!PROPOSAL!

Wow! What a day today! I am so blessed in my life and today I have opened a new chapter. Yesterday I decided to surprise Dallen and I traveled down to Nephi to see him. I spent all day yesterday studying anatomy for my classes and then traveled to Salt Lake with my roommates (Hannah, Anna, and Sam) to go to a bridal fair. We spent the day pretending to be brides and took pictures of the displays to get fun ideas of receptions and weddings for the day when we get to have our own. We got to make our own flower bouquets, test out cakes, food, enter drawings, and all sorts of things. We had a blast! So after we were done there, I went to my apartment, packed my bags, and drove down to see Dallen. It was so fun to make it a surprise! I stayed the night at his house and today went to church with him and his family. It was stake conference and Briar was asked to speak so it was cool to be there to listen to his talk…

After church we went to Dallen’s house, had dinner with the family and then we all watched a movie together. After the movie, Dallen got a call from Terry Messersmith saying that he wanted to take us flying in his airplane to go look for elk by the mountains. Dallen asked me if I wanted to go so I told him yes and we drove to the airport to meet the others there. How cool is that!?! I was headed for a plane ride over the mountains to look for elk!! Anyways, we all got loaded in the plane and took off we flew around the edges of the mountain for a little while, not finding anything, so we circled back around Nephi and headed north towards Mona. We weren’t finding anything so we turned around. When we got closer to Nephi we started going closer and closer to the ground. I wasn’t seeing anything and was a little confused, but didn’t think too much about it. It was cool to be that close to the ground! Then the pilot turned the plane to the right so that my window was facing the ground and in the field below us there was a HUGE sign laid out that said, “NESSA WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

Oh my gosh!!! Once I read that I just covered my mouth and gasped! I looked over at Dallen and he pulled out a ring!! I didn’t see this whole thing coming at all! Dallen said, “Will you marry me?” and I couldn’t help but hive him a huge hug and a long kiss before I realized I hadn’t answered yet.

I told him “YES!!” and we both started laughing and gave more hugs and kisses. I kept repeating “Yes!” as I hugged him for a while. The whole time that was happening, the pilot’s wife was taking pictures of us and the sign on the ground. There is no way that I can describe how I felt, but it was oh so good!! I was super excited and could not stop smiling the entire time! We flew back around the signs a couple more times so we could get a good picture of them and then went and landed the plane. We took a couple more pictures by the plane on the ground and ten I ran over to get my phone and call my parents to tell them! They would be the first to know! I don’t think they got the full story because I was so excited to tell them that I was engaged, but they were excited for me.

After Dallen helped get the plane put away we drove back to his house to see his family. They were all so excited to us! When Dallen and I had left the house to go flying, his family were the ones that set up the signs in the field and then took pictures of us flying over them. So cool that Dallen arranged it so we have pictures from the plane and the ground to always have the memory and to pass it on for our family. Anyways, the ring!! YES, I love the ring so much and Dallen picked it all out himself. It has a big princess cut diamond in the middle, and two smaller ones to the side. It stands pretty tall and is made of white gold. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! The band has little designs around it and it sparkles a lot! I am super excited to start planning for the big day sometime this summer!!!

Sundance

Dallen and I were able to go snowboarding another day at the Sundance resort. We had a great time boarding the slopes and trying out the different runs. Dallen is becoming quite the boarder especially just learning this winter and is probably going to be doing back flips by the end of the winter! ;) haha We had a great time together!

Devin's Cabin

Over the weekend Dallen and I went with Devin Hansen to his cabin on snowmobiles. His family's cabin is the Monroe Mountains in the middle of thick pine trees and sits on a small lake. We had a super fun time up there!

We were able to snowboard all day on fresh snow and all of us had a blast! Although our landings for some of the jumps we made were soft, it was very cold as well!! I think Dallen had one of the coldest landings of us all.


Dallen was a trooper on the snowmobiles because he let me use his good helmet and he used an old one he found in their shop instead. :) I absolutely loved the gettaway from the crazy life of school and classes. Although I had to take some time out and study while we were there it was well worth the trip! I hope that we have the chance of coming back sometime!

So Close, but Yet So Far Away

Christmas break came and went and it was time to head back to Nephi and Orem for college and work. Dallen and I left Monday morning and were traveling in his Ford escort. I suggested that we stop at Wilson Arch to hike to the top and take a picture because I had never done so. We pulled over, hiked to the top, took pictures, and headed back down. When we got to the bottom and tried to start the car we found that it wouldn't start... we had much farther to go to get home.

We tried everything we could do to get the car fixed and after little success, we called my dad for help. We were very lucky that it broke down so close to "home" and that we were able to get one bar of service for the call. My dad was able to come and tow us to Monticello where we were able to stay another night with the family. The car was totaled because the engine was fried so my Grandpa and Grandma Bowring were so kind and gave us a ride back to our houses.

Although it was unfortunate that we lost the car, we were very lucky that we were so close to Monticello to call family and use their help. Thanks for all those that helped!

Christmas Traditions

Every year I look forward to the Christmas traditions that our family has. Grandma Sonderegger's basement is a must with the pool table, ping pong tourneys, foosball, air hockey, card games, and story telling. This year Dallen was able to come to the "Party at Grandma's". We participated in all of the tournaments and games and food and loved being there with all the family!

Trapping Skunks

Mike brought down some traps at the beginning of the week that we setup in the canyon by our house. Our intentions were to catch a bobcat...and as you can see our efforts left us with something a little different. One of the traps had a cat track just inches away from the center to make it go off. We were really close!....


As you can see we did catch something in our trap, but it was a surprise that it was a skunk! After debating of who would do the job, Dallen decided that he would be brave enough to get close and shoot the skunk and to remove it from the trap. In the meantime it sprayed and the smell was so rank that the dogs wouldn't come around. It made a fun memory.

Sledding

It was really weird to come home for Christmas without a couple feet of snow on the ground! Rarely do we have a Christmas without snow, so we were excited when it finally came down. All of the cousins had a bit sleep over at our house and we woke up to a winter wonderland. Above is Skylee, Brittain, BrinLi, Cade, Janessa, Davi, Hunter, Payton, Easton, Ashlyn...(and Dallen taking the pic.)




We always have a lot of fun when we ride sleds behind the 4-wheeler so we tied the sleds to the back and rode around.

I think the parents enjoyed the day as well and all crashed out on the couch.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always so much fun! I love that I get to spend quality time with my family and nothing comes before them. We have a family tradition to make "Christmas trains" where we get cardboard boxes, wrap them, and put them all together to form a train. During the night Santa leaves his presents inside of our personal boxes for each child. We also have a dinner with the Fullmer family and play bingo. Grandma Fullmer has a fun time buying the prizes and being creative with the bingo winners. It was fun to be able to spend the night in our new house for Christmas this year and to be able to have enough room for everyone. I love my family!