The Sunday Evening that changed it all

It had been a long day…after an exciting match against the Holland National Team, I was pooped. I was sad that I didn’t get to go to church that day, and I was worn our from the many consecutive long days I had put in at work. On my drive home, I called the one who I knew could put a smile on my face. When I asked what he was doing, Danny told me that he was at his house, hanging out and making PB&Hs. A part of me was bummed because I thought it might be fun to eat together, but no sooner could I park the little scion and hop out, did I see Danny crusin’ around the street corner almost at a full sprint towards me. He grabbed me and told me that we were going on a date. He had made a new year’s resolution to take me on at least one date per week, and he hadn’t filled his quota for the week yet.

I tried to convince him to let me go into my apartment so that I could use the bathroom, but he insisted that we go now. We hopped in the Saturn heading north & ended up at one of my favorite places in San Diego, La Jolla Shores. When we arrived we walked around for a few minutes & I finally made my way to the restrooms. When I came out Danny was standing there with a bag, a picnic basket and a blanket.

We looked for a good spot on the beach but the tide was coming in & we didn’t want to get soaked, so we opted for a spot on the grass facing the beach. Danny made me turn around and close my eyes as he set up, so I took the time to practice my dance moves. When it was time, I turned around to see a picnic dinner of all of my favorite stuff. He had prepared it ALL himself! The candles he had brought wouldn’t stay lit because of the wind, so we had a flashlight lit dinner instead.

We ate and hung out like we normally do. Danny had brought and Ensign with him so we could read an article together since he knew I was bummed that I missed church. We ended up picking a random but perfect article for the occasion called “The best is yet to be” by Elder Holland. After that, Danny told me that he had a few things for me that he wanted to give me around New Year’s for our 1 year anniversary, but hadn’t yet. I didn’t think much of it because that’s kind of how he works. He’s not usually on time and he doesn’t really like doing gifts.

He first handed me some folded up notebook paper. I unfolded it to find that it was the set of notes that we had written back & forth to each other when we were flying back from NY. We read through the notes together, had a good chuckle and then he said he had something else for me but that I had to read the card first.

I opened the card to see a couple’s bare feet touching each other on the front. Inside he had written me a really cute note along with, “Happy Anniversary + 1 Month”. When I finished reading the card, he handed me a box that was super light. It was a rectangle box about the size that would hold checkbooks. I open it up and see a note that says, “Ooooopppppsss, I guess I forgot to put it in here. It must be underneath me.” I made him get up & I felt all around, but I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I still was pretty confused about what was going on but, I pulled back the blanket we were sitting on to uncover a doormat that said, “The Carpenters est 2010”.

I was in so much shock trying to figure out what the doormat really meant, that I didn’t read the note in the corner until Danny told me to. The note said, “And oh yeah, I want to marry you”. I turn to see Danny on one knee putting his finger up to his mouth to shush me (in a cute way of course) so that he could actually ask me. “Jaime Anne Young, will you marry me forever and ever?” I was crying and couldn’t really even see the ring he had pulled out, but it turned out to be the ring Nan had given me for my 21^st birthday. I of course said yes, and we hugged and basked the moment together. To top the night off in celebration, Danny pulled out 2 scrumptious crumb donuts from our favorite donut shop in the world. What night or celebration would be complete with out our favorite Peterson’s Donuts?

Janurary 24^th 2010 was a night to remember, and one that changed our lives for the better forever!

Long Story Long....

For the longest time I didn't want to blog because I wasn't a part of the club. What club you ask? The married one... here I am an old mormon maid reading about where everyone went on their honeymoon and what they were naming their first kid. I have to admit, I couldn't relate. Changing diapers and thinking of wedding colors were pretty far off for me. 11 years ago, I entered 3123 Chipman Hall on the Campus of BYU to start my freshman year. It was there that I met some of my best and closest friends still to this day. I'll have you know that after our freshman year, the stupid girls that we were, decided to predict what order we would get married in. I guess that's what you do if you're not married after your freshman year at BYU. In the eyes of my friends, I would be the first, in mine... I was the last.

The years went on...we continued to make up dances to "Venus" and "Dancing Queen" and perform them in high class 80s spandex. Maybe the boys of liberty square thought we were too immature, but we loved surprising each other by moving each other's entire room into the bathroom or hiding month old brownies in each other's stuff to be found at some unkown later date. We grew older, but somehow made it through our sophomore AND junior

years at BYU unmarried. We were all approaching old maid status, and then they started to drop like flies... Amy was first, and then Mishay. Katie and I served missions in the midst of all of this and still managed to escape BYU unmarried. Many people were flabberga

sted at how this could happen, but I was not. Katie moved up to seattle and I moved out to CT. A couple of years later Katie bit the dust and joined the married club leaving me to my lonesome.

At this point I think my parents started seriously fasting and praying for my eternal welfare and my eternal companion. I still couldn't stomach creating my own blog because I didn't know how to put desitin on a baby or fold fancy napkins for a wedding. I met a new great friend Christine, out

in CT who happened to be pretty much the only other girl in our singles ward who also wasn't a Nanny. We watched 24, drank chocolate milk from Stew Leonard's, and complained about the long hours and stress of our jobs to no avail.

An opportunity to go back to grad school was suddenly thrown into my path so I decided to grab a hold of it and ride it all the way down to the University of Virginia. It was there that I got my Master's in Kinesiology: Sports Medicine while working with the Football, Men's Tennis as well as the cheer and dance teams. I thought I was busy before I moved to VA!!! I made more great friends and had great roommates in VA who also bit the dust and met their husbands before I graduated moved onto my 3rd state in 4 years.

San Diego California was my next destination and who wouldn't be super stoked to move where the sun shines year round and avocados grow in some people's backyards! 6 months after I moved to the great state of California, I heard a phrase that changed my life forever, "HEY! We're over here!". I met the love of my life on New Years Eve '08-'09 at a huge New Years Eve YSA event in Balboa Park. The cute boy from across the room who took a chance by saying hi became my Husband on April 17th, 2010 :) Danny and I dated for about a year before he purposed in the cutest way EVER at our favorite beach in La Jolla.

I'm not sure why I feel the need to start a blog for us, I still don't know much about babies, (we just had our nieces and nephews stay at our place and we may have been convinced never to have kids...haha jk), but I did however enjoy picking out our wedding colors. That's a start I guess. Our life now is not that much more exciting than my life was as a sing

le... We run, we surf, we ride bikes, we watch ALL 22 of the James Bond movies in order, and I do have to admit sadly that we do watch the Hills sometimes... but the best part about it all is that we get to do it together! We have joined "the club" :)

Welcome to Our story... "The Us We Chronicles". Our future is yet to be written, but I can tell you that it is going to be a fun one filled with lots of cool adventures and fun places to blog about so here's to the Carpenters est 2010 :)