Date Nights

So one of my roommates did a blog about dates that her and her, now husband, have done in 

Flagstaff since everyone complains about there being nothing to do here. 

So I decided to do a quick post on a super fun date that Race and I have done in Flagstaff. :]

The day after we were engaged Race and I went on a date out in the woods.

We built a fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

Then we set up a hammock and cuddled and watched a movie. 

It was really fun and didn't take much planning at all. 

All you have to do is either buy or borrow a hammock. 

Gather up the stuff to make a fire and to make s'mores.

Find a nice place in the woods where you are allowed to build a fire.

And bring a movie and a laptop with good batter life. 

This can also be done with lots of friends and blankets/sleeping bags on the ground if you want it to be a bigger group activity.

But it's super fun so stop complaining about Flag being boring and go enjoy a movie in the woods! 

Engaged!

I am officially engaged to Race W Ashby! :] 

This happened on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010. 

And here's the story!

How We Met:

To start out I will give a little bit of background on Race and I.
(Sorry if some of this is a repeat from previous posts...)

We met in the end of February of this year.

I have known who Race since early last semester because I had seen him around 

the institute and other church related activities. 

Race added me as a friend on facebook and since I knew who he was 

I accepted his request. 

A month or two later we were online at the same time and I decided to introduce myself

online since we had never formally met...just been in a lot of the same group settings. 

So I introduced myself to him and he had no idea who I was! 

That was somewhat disappointing since I hoped that he at least recognized me...but he didn't.

(We still have no idea to this day why he added me as a friend on facebook if he didn't recognize me..)

Anyway, we talked for a while and he asked me out on a date. 

At first I said no since we hadn't formally met and for a couple other reasons. 

But he convinced me and I finally said yes. 

The next day he got online and invited himself over to my apartment...

WITH ICE CREAM. :] 

(Did I mention he works at Coldstone Creamery?)
So he came over and we met for the first time.

That whole night he kept saying how he didn't have to work the next day and didn't have any plans. 

And he asked me what my plans were for the next day. 

I just said I had school. 

After leaving he got on facebook again (since he still didn't have my number). 

He asked me if I wanted to go on a date the next day and I said yes. :]

First Date: 

For our first date we started out by going to Micheal's.

Well I guess first he picked me up at my apartment.
I was impressed that he walked to the door to come and get me 

(rather than texting or calling) and he opened my car door for me. 

(Which he continues to do EVERY time we get in the car. :])

Ok so we went to Micheal's and got candles and crayons.

Then we went to Target and picked up some Sparkling Cider with a cork in it. 

Finally we went to WalMart to get some matches and we got some lunch from the Subway there. 

From there we headed back to Race's apartment where we shot the corks off the bottles 

(it was my first time doing this) and then we ate our lunch and drank way too much Sparkling Cider. 

After that we started our movie, Avatar, and began making 'pirate candles.'

(For those of you who don't know what these are they are candles stuck in the top of a glass bottle and then you melt crayon wax over them to add color and make it drip down the bottle. It's pretty cool looking and quite fun to do.)

So we did this and then watched our movie. 
Throughout that week we went on some more dates and hung out a lot.
By the end of the week we had the DTR talk and decided that we wanted to be "official".
That was on February 27, 2010.
For the next three months we continued to get to know one another.
We went on lots of fun dates and talked A LOT.
We took trips to Las Vegas, Show Low, Chandler, and Pomeren.
We met each others families and they all approved.
And during all of this we fell in love. :]
Which led to...



The Proposal: 
On May 26th, 2010 Race picked me up for our date at noon. 
The day before he had told me that what we were doing was a surprise, and that I should dress cute. 
(Hint Hint!)
He also informed me that it was going to be inside and somewhere within the city limits. 
I had an idea that something might be happening the next day but I decided not to question him too much. 
After picking me up he drove me out to the mall.
At this point I was a little bit confused.
I thought he might be proposing but...at the mall??
Once we were inside the mall he told me we were going to take pictures in the photo booth.
(We had done this on one of our dates when we first started dating)
But before doing that though he took me out to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays.
The food was absolutely delicious and sitting and chatting with Race was great, as always. 
Afterwords we went to the photo booth and took our first set of pictures.
There were people in line afterwords so we jumped out and Race said that he wanted to take some more so we waited for them to finish up and then jumped back in the booth. 
As we were getting ready for these pictures Race told me that he had ideas for the poses. 
For the first one he wanted to kiss me so he did that.
And for the second one he got done on one knee and asked me to be his wife! 
In the third one I said yes (about a thousand times)
and in between the third and fourth one we tried to get the ring on my finger for the last picture. 
Race was shaking like crrrazy!
But he got it on. :]
After that we took one more set of pictures so we could show off the ring! 
It was the perfect engagement and I am engaged to an amazing man. 
I am so incredibly lucky and I can't wait to be sealed to him for time and eternity.

