the rest of utah

So, part of me is pretty sad that we missed Utah's first snowfall of the season by only 3 days, but that's the way it is.  I'm not sure our tiny plane would have done well dealing with the ice, so maybe it's a good thing...

In other news, here's all the fun things we did post wedding, you know, besides the fact that we stayed in our PJ's till noon the day after the big day.  Wearing heels for 12 hours and eating cake will really take it out of you.

One of the best things about going to Utah is just being with family and especially being with all the nieces and nephews we miss so much when we're over westwards.  They grow up soooo much in the months between our visits.  Slow down already will you??

Thanksgiving is always fun with the Nemrows, even if David did come home pummeled after their Turkey Bowl ;)  It was a perfectly crisp November day and we cooked and scootered and napped and talked and ate till we could eat no more.  What more could you want from Thanksgiving?

And the feast was divine, really, Cindy outdid herself and I'm not sure any other turkey will be able to satisfy me again. 
I'm still dreaming about her sweet potatoes...

Friday was our last day in happy valley so we decided to go all out, blast the holiday tunes, and go to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square (my favorite Utah tradition).  And they didn't disappoint - although I may have been the only one in a hat, mittens, and huge coat that night.  It was cooold! Or maybe I've just reverted back to my wimpy Southern California skin...
AND, of course, we stopped by our favorite SLC dessertary and shared a waffle smothered in speculoos afterwards.  I mean, how could we not?

And that was a wrap.  We said our goodbyes the next morning and drove a whole 15 minutes (sooo crazy convenient) to the Provo airport and were whisked away back to the land of LA.  Ah Utah, I still miss you, and I'm especially missing your snowy mountains today (speaking of, I love this print).  Till next time... 

adventures

Due to the fact that David and I have a limited amount of time left here in Utah we decided to come up with a bucket list of things to do before we move - you know, the types of things you just never seem to get around to doing even when you've lived somewhere for 4 years (or in David's case, most of his life).

I mean, I've been to Salt Lake City loads of times while in college, but I've never seen THE Great Salt Lake.  What's up with that?  Problem solved yesterday when we drove by it on our way to the Bonneville Salt Flats - which were, by the way, much more fun than the lake (and smelled a whole lot better).

It was windy as all get out and my face felt like I'd been at the beach all day (being pelted with salty air) when we got back in the car, but it was pretty fun:

The flats are kind of forever away (an hour drive north to SLC, turn west and an hour or so drive that way as well), and I'm pretty sure we actually made it across the Nevada border at one point, but it was an adventure.

We rewarded ourselves with shopping at City Creek (okay, that one was for me) and another bucket list check-off: Bruges' machine gun sandwich

We're talkin' a fatty fresh baguette stuffed with lamb sausage, french fries and a whole lot of Andalouse sauce (mayo with spices in it, I think) - needless to say it was a man sandwich and I only survived a few bites - also please note we only got ONE of those beasts to share, I knew better than to get my own.

All in all we thought it was a pretty productive day - ending with a fort in our living room and watching Cars 2 on David's laptop.  Cheers to more Thursdays spent like this one.

sugar

As a reward for traveling all the way up to Salt Lake with me to look at some perspective dishware choices I treated David to a waffle at this delicious place:

Where we ordered this lovely creation:

And we ate it almost as fast as you looked at those pictures.

It just so happens that David and I went to Bruges on our first-ish date last August and this is the first time we've been back since - our goal is to not let this much time go by between visits ever again.

We also plan to try something else besides dessert next time too:

it's Friday, Friday

Provo is currently lacking in a couple things:

warm weather

& good places to shop.

So to figure out an engagement outfit I knew I'd have to make the trek up to Salt Lake.

Due to my spur of the moment proposal, most of my shopping buddies had other Friday night plans 

(work, dates, school...)

So David was kind enough to tag along with me even though shopping malls have been known to make him somewhat nauseous.

We hopped on the 15 North around 3:30.

Unfortunately somewhere near the point of the mountain it started blizzarding.

Visibility was something like 50%.

We were stuck in traffic.

My knuckles were white on the steering wheel for a good 45 minutes.

And then we both remembered that the Gateway mall is all outside.

