Good old Idaho...

The wedding is officially less than two months away! Wahoo! With the clock ticking down, Dan and I decided to head to Idaho for the weekend to do some wedding stuff with my parents. We got there Friday night just in time to go to a branch party with my parents where we ate the best authentic Mexican food. La comida fue muy rica!

Saturday morning I went wedding dress shopping with my parents. Poor Dan got left behind at my house while we were out and about. He's a good sport. Now Idaho Falls is a pretty small place, so the wedding dress selection is really nothing to shout about. But, despite that, we had success! I was able to find a beautiful dress at Margene's Bridal and I totally love it! It's getting pressed and steamed this week, and my parents will bring it down to me when they come up for General Conference this weekend. It's awesome, and if Dan didn't have access to this blog, I would post a picture so you all could see it...

We were also able to discuss some stuff for the open house in Idaho and pick out our colors--a deep cranberry-ish red and ivory. It was a productive weekend and I'm glad we went.

Life is definitely good right now. I love Dan and planning our wedding has been tons of fun so far. It promises to be a hectic two months with school and work and everything, but we're definitely excited!

Slowly and surely...

Well, it was a good week in the world of wedding planning. The wedding is only 67 days away, and our plans are starting to take shape. With Dan and I both going to school and working, you might imagine we're way stressed out about everything, but so far we're doing surprisingly well!

The highlight of the week came when we were able to book our honeymoon. Dave and Stacey (who earned themselves a lifetime of free babysitting) gave us a week stay in their time share. We'll be going to Oceanside, CA the week before Christmas. We are so excited!!

We also got four of our engagement photos back. Our photographer (Dan's friend Triana) says the rest of the pictures should be ready any time. She will be giving us a CD with about 40-50 pictures on it. I'm really excited to see how they turned out. I really two of the four we already have. Dan looks GOOD, if I say so myself...

I was also able to get in touch with my Grandpa Knapp and ask him to be our sealer at the temple. He was a sealer in the Idaho Falls temple for a long time. He has performed the weddings of all my siblings, and most of my cousins. Since he's not a temple worker anymore, he has to get permission from the first presidency to do sealings. But, since he will be doing the ceremony for my cousin's wedding the weekend before, there shouldn't be any problems getting permission. It will be a neat experience to have my grandpa do the ceremony.

The housing search continues...November is a wierd time to find an apartment. We've found a couple possibilities, but nothing is for sure yet. We'll keep looking and something will turn up!

So, yeah...that's basically what we were up to last week. This week we need to reserve the church for our reception, get our engagement pictures back and work on announcements, and then kick back, relax, and just enjoy each other. Sounds like a plan to me. And, we will be going to Idaho this weekend to do some stuff for our open house up there.

There's lots to do, but it's definitely worth it!

Teacher...

Thinking back, was there a teacher(s) or a class that had a great influence on you?
DAN:
One of my favorite teachers was my high school Algebra and Calculus teacher, Mr. Jensen. Though on in his years, he gave his all to teaching and loving his students through these awkward and frustrating years. Mr. Jensen would get to school sometimes hours before the first bell rang and stay later into the evening to help students with needs. I never felt like I was one of those students, but he still made me feel like I was important to him, and could call on him whenever I needed. Every year, Mr. Jensen would write a personal letter to each of his students. He seemed to know me well, and connected with me well, which is interesting looking back because I never really did spend a lot of time with him one on one. I imagine that to most any other teacher I was just another student in the class whose name he had to memorize, but Mr. Jensen made me feel important and worthwhile. To a growing kid, that can mean a lot… and looking back, I see how easy it is to make someone feel special. Just show a little love to those in need, and they will remember you years down the road – just like Mr. Jensen.

LAURIE:
One of my all-time favorite Young Women’s leaders was named Marge Sanders. Her daughter Kathy was one of my best friends in elementary school and middle school. I spent countless hours at the Sanders’ house playing with Kathy and participating in church activities. Marge was one of those “cool” moms that everyone wants. She even let me and Kathy sneak chocolate chips to eat outside in their playhouse. But, the most valuable thing Sister Sanders gave me wasn’t the chocolate…. She helped me understand the importance of applying gospel principles to everyday situations. Here’s an example… One year at Girl’s Camp I got into a petty little fight with some of the other girls. As a result, I was reluctant to participate in many activities and spoke little during the camp. I remember that Sister Sanders took me aside and said, “Laurie, forgive and forget!” For some reason that simple sentence really struck me and has stuck with me. Many times now when I am faced with situations where I could choose to hold a grudge or move on, Marge’s words ring loud and clear in my head. Marge had a profound influence on my young adult life and I will always be grateful for her.

Getting to Know Us...

