beach had closed, so we drove back into town and found a quaint little dinner. Then we took a walk along the beach, and then drove south along the reef towards Ocean City in Maryland. It wasn't as scenic as California, but it was still beautiful. And the weather was just about right--a little chilly with the wind coming off the ocean, but unseasonably warm. Right around sunset we found a place called Finwick Island State Park. Even though the sunset wasn't over the ocean, it was still beautiful across the other side of the reef and painted the Atlantic all sorts of amazing shades of blue and purple. We walked and took pictures, and then I pulled out a ring (which, with a little advice from her sneaky roommate Heather, I had bought just before I left Provo and had shipped to my parents house). I can't remember exactly how I said things, because I was a little nervous, but I got on my knee and proposed to her. The fact that she was wearing gloves made this a little difficult, though. Her response was "I don't know," which is of course better than a no, but not a yes. So we stood on the beach and hugged and thought and thought for a very long time. I had caught her by complete surprise (which was one of my purposes), and while she wanted to say yes, she just wasn't entirely sure. So I decided that I had had the luxury of time to make up my mind, so she deserved some too, and we left things at that. But we talked hypothetically about things a lot on the way home. (As you probably know, it didn't take long for her to make a decision).

We got lost in DC on the way home because I missed a turn and my GPS didn't work well in the big city. So we had dinner at 9:00, which is about right when Amy finished it anyways. Then we watched "Miracle on 34th St" and interupted it for some bubbly and a countdown at midnight.

On the 1st, we just hung out at home all day--just a chance to relax from all the touring and driving we had done. We took several strolls through the woods behind my parent's house. We also watched my dad launch bottle rockets 1,000 feet in the air. It was very impressive.

On the 2nd Angela met Chris and Katie (who'd just returned from Utah) for all of two hours before we headed off to church and then off to Reagan airport, which we got to in plenty of time. It was a long boring flight. And then we had to fight for an hour through a big crowd in the SLC airport to get our luggage. Then I had dinner at Angela's parent's house (yummy steak) and then I came home.

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Posted 11:27 PM | Comments (1)

We're engaged!

Angela and I just got engaged tonight (January 4, 2005)! Beats me why she'd want to marry a guy as crazy as me, but I'm very happy and lucky that she said yes. She's absolutely the most adorable, sweet, smart, and beautiful woman I've ever known and we're madly in love with each other.

Update: The wedding will be on February 19th in Salt Lake City.

She made me propose to her again, of course (I proposed to her the first time on the beach on New Year's Eve). I took her down by Utah Lake at sunset. It was as close to the original proposal as I could get. But of course, she knew what was happening this time.

Posted 11:13 PM | Comments (1)

The Ring

Angela's wedding ring

A few people have been asking about Angela's ring, so I thought I'd just add a few pictures of it. I chose it myself, by the way, after some excellent spy work by her roommate Heather. I even got the size exactly right by playfully putting the ring Angela wears on her right hand on my pinky several times.

I did a lot of comparison shopping (both locally and on the internet) and found the best deal (combination of service and price) at Wilson Diamonds. It was kind of fun doing all the shopping and research, although I don't know if I'll ever use the stuff I learned again.

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Posted 11:35 PM | Comments (1)