Janelle & Ryan Engagement

Well family, the day has finally come.

I
AM
ENGAGED

Yes folks. Its true. You want all the details? Sweet. I'm going to give them to you! You get the "engagement story" first then can keep reading for the "dating story".

Wednesday morning Dad went into work, Caidin was at school and Mom decided to go visiting teaching. We were watching Jonny Lingo and at one point he got up to go to the bathroom. Yeah... right. I was suspicious when he went all the way upstairs to go when there's a bathroom 5 feet away. Then I could hear him puttering around upstairs. Then he finally came back downstairs but went into the living room first. We finished the movie then decided to go down and look at the temple.

I got ready to go but he was at the computer so I sat down at the piano to play for a few minutes while I waited for him to be done. He finished up, came and sat next to me while I continued to play. When I was finished he said, "Ok. Now I'm going to play you a song."

So he turned on "Kiss Me" and we began dancing like we always do. And then I got thinking "Oh Wow. THIS COULD BE IT!" When the song was over he said, "Ok, are you ready to go?" and then he turned around and I just thought, "Oh shoot!"

And then he started playing "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not". This song is the one that I'd heard the day we started talking about marriage and I'd made him look it up and listen to it. It unofficially became our song. So we started to dance once again (I LOVE DANCING WITH HIM) Before long he told me he had one of my Christmas presents. Now, I had checked the Christmas tree earlier and no new Christmas presents were to be found under the tree. But he bent down and lifted up the tree skirt and pulled out THE RING BOX! Along with the words of the song, he got down on his knee and asked,

"Janelle Cheney, Will You Marry Me?

AHHHH! YES!

I started crying. And I couldn't stop hugging him. Or kissing him for that matter. Or smiling.

I am in love with the most incredible man. He is indescribably good to me. I know I can trust him and rely on him. He is handsome, intelligent, funny, loving, spiritual, and so much more! He is respectful. He is kind and generous. He is wise with his money. He is tender. He is a teaser.
I love his family. He loves my family.
And we love each other.

When we'd been dating for not very long, I knew that we were going to get married so I started to keep track of special dates in our lives.

May 15 - The day we met for the first time.

We met at church in the hall right outside the clerk's office. I had just filled out and turned in my records sheet. Him and his friend Charlotte were standing there chatting and introduced themselves.

From here out until about the end of July, we really didn't see much of each other or hang out. We didn't date or anything like that. He later told me he would've loved to date me earlier and wanted to ask me out the first time he met me, but figured that every guy would be thinking the same thing! July and August saw a lot of swimsuits and water for our group of friends and this is where we got comfortable with each other. I learned to trust him when he helped me overcome my fear of water as he encouraged me to go beyond my comfort zone - the beach.

September By now we had a running joke that we were getting married and having 12 children. For weeks that was the talk in our little group but finally one of my friends called me out on it. I was sitting with Logan Hansen in Sunday School (Ryan was in Blackfoot for the weekend - on a blind date no less) and:

Logan: "Sooo... Ryan."
Me: "Yeah? What about Ryan?"
Logan: "You two should totally date."
Me: "Yeah, I've thought about it. And I'm still thinking about it-"
Logan: "He's thought about it too."
Me: "REALLY?!? Tell me more!"
Logan: "Nope. I already said too much. That's all you get."

And that's how I decided that it would be ok to make myself slightly more available. But let me make it clear. He took the initiative ;)

September 13 - Our 'first date'.

I invited Ryan to come on a photo shoot with me. The lighting was fabulous and I was anxious to get out and take some pictures. Why not have enjoyable company along for the ride? At the construction site where I wanted to take a few pictures the owner asked if we were dating. I hesitated yet Ryan blurted out, "Yes!". The man then commented, "You're a cute couple and will have adorable children." Later at FHE a kid asked us if we're dating because of the joke about us getting married and having 12 kids. We went to his house and while we were listening to his friend Nick play songs on his guitar he put his hand on my knee. We danced our first ever dance & told Nick he had to play that song at our wedding reception. A few days later we held hands :)

September 18 - Our First Kiss
September 23 -Flowers on my front porch for my birthday
October 1 - Feeling like telling him "I Love You" but refused to say it first.
October 14 - "I LOVE YOU"
October 25 - 6 weeks dating & mushy text
October 30 - "What if we got married?" discussion
November 17 - Ring shopping, dinner, and pre-registry looking
November 18 - We found the Ring!