(who okayed that?? it SNOWS in Utah.)

Fortunately we didn't hit anything.

We somehow made it into the city around 4:50.

We found underground parking.

The snow let up.

And then we both laughed at the ridiculousness of our situation.

There was only one issue:

While David is a wonderful (patient) shopping buddy and good listener,

he thinks I look good in everything.

This, actually, isn't really an issue, it's wonderful.

I'm pretty sure I could wear a paper bag and he'd say I was gorgeous.

However, sometimes a girl needs a little constructive criticism.

Hence the pictures messages sent to my mom, 

sister 

and sisters-in-laws:

Just for a little reassurance, ya know?

After much deliberation (and lots of text messages) I made my purchases, 

but in retrospect I probably should have bought this too:

Engagement pictures will come and go,

but the weddings not till August.

(And don't worry, I treated him to dinner for being such a good sport)

the story

Dear friends,

Lots has happened between my last post and now...do you want to know how much?

that much.

Would you like to hear the story?

I thought so:

Rewind to 

Friday March 18th

Caitlin invited David and I on a group date to take a tour of the Conference Center in Salt Lake.

Why would I be suspicious?  Totally normal.

David had "group meetings" till 4:00 so we decided to put a few more holes in the o-zone layer and take three different cars up to Salt Lake.

The tour guide took the six of us all through the center and showed us paintings, sculptures and told us the history of the building etc etc...

Finally we made it up to the gardens on the roof.

The group dispersed (and I apparently tried to follow the tour guide), but David tugged me over to the corner of the balcony asking if I could see if any flowers had popped up along the edges of the walls...
(I also did not find this suspicious at all for some reason)

I scanned the flower beds, but everything was pretty much dead
(it is still March after all),
and was just about to turn back to find the group

 when all of a sudden David gets really serious.

Which of course freaked me out.

He told me he had taken me up on the roof for another reason and that actually Caitlin hadn't planned this date.

He told me he'd asked her to invite us to come to the Conference Center because he wanted to ask me a question...

To which I responded,

"What?  REALLY?  Now??"

And, well, the rest is pretty self explanatory:

Somehow I overlooked his hiding place for the ring box...

The proposal.

And, after being paralyzed with pure shock for a full 5 seconds,
I said yes,
(well actually I said 'yeah,'
and David may never let me forget it)

And there was lots of celebrating:

It turns out everyone was in on the scheme except for me - even our tour guide knew!  Either all these people are very good actors, or I am ridiculously gullible.
Probably the ladder.

 We also couldn't resist leaving our mark on the Conference Center's guest books:

I was all ready to run off to dinner with the rest of the group as we had previously planned, but I was then informed we drove 3 different cars up to Salt Lake on purpose.

Apparently we had a reservation we had to hurry off across the street to.

Please note I called every member of my immediate family at this time and I left messages on all their machines except for one of my sister-in-laws who was kind enough to pick up and pretend she had no idea I just got engaged.
This might have been suspicious if I'd been thinking clearly.

At The Roof on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Bldg.

I also didn't fail to mention, to almost every person we passed on the way up to the restaurant, that we had just gotten engaged.
That might have been kind of embarrassing now that I think about it...

After dinner we took a stroll around Temple Square:

And I couldn't take my eyes off my left hand:

To wrap up the night I told David we should go to his parent's house and tell them the news.
He thought that was a great idea.

When we drove up to the house all the blinds were drawn and the lights dimmed - I thought they'd already gone to sleep.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Every member of both our families
(mine flying in all the way from CA to surprise me - hence the phones having to be turned off)
were squished in the Nemrow's front room to celebrate our engagement with cheesecake and Martinelli's.

It was the loveliest night,
and I may still be recovering from the adrenalin overdose induced by all those surprises,
but I just wanted to warn you that this blog may unintentionally now become a forum for all my wedding plan ideas for the next 5 months.
Starting tomorrow.

Consider yourself warned.

Love,
Carly

lights on the square:

a Christmas tradition

 

and also to the excessive amounts of newly engaged couples whose pictures we accidentally walked into, 

tripped over 

and generally couldn't avoid,

Merry Christmas to you too.