Dan and I have been answering questions from a jar... Look for responses in upcoming posts. I think you'll like me better than him after you get to know me a little more...

Between the ages of 5-10, what was your favorite activity?
LAURIE:
As a little girl there was nothing I liked better than playing Secret Du Agents with Janie and Darin. Countless hours were spent loading mine and Jane’s pink Barbie suitcases with all our necessary mystery-solving and crime-fighting gadgets. We used everything from McDonald’s Happy Meal toys to wooden spools to empty tubes of lipstick to become the Secret Du Agents. Of course, we were almost always accompanied by our trusty dog, Darin. After packing our suitcases, we set off on long flights (via the sofa) to track down criminals like Vic the Slick. Once on the plane, our secret helpers (the Happy Meal toys) worked as informants to help us know which of our arch nemeses were on our same flight. It usually didn’t take long for us to devise a plan, use our gadgets, and capture the criminal. All in a day’s work for the Secret Du Agents!

DAN:
When I was about that age, I loved playing "Cheetah". The game usually happened during recess, with a few of my close friends, while I went to Hillcrest Elementary in Orem, Utah. I particularly remember one time when the oak leaves had changed colors and fallen to the ground. A few of my guy friends and I would be cheetahs, and a few girls would be our moms – naturally! Well, they would build "nests" for us out of fallen oak leaves (what cheetah doesn't live in a nest made of leaves?), and find us "food" to eat (usually some sort of grass or weed). Let's just say that I don't remember having eaten any of that "food". Thank goodness. I remember being the fastest cheetah, and able to sprint the fastest on all fours. It took a lot of practice, but it was well worth it. The fresh Utah Fall air was enough to make this a valuable memory, and every once in a while I see those cheetah spots reminding me of simpler times.

Our Engagement Story

Dan: On Thursday, 28 August, in the morning, I felt a need to buy a ring, knowing that I would soon propose to Laurie. I’d been terrified to do it, as it was different from the norm (thank goodness!). I guess buying an engagement ring is something you hope to do only once. I went up to the University Mall where we had previously looked at rings together, with pamphlets and notes about which rings Laurie had liked. Because of that, I had a good idea of where I was heading. First, I went to Morgan Jewelers, and found a beautiful ring, and looked it over. I left there to briefly visit another store, but that ring just didn’t say “Laurie” to me like the one at Morgan’s. Back to Morgan’s I went… I told him I was interested in the ring, and we got the deal done. I had to have my dad come up to put it on his credit card, and will pay him back in the future.

Laurie: It’s nice of your dad to do that. It’ll be me paying it back!

Dan: It’ll be us paying it back. J So, I bought the ring, and walked out the door with a big bag with the most expensive/smallest thing I had ever paid for. Granted, it was well worth it, looking back! When I got out to my car, I called my best friend, Aaron Southerland (who, incidentally, proposed that night to Stephanie Horn), and said, “Dude… I just bought a ring…” He was very excited for me! I guess that’s a huge step, huh? Then, I picked up the phone and called her dad (whose number I had stolen from her unattended phone weeks earlier). He didn’t answer, but I asked him to pull me aside during his birthday party that was to happen on Friday out in Saratoga Springs at Laurie’s sister’s place. You can talk about the next part, because you know we went to the party.

Laurie: Okay…We arrived a little late to the party and when we got there the food was just about ready and it was time for the prayer. I guess that means we got there right on time, huh? My mom offered the blessing on the food (which turned out to be a good thing—Jared had secretly cornered each of the grandkids to bribe them with $10 if they would ask in the prayer that Dan would ask me to marry him…typical Jared). We were about finished eating when my dad suddenly stands up and says, “Hey Dan, come check out my new car!” Dan, innocently looking confused and slightly nervous, followed him up the porch steps and out to the front yard. As soon as they disappeared from view, all of my siblings’ eyes turned to me and they all busted up laughing, and were soon talking about their various proposal stories and talking to future fathers-in-law.

Dan: When we got out to the car, Laurie’s dad innocently opened the driver’s-side door, and we looked in. Then he went around to the passenger side and climbed in. I took the clue, and climbed into the driver’s seat. Now, I have to preface this by saying that this moment was the one that I’d be terrified of having to have since about the time I was 9. I know that sounds ridiculous, especially since Laurie’s dad is really easy-going, but it’s the whole thought of asking a man to let you take his daughter to yourself and having him trust you enough (hopefully) to let her be yours for forever. I said “You probably know what this is all about, but I want to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage.” He replied that as a dad of a daughter, you hope that somewhere in the world, a family is raising a righteous son that will be worthy of your daughter and treat her with the respect that she deserves. He said that he was glad my parents were like that, and had raised me to be worthy of Laurie. Frankly, I’m glad too! And, hey, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Relief! After talking with him a bit longer about Laurie, he welcomed me into the Knapp family, and said how excited he was to continue to get to know me over the coming years. He also asked me to watch out for Darin, Laurie’s little brother, while he’s down here at BYU (something I’d already been planning to do).

