So excited!!!!

I just wanted to take a quick minute to tell Ashley, how excited I am to be sealed to her in the temple, so so soon!!! Ashley, I really cant believe that we are this close. We are less than seven weeks away from being married. I have waited all my life to come across the girl that I would marry. And it is so simple yet so amazing to have realized that that most amazing girl, is my very best friend. What in immense blessing, to soon be sealed to my very best friend. She does so much for me, all the time. She is always there to listen to me. Anytime I have anything on my mind, she is there to support me. I always feel her love and support even when things are so busy for both of us, and our time together is so limited in the day. Ashley, I want you to know, that I love you with ALL my heart. ALL of it. I literally cry at the thought of being with you for eternity. Thank you for everything sweetheart. Im so excited to fulfill my promise to make you laugh every single day. You are my sweetheart, and soon to be my eternal companion. Thank you for everything. I love you with all my heart.

The PROPOSAL!

Move over Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds... this is how the proposal is done! :) I figured it would be easiest to tell the proposal story on a blog so everyone could read it and save me from repeating the story 1.865 billion times! Not that I don't like telling it... but here it is!

I came home from work in the afternoon a week ago to find a huge (really, it was gigantic.) red rose with a card addressed to me on my kitchen table. Not suspicious. :) The card was an invitation to come "dance under the stars' at a dance held in my honor at 7:50pm, and I was instructed to wear church attire. Again, not suspicious. :) So I piddle around all day (well, for like 4 hours) trying my hardest not to think about what was coming up and not spend an excessive amount of time getting ready. So after much much waiting, 7:50 rolls around and this incredibly hot boy dressed in an English suit looking like a million bucks. For the past two years every boy (good looking or not) that has come to my doorstep has been a date for my younger sister Amber. Lucky enough for me it was my turn! So we get in the car and drive...

After a befuddling tour of random residential streets in Draper I ask him where we are going. He pulls into a random drive way. (As anyone who knows Jarem would guess, he has a delightfully depleted sense of direction) Sure enough... we were lost. It wasn't too bad, I admit. :) So we finally get to our destination... the whisper dome in Draper. It is a beautiful park with a large gazebo/dome structure that has crazy acoustics when you're inside (hence the 'whisper' dome) but thats beside the point! It was a beautiful, perfect summer night. The sun was just barely setting, there was a full moon coming up over the mountains and it was warm and amazing! We walked up the ramp (covered in rose petals) into the center of the whisper dome, which was also covered in rose petals. THere were tea light candles at the base of every pillar around the dome, and his ipod was 'magically' plugged into an outlet in the corner. He asked if I would like to dance. Maybe it was my slack-jaw and drooling that told him 'yes' or maybe I spoke it... I can't really remember! So we danced to our song, the first slow song we danced to at a high school dance almost 4 years ago. At the end of the song we just stood there for a minute, holding hands and enjoying the perfect scenery. Then I heard it.
"Ashley, Maree, Smith" (right hand slips inside the suit coat pocket and reaches for "something"... Ashley gapes with an open mouth and a stare similar to a deer about to be hit by an oncoming car... Ashley attempts to cover her mouth from gasping/sobbing/blubbering... Jarem slowly gets down on one knee...) "Will you marry me?"
How long it took me to say anything, I'm not exactly sure. As many of you know I'm an impulsive and moderately sarcastic person and I could not help but think to myself (yes, in all caps) "OF COURSE I WILL YOU FOOL!" But calling someone a fool when they want to be with you forever usually isn't the kindest thing to say, so I just settled for a head nod of "yes" followed by blubbering into his nice suit. I think I did mutter "of course" while blubbering, but you'll have to ask Jarem to validate that.
After we had his frighteningly cunning paparatzi family jump out of the bushes and take a zillion pictures (I swear, they must have a flip book of what went on there were so many!) we went to a fine dining place, Tuberon (??), and got dessert. Mmmmm, so so good! I got a home made cinnamon ice cream with berries on it and Jarem got a creme brule. Then we went back to my house and sat on the porch swing and talked to my parents until late. It was simple, but perfect. (Anyone who can get through my dad to ask me on a date, let alone to ask for my hand in marriage, has accomplished quite the feat... so Jarem has earned the purple heart of the year for that! )
The past 4 years have been such a blessing to me, even though half were spent without Jarem right beside me. As we met each other 5 years ago and became friends, that friendship deepened and grew into something far sweeter than I could have EVER prayed for or imagined. In 7 weeks I have the privelage of being sealed to my best friend. Even though I have experienced so much of my life with him already... I still cry on my knees with gratitude at the opportunity to share the rest of my life with him. He is my hero. I look up to him, love him, honor him, and respect everything he is and will be (even when I impulsively consider calling him a fool when he asks me to marry him... :)). I love who I am when I am around him, I love how he makes me want to improve, I love the hope he brings to me and the comfort and support he so unselfishly offers. What a blessing to have a person like that in your life... and then be sealed to them in 7 weeks. I don't hesitate to say that Jarem was worth every minute of sacrifice his mission was. Jarem, I love you. Thank you for EVERY thing. 7 more weeks...