wedding week: engagement story.

our engagement story.

Daniel and I had known we wanted to get married for about a year before we actually got engaged. There were two main reasons that we waited so long: one- I wanted a summer wedding, and two - I was terrified. There were definitely a few times we walked into rings stores ready to pick out my engagement ring, and I  pretty much hyperventilated until Daniel took me out of the store and bought me ice cream to calm me down. After waiting a year, I felt much more ready to get married. After trying on a million rings at every jewelry store in the Salt Lake valley, I finally found the one at The Shane Company.

After showing Daniel the setting I wanted, it was his job to pick out the diamond. It was hard to leave my ring at the store knowing that the next time I'd see it again, it would come attached to the most important question of my whole life.

Cut to a few weeks later. It was March 31st and Daniel and I were watching a Jazz game in my basement. It was halftime, so we went to grab some snacks. On our way to the store I decided to probe Daniel to see where he was in the process of acquiring my ring. When I asked Daniel if he had picked up the ring, he told me it wasn't ready yet. My heart sank a little bit, so I asked him if he'd at least talked to my dad yet. No such luck. I was a little disappointed at the slow process, but I decided it wasn't that big of a deal. I gave up the conversation as we pulled in front of my house. 

We started walking up to the door, but I realized that Daniel was walking really slow - like, painfully slow. I got up to the porch where I waited for him to catch up, and before I knew it, Daniel was down on one knee. My first thought was honestly "What is he doing?" Then it hit me - my boyfriend was down on one knee. That can only mean one thing. He said some super sweet things that I can't even remember  because the entire night was a blur, then came the question: "Mandy, will you marry me?" There was some excited shrieking and some leaping on my end before I said "Yes!" The moment he slid the ring on my finger was surreal. It was perfect.

I think we stood on the porch for a while just taking in the moment together. We admired my sparkly new ring, said "I love you," and just held each other. We finally walked inside and told my parents and my siblings the news, then headed up to Daniel's to share it with his family, too.

tidbits

1. We didn't take a single picture the night we got engaged. I still regret it!

2. I was totally wearing sweats the night Daniel proposed. In fact, I had just gotten over strep throat, so I definitely didn't look my cutest. ha! Maybe that's why we didn't take any pictures...

3. Daniel proposed in the late evening on March 31st, so we didn't have much time to call our friends and family to tell them the good news that night. So, we ended up making most of our phone calls the day after on April 1st. That's right - April Fool's Day! Needless to say, nobody believed us. It made for some pretty funny conversations, though!

4. My brother Steven was out with friends the night we got engaged, so I called him to tell him the news. 

The conversation went something like this:

Steven: Hello?

Mandy: Hey, Steven! Guess what?! I'm getting married!!

Steven: Oh my gosh, that's awesome! To who?

Mandy: ....

Steven: Just kidding! I've always wanted to do that.

We still laugh about it to this day.

5. I know our story might not be as big and bold as other proposals are these days, but I specifically asked Daniel to make it small, make it special, and make it a surprise. He pulled off all three! We had our quiet moment together, and it was extra special because my porch was where we had our first kiss. Oh, and it was definitely a surprise.

6. And just an FYI, Daniel did talk to my dad before he proposed. Such a gentleman :)

up next: engagement pictures.

wedding week

This week, we're reminiscing about our wedding. We're getting pretty excited to celebrate our one-year anniversary coming up on the 16th! Looking back, I can't believe we've been married for a whole year. Where has the time gone? Sometimes it seems like just yesterday we were looking at rings, making plans, and taking pictures in our wedding attire. Other times, it seems like we've been married forever. I can't imagine life without daniel. He's my very best friend.

In light of our upcoming anniversary, I thought I might make this week "wedding week" on the blog. Throughout the week, I'll post about some of the details of our wedding, and include some tidbits that you might not know about how it all came together. You can follow along if you'd like!

up first: Our engagement story.

Some recent (very funny) conversations.

I've participated in some quite hilarious conversations lately. A few are most definitely worth sharing, so here you go:

Daniel and I, while making dinner.

Me: I was making the bed today, and I noticed that there's a rip in the fitted sheet. Have you noticed that?

Daniel: Yeah, I saw that.

Me: It's way weird! And it's on your side, too. Any idea how that happened?

Daniel: Uh...nope.

Me: Huh. It's funny, because when I looked at it closely, it looks more like a cut than a rip. And the mattress pad is cut, too.

Daniel: Oh really? That's odd.

Me: Yeah.

Daniel: ...I dropped my knife, okay?

Me: What?

Daniel: I was opening my knife, and I dropped it.

Me: O...kay....

Daniel: I know how it happened. I dropped my knife and it cut the sheet. And the mattress pad. And then I just lied. Sorry.

(I couldn't help but laugh! The best part? I totally didn't suspect him of anything! Haha!)