 Here are the pictures in order. 
1. One of our first dates. 
2. While Race was getting up the guts to propose. 
3. While Race was proposing! 
4. The two of us showing off the ring! 
So basically now we are engaged and getting married sometime. 
We are still figuring that out but I will do better and post more details as soon as I know them!
Love, Emma Frances Soon-to-be-Ashby!
 

Meet the Parents

I have now met the parents of Race W Ashby. :]  And they weren't scary like he kept telling me they would be. Let me tell you, that was a relief! Race does like to exaggerate things though so I should have known that they wouldn't be as scary as he was making them sound. We drove down to Pomerene, AZ on Thursday night and got in around three in the morning. We got to sleep in on Friday and then we woke up and went to the Gila Valley Temple open house. The temple is absolutely gorgeous! And the Spirit that is felt in it is amazing. I can't wait until I can go into the temple to make covenants with my Heavenly Father and then someday be sealed to my husband for time and all eternity. (Sadly, I do not have picture of the temple because they are on Race's camera so I will have to put them up later). Before and after going to the temple in Thatcher, AZ Race and I visited his brothers and some of his nieces and nephews. It was a lot of fun meeting everyone and hanging out with all the cute kids! On Saturday Race and I spent the day in Tucson with his parents. We went to Sabino Canyon and rode the tram around and took some fun pictures and just spent time talking with his parents and enjoying the good weather. We also spent all our time in the car reading. Race bought three books based on the TV show Psych and we have been reading those together for the past couple of weeks. It's super fun to just sit and relax and read books together. Although I don't think that Race always enjoys reading with me because I like to talk to him about what I read and so he doesn't get very much reading done when I am around. Oops! I am working on restraining myself from saying all the comments I want to though.

Here are some pictures of Race and I with his parents in Sabino Canyon. :]

Then yesterday Race and I decided to go and fly kites because the weather was perfect and windy! We got a SpiderMan kite (my choice) and a Princess kite (Race's suggestion so we had a "Manly" one and a "Girly" one). We went to a big open field and flew the kites. Race had to teach me because I have only flown a kite once or twice before and I am nooo good at it. I got better though. :] Race is pretty pro at it though so we had a good time enjoying the sun and the nice weather. (It's only supposed to last for a couple of days before it snows again....it's almost MAY! What's up with that?) Anyway, we've enjoyed the weather and spending as much time as we can together between school, Race's job, and studying for finals. Oh and we had our two month anniversary yesterday, the 27th of April and look what Race got me!Isn't the vase absolutely gorgeous? The picture doesn't really do it justice but I promise it is super pretty. And the card was cute too. Race wrote, "Roses are red, Violets are blue, How many months has it been? Two! Love, Race" Haha super good rhymer. :] But it made my day and I am super grateful for Race and the wonderful two months that we've had together!

That is all for now. Once I get Race's camera I will put a few more pictures up. But I really am going to post more regularly so I don't have to play catch up every time that I post. :]

Sushi

Race and I went with a group to get sushi a week or so ago. It was my first time having it and it wasn't nearly as gross as I thought it would be. I got one with salmon, avocado and cream cheese. It looked about like the picture below. Anyway, it was super fun to try something new. :) Oh and I learned that I suck at using chopsticks. Haha.



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Snow?!

Pay attention to the date...April 22, 2010




Yes, snow in the middle/end of April. Craziness! But it is gorgeos isn't it?
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Race W Ashby

When I was home this weekend (for a whole 24 hours) someone said that Race's name sounds like it came right out of a romance novel. I like that :) And I like this boy. He makes me happy! I stink at taking pictures on my phone though. And he was trying to put his contacts in. I'm good at interrupting him. Anyway, this was a short post but I'm lucky to be dating Race W Ashby, the boy from the romance novel.:)





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Much Too Long

It's been much too long since I blogged last.

So now I get to play CATCH UP! 

That sounds way more exciting than it really is. 