December 15 - ENGAGED

RYAN & JANELLE ANDERSEN

hmm. That looks DANG GOOD.

Walking

Since I decided that I would be more accountable if I shared in a public forum, here's an update. I have started walking. Tuesday, I went 1.5 miles. The next three days, I walked 2.5 miles each day. I do not have a very fast pace but hopefully I will work up to one. The downside is that my shins are killing me. I hope that goes away also. I have been able to stay under 750 calories the last two days also but know that the weekends are always more calorie laden especially with a trip to Six Flags tomorrow. Happy goal keeping for those of you who have something you are working towards. Have a great day!

Hoping to Break the Minus 40 Barrier

Well, I guess I will join the dieting blogging! I am needing something! In the past 6 years I have lost and gained the same 40 pounds four times! Every time I get to the minus 40 mark, I hover for a while and then the scale starts to go back up the other way. Now usually I don't regain ALL 40 pounds every time, but last year I came within 5 lbs. of it. So I made it down to minus 41.4 lbs on June 25th and thought maybe I had broken the "down 40 lb" barrier, but during the summer I gained 5 of those back.

I am beginning to think I can't go any lower, but my goal is to lose another 25 - well actually now it's to lose another 30 because of that 5 pound gain.

I told Pauline I have the exercise piece down for now (I'm getting in 30 - 40 minutes 4 - 5 times a week) - but I need to wire my jaw shut!

Any suggestions? (Besides wiring the jaw shut?)

Becoming

Hopefully, I am becoming thinner and healthier. Cindy said there had been some talk about blogging about our dieting so I'll start with the first post. The losing has slowed down too much, so I am trying to commit to exercising too. This morning I finally got out there and walked. So a question for you out there, has anyone tried Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus? Anyone know the difference between them? So my goal for this week is to walk 1.5 miles every weekday morning and throw in some yardwork on those mornings I have extra time. What are you doing? This sibs have all set a goal of 10 pounds before Halloween. I lost 3 but am afraid I gained back. My personal goal is to lose 100 before Christmas. We'll see. Now I guess I'm accountable to all of you. Hope that helps me. Have a great day! And anyone who wants to join in tell us what your goal is before Halloween, diet, fitness or anything else you want to accomplish!

(A little before and so far comparison. Not the best pictures.)

Cody's wedding

These are Bab's Kids!


Rejoice, Barbara and Homer! These are your children
celebrating with the next generation at the Temple of the Lord!

Memorial Day Weekend (email from mom and dad)

Hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend. We took advantage of the extra day off, took a couple more off and made a last minute trip to Salt Lake. Stuart came up from Provo and Janelle came down from Rexburg and we all stayed in a little cabin at an RV resort out near the airport. Way cheaper than two hotel rooms and almost as convenient. On Saturday we shopped at Gateway in the morning because it wasn't very nice weather, then drove up Emigration Canyon to the Mormon Pioneer Trail and ate our picnic in the car cuz it was so darn cold and windy. We hiked a short ways just to say we had hiked on the Pioneer trail and then headed down to This is the Place Monument. After a while we headed back to camp and ate tacos before driving in to see the Young Ambassadors at the Conference Center Theatre. What a terrific show! Every number had great singing and awesome dancing! Afterwards we went back to the cabin and had German Chocolate birthday cake for Stuart's 24th birthday.