This one takes some set-up. My mom and my brother Steven (Ryan Gosling look-alike) came over to drop off some cookies and a gift card to Cabela's for D's half-birthday (yes, the Jacobsens totally celebrate half birthdays). Steven had just gotten his wisdom teeth out that day, so why he was out and about is beyond me. Anyway, this is how it went down:

Mom: Daniel, I hope you can find something great at Cabela's for your hunting trip!

Daniel: Definitely, thank you!

Steven: Um, Yeah. Um...find a good.....no, I forgot what I was going to say. No, wait. Have... have a good hunting trip.

Daniel: Uh, thanks...Steven...

Me/Mom: BAHAHahaHAhahah!

Steven: I think it's time to go home now.

Daniel and I, walking around the Gateway.

Daniel: Feet are so weird.

Me: What?

Daniel: They're so weird! Think about it. We wear flip flops and show our feet off, but they're very...intimate.

Me: That's gross.

Daniel: No! Not like that. Intimate was the wrong word. But they're personal. If someone came up to you and touched your arm, that wouldn't be weird. But if they came up to you and touched your feet?

Me: Yeah...that would be weird.

Daniel: I know! Feet are so weird.

Me: .....

life, according to the camera phone.

It's been a busy week for M and D! Here's what we've been up to, according to my camera phone.

[1] - Thrifting adventures with my siblings. Check out these canisters I found!

[2] - Grocery shopping so late at night that the wolves are out at Smith's Marketplace.

[3] - A few too many final projects. I went through 3 glue sticks in one day!

[4] - Taking care of Blackjack the bunny rabbit while my family was out of town. We also may have borrowed some cable and laundry services while we were checking on her ;).

p.s. You know you need a vacation when you've taken care of people's pets while they are out of town more times than you have gone out of town yourself.

[5] - Relaxing with our herbal red apple tea after running at Sugarhouse Park.

Not pictured:

[6] - Seeing Crazy Stupid Love for girl's night. I think we'd all recommend it if you're looking for a good movie, but I don't think we'd recommend sitting on the front row.

[7] - Daniel getting pulled over while he was driving home from the cabin with his friends. They got out of a ticket (hooray!) but they did have to explain that all the open bottles in their car were IBC root beers - not actual beers.

[8] - Me being angry at Best Buy's car audio department. If you need car audio work done, I'd go somewhere else and save yourself the trouble.

[9] - Catching up with Lauren over Shark Week. Love that girl so, so much.

[10] - Realizing that my brother Steven looks a lot like Ryan Gosling. Oh wait, that can be pictured:

RYAN GOSLING:

STEVEN:

TWINS!!! Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees this. Because I'm pretty much dying about it.

P.S. Don't forget to send me your favorite memories/activities from elementary school! And a big thanks to everyone who already has - it helps so much! You've sent some great ideas!

Elementary School Memories

As many of you know, I am getting my degree in Elementary Education. In just a few short weeks, I will start one of the biggest adventures of my life - student teaching. When I get into the classroom, I want to be a really, really good teacher. But in order to do that, I'm going to need a little bit of help. This is where you come in.

I was wondering if you'd take a minute to tell me some of your favorite things about elementary school, or school in general. 

(Pretty, pretty please with sugar on top?)

In case you need a few ideas, you could tell me:

• Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
• What were some of the most fun assignments, activities, and projects that you did?
• Did you go on any awesome field trips?
• What things about elementary school were the most memorable?
• What systems did your teachers use to manage classroom behavior? Did they work?
• Were there any things about school or your teachers that you didn't like?
• If you have kids in school, what do you think makes a good teacher for your kids?
• Any other advice? I'd love to hear it :) See if your spouse, friends, or kids have any ideas, too!

I'd love it if you could write down some of your thoughts and send them my way. You can e-mail me at mandyj17@gmail.com, or just leave a comment below. I'm so excited to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much for your help.

Much love,

M

Light the night.

 

 We took full advantage of the newly-lenient firework laws here in Utah on the 24th - especially my brothers and Daniel. I think we all smelled like sulfur and smoke for the rest of the evening. Although those aerial fireworks are breathtaking, I think I still prefer sparklers, flowers, and snaps.

What are your favorite fireworks?

Utah's Hogle Zoo

It's so cool that we Utahns have such an awesome zoo right in our own backyard! I don't think I appreciate it as much as I should. So this past Saturday, D and I decided to channel our inner child and spend the day at The Hogle Zoo together.

We saw some super cool animals...

And we even saw a real-live armadillo! 

You might remember our fascination with armadillos from this post.

(And by the way, these guys are a lot smaller than I thought. They're only about the size of a house cat!)

We were also pretty happy that "Zoorassic Park" was still going on while we were there. In case you didn't know, I'm kind of a fan of all things dinosaur.

Me and my new friend T-Rex.

 This dino spit water all over the children.

We also measured up with some gorillas... 

ate at the Beastro...

and learned what to do in case we get attacked by a cougar.

We were definitely the only adults there that didn't have any children. 

But you know what?

I felt just fine about it.

What are your favorite animals to see at the zoo?