But anyways, pictures are going to help me remember what all I did in the last month and a halfish. 

So, here goes! I am going to begin with going home at the beginning of March to see Wes and Asae Bodily's new baby Siona Lin. She is absolutely adorable and oh so tiny! 

I haven't seen her for a good month though so I'm sure she's not quite as tiny anymore. 

And I am sure she is even more adorable.

Also in the past month I got to go to Oregon to visit my grandparents.
Both my sets of grandparents live in Oregon as well as my Great Grandma Usher.
I flew out for my Spring Break and got to spend a whole week in Oregon!
This was my first time being in Oregon for somewhere around six years!
Much too long to go without visiting where I lived from the time I was born until I was eight.
I had a wonderful time in Oregon.
I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and I got to talk to them a lot.
I loved being able to learn more about my grandparents and really get to know them as people rather than just as my parents' parents.
My institute teacher always jokes that grandparents and grandchildren always get along really well because they have a common enemy, the grandchildren's parents and the grandparents' children.
I'm pretty sure that's not quite why we got along so well but I did love being able to visit my grandparents and getting to know them.
I am so grateful for the examples that they have all set for me and the love that they showed me while I was there. Visiting just made me want to go back and visit again and again!
So I am sure it will not be anywhere near six years before I get out to Oregon again.
Also while I was in Oregon I got to visit my second grade teacher Mrs. Leighthauser.
She was an amazing teacher and she is an amazing person.
I got to chat with her for a couple of hours and tell her about my life and hear about hers.
She is such an example to me of a good teacher and just an overall good person.
Her husband has been disabled for years and I love seeing her patience and interactions with him.
It helped me know even more that I want to work with people with disabilities whether physical or mental.
Finally, I got to visit my neighbors from across the street while I was growing up.
The Cheney's.
It was super fun catching up with them because I remember spending hours over at their house when I was younger.
I am so grateful for family and friends from the past and the present and for the things that I have learned from each and every one of them. I hope that I have made some of an impression on their lives as well.
Here are some pictures from Oregon.

This is me at Smith Rock. And I don't know if you can see the mountains even further in the background but ALL week I was just amazed by their beauty. I could never get a super good picture of them though.

This is a picture of my old house. When I was younger it seemed soooo big. But it looks pretty dang tiny!

This is a picture of me at my old elementary school :]

These are the llamas by my old elementary school that I remembered walking by every day to school. I was telling my Grandma about that so we decided to find them and they are still there!

Here is a picture of me and my Grandma and Grandpa Olmstead, my Uncle Sean, and my cousin Peyton. My Aunt Rhonda was taking the picture so sadly she's not in this one.

Here are me and my cousins Curtis, Olivia, and Peyton. I hadn't seen Curtis and Olivia since they were probably about four and six or something crazy like that so it was super fun to see them and their mom and meet Sarah's husband Mark.

I'm not sure why this one won't turn but this is my Great Grandma Usher and I :]
She is one good lookin' gal!

Now last but most definitely not least on my list of things that has happened in the past month or so...
Just before heading home to see Siona I went on a few dates with a boy...
Excited to hear the rest??
Well, you should be :]
So I went on a few dates with this boy named Race Ashby (pictures will follow soon).
We go to the same institute but had never formally met before talking on facebook.
(Yeah, yeah I know it's a kinda lame way to "meet" but we can say we met on the internet and get some weird looks from people!)
He added me as a friend supposedly not knowing who I was other than that we knew a lot of the same people.
So, we started talking and the next day he invited himself over bearing gifts of ice cream!
(He works at Coldstone Creamery)
After we officially met in person he asked me on a date for the next day.
We went on four or five dates throughout that week and by the end of the week had the DTR (Determine The Relationship) talk and decided we wanted to "date exclusively".
We have now been dating for one month, one week, and five days :]
And what a good one month, one week, and five days it has been!
Here are some pictures of the two of us on our trip to Las Vegas to go to one of his mission companion's weddings, at my house in Chandler, and then a couple other random ones:

Riding E.B. and Jackie's sweet tandem bike at the park:

Same face?? Pirate ship in Las Vegas:

 

Sitting in traffic on the strip in Las Vegas:

 

Outside the Las Vegas temple:

 

So that's my life in the past month. It has been one heck of a month :] 

I love life right now and am grateful for the blessings, opportunities, and experiences I have had in the past month. 

I will update more often now that I'm back on track!