Happy 2 Year Anniversary!

Daniel and I celebrated 2 years together today! We went out to lunch at Tucanos and then took some fun fall-time pictures along the Provo River.

This City's Made Us Crazy and We Must Get Out!

We have 48 days left in Provo. It's both scary and exhilarating how short that is. We can't wait to leave Provo because it means we can be open about our relationship and feel welcome in a new community that is more friendly towards our future family. But it also is scary to be leaving our friends behind and going to a place where we don't know exactly what to expect. Not to mention the fact that I only have a month to throw together a solo exhibition when I haven't even really completed half of the number of pieces that should be in the show!

We'll spend Christmas in Walla Walla, then drive back to Provo to put our boxes into a trailer and head to Chicago for New Years. Then it's off to Boston. We hope to have an apartment by the first two weeks of December, even though we won't be moving in until the first week of January.

Amid the stress of looking for a new home and tying up loose ends here, we are taking time to enjoy ourselves. We find time to cook together and run errands together. And this weekend is a big one for us because Monday is the two year anniversary of our first date.

I think when we leave Provo, the hardest thing to leave behind will be the memories we've made here over the past two years--Wrestling in the leaves, driving up into the mountains, eating at Zupas or Guru's, the places we used to park the car, waking up to snow covered windows, seeing how long we could hold hands in the JFSB elevators before the doors opened, making better and better cheesecakes, doing art projects together, arranging our first home, walking down the river trail to Macey's late at night, stealing irises from BYU flowerbeds in the middle of the night, dancing with our friends at Babylon or Gossip, playing cards or Settler's of Cattan, throwing little dinner parties, or big ones, even just driving around town--I will really miss these things.

Here's to 48 days more here, and a lifetime more elsewhere!

50/50/50

Daniel has been crazy busy getting ready for his final show in December. Lately we've spent the weekends on campus - Daniel printing and painting while I work on my novel. Even in all the business, Daniel still found time to get accepted and submit his work to a national art show in Wisconsin. The idea for the show is 50 different types of media from 50 different artists - one from each state. Daniel is representing the state of Utah (which I think is quite funny) with a monotype print. We're both really excited about it! You can take a look at his entry for the show along with the rest of his recent artwork on his website: http://dembree.com/

Save the Date

So we just sent in our down-payment to the Dan'l Webster Inn, officially reserving June 27th for the wedding and reception. :) It's a Sunday, and we're planning on having the ceremony in the morning and the reception in the evening. We recommend making your travel plans as early as possible to get the best deals on airfare and hotels. My mom just found round-trip tickets from Seattle to Boston for $400 total for herself, my dad, and Ryan - that's like $130 per person which is a total steal. You can also consider flying into Providence, RI - it's about the same distance to Sandwich as Boston (an hour, more or less), and from what I've seen the airfare is about the same. We hope that you'll make a vacation out of your visit to New England; there's tons of cool things to do, from Cape Cod beaches to Boston and New York City.

And here's a cool video clip that Daniel found about the state of marriage in Massachusetts:

Mon Essentiel

Our friend Nyles just sent me a link to a slide show created by photographer Margaret Singer. The pictures document a same sex wedding that happened this summer in Massachusetts. I couldn't stop balling as I watched it. It was so beautiful.

I want so badly for our wedding to be like this one. We're planning on a few differences--we want tuxedos and flowers--but at its essentials I want it to be the same. We want to be outside in a beautiful place, in a state that will sanction our marriage. I want to have a simple ceremony where we exchange vows that we have written for each other. And most of all I want to be surrounded by people who love us and who are excited for our marriage.

I'm Lucky I'm in Love with my Best Friend

I just got back from the Caribbean a little while ago where I had been on a study abroad, and it is so good to be back. I hadn't seen my mister for 68 days. I don't know how I survived. It was so hard to be apart, especially since we had only been engaged for a month before we had to separate for school.

We started talking about marriage early on--as early as 2 weeks into our relationship. I'm embarrassed to say it was very Mormon of us. In fact, after six months of dating, Michael asked me to marry him on the hill behind his house in Walla Walla. We had climbed up to the top of this hill early in the morning to watch the sunrise. He presented me with a white gold chain, and we have worn matching chains every since.

I used to make fun of the Mormons around us who would get engaged so quickly, but now I understood how they felt! The love I had for Michael was just so strong, and I wanted to be with him forever. Despite that young love, we couldn't get married right away. We had some growing up to do, and our relationship needed time to develop. So instead of making our engagement official, we decided we would wait to declare ourselves engaged until I had proposed to Michael. That way we could both have the experience of proposing.

Like any relationship, we hit rough spots and even separated for a month. But by the time 2009 came around, our relationship was going strong. Michael had moved into my apartment because one of my other roommates had been evicted for "homosexual behavior." (oh the irony!)

In April we got our own place--just the two of us. Instantly I felt our relationship deepen. We were having little dinner parties and double dates. We'd have dinner with Chris and Becky and play Settlers of Catan. Watching the two of them and their daughter interact with each other made me realize how much I wanted to be married and to have a family.

Some nights it was just Michael and me at home playing gin rummy and sipping Michael's fabulous cocktails. Those were some of the best nights of my life. One morning in early May I was taking a shower and thinking about the night before when I realized that this was how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I liked being a couple. I loved Michael as my better half. If I could just play cards with him every night, my life would feel complete. And if I already knew what I wanted, why should I wait to make it happen? So without any plans or anything to give to Michael, I got out of the shower and asked him to marry me right away. He said yes, and we've been making plans every since.

I can't tell you how happy I am to be marrying my best friend on June 27, 2010, after what will be 2 years and 7 months of dating!