The Planning Begins!

First on our agenda was getting a temple date and then once that was taken care of, we started looking for reception places. Since we decided on Mount Timpanogos Temple, it made sense to find something close by that wouldn't be too far for our Salt Lake County friends/family as well as our Utah County connections. We found that in a pretty place in American Fork called Northampton house (http://www.northamptonhouse.com/). So this will be the location for both the luncheon as well as the reception.

The date is set!

Now that the ring was officially on my finger, it was time to choose a date! After much deliberation, we selected Saturday, November 8, 2008! The marriage will take place in the Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork!

The Proposal!

Well it became official on Monday, August 4th 2008. Brandon proposed! Brandon picked me up and told me that our date that night would consist of going to places that we've been before on previous dates. So we first went to dinner at an Italian place downtown, called Al Forno's, then he took me to Mulligan's to hit golf balls on the driving range, which was the site of our very first date that took place over two years ago!
We hit around for awhile, then we got down to the last few balls. Brandon was placing each one on the tee for me and coaching me on my game (he tells me that I'm a natural! Yeah, I try to visualize Tiger Woods in my head, that's my secret!). Then it was the final ball and as he's about to place it on the tee he says something to the effect of, "Ok, this is the last one, so you really gotta focus on it and make it a good one." But instead of putting the ball on the tee, he pulled an old switcheroo (which I totally saw, not too sneaky, but he gets points for trying!) and placed a white, open ring box on the tee with the most stunning ring inside of it. I nearly hit the ring off the tee (ok, not really)! Then Brandon got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I said, "yes" and here we are today!
It was funny because my best friends Betsy and Melissa had taken Brandon aside the day before and had given him some advice about how to ask me to marry him because as girls we've talked about this stuff before. So they warned him of a few things. I'll call them the rules of engagement! Rule #1: Don't make it embarrassing. No jumbotron propsals or in large public gatherings. Rule #2: Don't put the ring in any kind of food or drink, she may choke on it! Rule #3: Keep it something private and special between the two of you.
I would like to thank Betsy and Melissa for sharing this advice with Brandon! I would also like to thank Brandon for the beautiful ring that he picked out entirely on his own! He did well and I absolutely love it!