Laurie: I don’t believe that I didn’t see through you. You’d been very convincing that we needed to go ring shopping… I don’t know, I just didn’t see it coming for a few more weeks.

Dan: It’s true, it was a good act that I put on!

Both: Mhmm

Dan: So, we walked through the house and out to the back yard again, talking about his car, naturally.

Laurie: Right, the car. When they got back, I asked Dan what was up. I know my dad and that he can be slightly overprotective of his daughters, and I was secretly nervous that he may have said something to make Dan feel uneasy. Dan, telling only part of the truth, told me that my dad had wanted to make sure he was taking good care of me and had asked that he check in on Darin from time to time during the semester. I thought it was weird that he would do that, but then again, I have a w….

Dan: …Weird dad? Do it!!

Laurie: …ierd dad. The rest of the night was spent playing family games, including a piñata, and eating home-made ice cream and carrot cake. I didn’t suspect a thing…. Saturday afternoon Dan met up with me, Dad, Mom, and Darin for the BYU vs. Northern Iowa football game. Dad had scored us some tailgate party tickets, so we enjoyed some burgers before the game. The game rocked! Of course, it’s BYU football…how can it not rock?

Dan: We had tickets with a group of my friends, including Jared Davis and Dave Horan. When we got to our seats, I sort of pulled Jared to the side while Laurie was talking with Darin… and whispered: “Guess what? I’m gonna propose tonight!” You should have seen his face, it was classic! He was so excited for us saying, “Are you serious? That’s awesome!” I asked him not to tell anybody, and of course, he obliged.

Laurie: The game was fun and hot. Kinda like me.

Dan: Ha. Nerd…

Laurie: After the game we said bye to my parents and Darin and Dan suggested we both get a little cleaned up before driving to American Fork to check out Discovery Park. So, we stopped by both our places to change clothes.

Dan: As we drove to my place, I texted my brother Joe to tell him to let everyone know that I still hadn’t proposed to Laurie, so as to not say anything.

Laurie: Oh, that would have been bad!

Dan: Yeah, it would have! Can you imagine? Well, we got to my place and I went downstairs to change, and throw the ring box (ring included) into my camera case with a tripod. I tried to cover up the ring box with a sock just in case Laurie wanted to get into my camera case for whatever reason. So, I was cleaned up, and terrified. I got upstairs, and we went back out to the car…

Laurie: The car? Isn’t it my car?

Dan: Well, you just gave me a set of keys, so now it’s the car. Ha! Okay, so we went out to the car…

Laurie: Now, Dan has said that he was nervous, but I must give him credit for his acting skills. I had no idea he was terrified. The only slight tell-tale sign was his nagging ulcer… He was even doing gangsta impersonations on the drive. Smooth. When we drove past Discovery Park, all the lights were out. I was a little disappointed…

Dan: It’s still a cool park and we should go some time.

Laurie: We’ll add it to the list. Anywho, Dan suggested we keep going a little further up the road to the Mt. Timpanogos temple to take some pictures. I still didn’t suspect a thing. So, when we got to the temple Dan pulled the car into a parking spot so we could see the temple and told me that I was finally going to be able to hear my song.

Dan: Now, I had planned on Aaron Southerland being there to play the other part of the duet, but he was out of town, which ended up saving the surprise….

Laurie: (distracted) It’s so pretty, we should take it to go get sized, so I can have it for the weekend… yeah… just keep typing.

Dan: Well, I had my iPod, and let Laurie listen to the song. I could tell my hand was sweaty on her leg, where I had let it sit while we listened. I was, however, distracted and looking out the windows to see how many people were around, and thinking about how to work it all, so that it didn’t seem awkward or impersonal.

Laurie: My song is awesome. All my life I had thought it would be so cool to be the theme of a song. I’d always wanted somebody to write a song for me, but that’s not really something you go around asking. Dan had written me the song back when we dated before my mission. I didn’t know that at the time, or I might never have put in my papers!

Dan: Yeah right!!!!!!!!

Laurie: Right, I guess I would have anyway… sorry. My song is great because it describes our relationship so well and how things were when we first met, and how they still are. I felt kind of bad for Dan during the song because he looked slightly panicked. His hands are never sweaty…

Dan: Thank goodness!