Sunday was a beautiful, warm day. We went to Music and the Spoken Word - which was a special Memorial Day Tribute. The music was fantastic - although we didn't get into the Tabernacle, we watched it in the Assembly Hall. Temple Square was packed with loads of people (tour buses full) and they had to use the visitor centers theatres and Assembly hall for overflow. My favorite number was John Williams "America - The Dream Goes On!" They had beautiful photos with it, but the music itself was so inspiring. They had the Orchestra and a hand bell choir accompany them. I didn't realize that really the whole program is music with just a short message at the end. It was wonderful. They also had in attendance a 89 year old veteran who had taken his trumpet with him and played it for the men as they prepared to land on the beaches of Normandy on D- Day. He played "O Danny Boy", the same song he played that day so long ago, on that same trumpet, one he had gotten when he was 9 years old. He was incredible. Afterwards Caidin wanted a tour of the Conference Center so we did that and got to see all the beautiful paintings and sculptures inside it as well. Someone was practicing the organ while we were there and the sound from those 7000 pipes really filled that giant space. It was awesome. Then we made our way to Liberty Park for a picnic. My new sandals were scraping the back of my feet raw so we eventually had to go back to camp and change out of our Sunday clothes. That led to naps out on the grass and inside the cabin for some, horseshoes and a game of pool in the clubhouse and swimming in the pool for others. We never did make it back to Temple Square and I didn't get to see the gardens. Oh well!

Monday we drove up American Fork Canyon and had a beautiful 4 mile hike to Stewart Falls and back. The Aspens were just barely leafed out some places, and up higher they weren't yet. The weather was nice that day too (almost too nice for hiking uphill. That's why my face is red in one picture.) Bryce's family invited us to their home in Sandy for a BBQ Monday night. We got to meet Bryce's parents and all but one married sister. We had a great time visiting with his family and playing Bocce in their backyard. You can see the Draper temple on the hill across from their house and three others from different spots in the yard. Janelle had to head home early in the evening. We sure enjoyed seeing her. We miss her a lot. Stuart is getting ready to do a two month pharmacy tech program starting tomorrow that will hopefully land him an internship somewhere. It was great seeing him, too. What fun to be together - even if we are all crammed into our mini-van (it's a lot tighter now that they are all young adults with long legs and not kids anymore!) and getting lost and getting carsick on the winding roads etc.i-van (it's a lot tighter now that they are all young adults with long legs and not kids anymore!) and getting lost and getting carsick on the winding roads etc.

We came home to lots and lots of rain. It's getting a little ridiculous! 5.79 or is it 5.87? inches for May. I'm ready for sun!

Trifle and Trifle

This is what I have been doing all day today. Definitely learned what to do different next time. I hope they taste good.

A Wonderful Christmas in St. George

We so enjoyed being able to attend Kathryn and Karl's wedding and reception. Everything seemed so perfect! The timing was perfect, the family and friends all there, the decorations were divine and all went so smoothly.

We were able to take Mom and Dad some of the handwork of the talented Cindy, Deanne and Pauline. The centerpiece arrangement that we took lasted for days and looked so festive on the coffee table in the family room. The chocolates and the caramels, that Pauline and Deanne made, were put away in the outside refrigerator and so we hope Mom and Dad have enjoyed each and every yummy bite!

We had such a nice,relaxing visit in St George. Christmas was festive, but not hurried, as there were no little children eager to see what Santa brought to their stocking. We had time to visit and be visited by relatives. Aunt Janet went with Stevie and me to see New Moon and Dean, Brady and I were able to feast our eyes at the 3D version of the movie, Avatar. It was so colorful and kewl in 3D! And I enjoyed the story line too, so for me it is a must see! We enjoyed our time with Stevie, now a student at BYU. We had a couple really great shopping trips that she really scored! 3 new pairs of shoes, a couple really nice outfits and a winter dress coat!
We loved our vacation that was over 2 weeks away from home.
Our time away was marred for us by the news of the break-in at home in Auburn, WA. Cody came home from work to find that our new 50" plasma TV and our blue ray player were missing. He called the police and the break in was documented, and we heard through neighbors that the thief had been caught. When we returned home, I went to the police station to give an updated theft report (Brady had 2 game consoles and almost 40 games stolen) and was told that it was only a rumor that the thief was caught. We were also warned that repeat break ins are common, usually only a few months after the first theft, to steal again after the homeowners have replaced their stolen belongings. So we continue to beef up our home security.
Life has returned to the same ol', same ol' but we continue to reminisce about our vacation we were able to spend with family. Thank you all for your hospitality and great memories.