Laurie: Mmmhmmm. So, not only were his hands sweaty, but he didn’t really look at me much during the song. He kept glancing out the side window. I just thought he was really nervous about me liking the song. I’m pretty naïve, aren’t I?

Dan: I don’t know if naivety is the right word, but anyways… We got out of the car, and went to take pictures in front of the temple. I gave her my tripod, but kept my camera case close to me. While she set up, I went out a ways, and stood, giving her something to line up with the temple. After double checking everything, she set the self-timer, and ran over to stand with me. ‘Click.’ The picture took, and I went to make sure it looked good. “It’s a little off-centered, how do I set the self-timer?” “It’s that button near the bottom of the camera.” “I don’t get it, can you come set it?” As if I wouldn’t know how to press the self-timer button! Ha!

Laurie: At this point I did wonder why he couldn’t figure it out. Isn’t he a computer guy? But, I humored him and went over to set the self-timer. I went back to stand by him when suddenly…the moment I’d been hoping for! He got down on one knee and pulled a little white box from his pocket. “Will you marry me?” ‘Click.’ I was so surprised all I could think to say was “Are you serious?”

Dan: Well, you were grinning too… “Are you serious? Are you serious?” “Yes, I’m serious, I have a ring”… yes, I really did say that. Finally, I got the answer I was hoping for…

Laurie: Yes!! We hugged, he put the ring on my finger and spun me in a circle.

Dan: Unbeknownst to me at the time, spinning a girl in a circle after proposing to her merits nice rewards…

Laurie: Dan just told me to clarify what constitutes a “reward.” In his words, “just a little kissing.” I love my ring! It was definitely one of my favorites I tried on. It’s shiny, and shiny is good. But even more than the ring, I love what it symbolizes, the fact that Dan loves me and we’ll get to be together forever.

Dan: Laurie just merited one of those rewards… Okay… three.

Laurie: You’re such a nerd.

Dan: Yeah, so… It’s true! We’re so excited that we get to be together forever. We feel that God’s hand has been in our relationship from the beginning and that this is meant to be. How grateful we are that we were brought back together at this point in our lives – after learning some important life lessons – to be the best thing that has ever happened to each other. I love Laurie, and I’m so glad that she said yes (eventually). It really will be wonderful to build a life with her by my side.

Laurie: What a stud. I paid him to write that. So, back to the story. The picture turned out awesome. We both have huge grins on our faces, and you can see the ring box and everything.

Dan: It really was great.

Laurie: We went back to the car and called my parents. We put them on speaker phone so we could both hear their reactions. They were, of course, really excited for us and were more than happy to welcome Dan to the family. My dad said he got what he had wanted most for his birthday—a new son-in-law. We also called my sisters. They were equally excited, but each said they had been expecting it. I called my best friend Janelle Wilson (who is also engaged) to share the wonderful news with her. Then we drove back to Dan’s place.

Dan: When we pulled up, my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Mara were just unloading their van to spend the night after having dropped kids off for school at BYU. I said “Hi, this is my fiancée!” They were surprised of course as they didn’t even know I was dating anyone. Then they found out that she had been my fiancée for a whopping 30 minutes! How excited they were. We then went inside and told my mom and dad. My mom was thrilled, and hugged Laurie, saying that she’s was always rooting for her. When my dad came in the kitchen, he was teary-eyed and obviously excited for us. We talked for a bit about the whole story (that you’re reading now), then wanted to go tell a bunch of other people. We first went down to my old apartment, and told Jared and Dave, along with other friends. Dave had no idea I was going to propose, so he was shocked. Jared just grinned, and all were happy.

Laurie: There was much rejoicing…. Yay….

Dan: We then went over to Kelli Stower’s apartment (with whom we went to the Rexburg temple to get her endowments) and told her the good news. After swinging by another apartment … awkward… and telling the story a total of 324 times, we went back to Laurie’s apartment to tell her roommates.

Laurie: I walked in (Dan had to stay at the door because of curfew) and went to the back to tell Charlotte Larson. All I did was wave at Char with the back of my left hand – her response was classic. She just screamed and gave me a huge hug. I think she may have woken up our neighbors… She and Abby came out to congratulate Dan and we told the story yet again. The evening ended with me and Dan sitting in the trunk of his Saturn…

Dan: …on the trunk.

Laurie: Stupid prepositions… on the trunk of his Saturn talking about the future and how excited we were. I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal, or a better guy.

Dan: Awww….

Laurie: Yep, we’re going to have a great life together.

Dan: It’s true. I’m so in love with this girl. She makes me want to be a better person, and together we feel like we’ll accomplish many great things. We’re really excited about our engagement and plans to be married September…

Laurie: Hey! Really? Really?!

Dan: Uh… errr… November 28, 2008 in the Bountiful Temple.