Some really awful and sad things have happened to my friends and family as of lately that has left me feeling so mournful and worried about them. Today I'm choosing to focus on something happy and tell my happy story not to forget about their hurt but to shine a little light.

On October 24, 2011 I got engaged!


Its about time I tell the story right?

Lets start two days before this. Mike and I had a little shopping to do downtown. As we walked in front of a jewelry store Mike said, "Want to go in?" I obviously said yes. So we went in and just looked at rings. It was unexpected and fun. We narrowed it down to two rings said our thank yous and walked out the door. Let me tell you, the whole time we were in the store two things were running through my mind. 1. Am I really here looking at engagement rings??? Yeee!! 2. Why didn't I at least shower before we went out in public?

The next two days were spent secretly telling my friends that we went to a jewelry store and wondering just how long I would have to wait. Turns out, Mike is just as impatient, if not more, than I am. I came home on Monday the 24th to find Mike home, instead of working his usual overtime. He had some van morrison playing and he was doing the dishes. A little suspicious, yes.

Throughout the day we were texting each other about how excited we were about that nights dinner, spaghetti. We obviously love spaghetti. I walked right in the door, used the restroom, and came out and grabbed the pasta pot out of the cupboard to find this inside of it:


That would be the blue ninja (from the post before this) drawn shakily by a nervous boy on the outside of a jewelry box. He made a very special sneak attack on me. I turned to find mike standing there with a sheepish smile on his face and I quickly opened the box and excitedly yelled, "Do you have something to ask me?" He did. I said yes (surprise!) and we spent the next couple hours drinking wine and calling friends and family. That spaghetti? We never even made it. Our engagement dinner ended up being a tombstone pizza and Riesling wine. So our style.

This past weekend was a long vacation weekend. Mike, myself and my Rachey made a trip down to Madison where we saw the band Primus and checked out Mike's old haunts in the place he used to live. After our very quick trip to Madison we headed back north to Michigan and revisited the resort we went to this summer. Just outside of Wausau we stopped at a truck stop to use the bathrooms. Rachel and I went into our respective room and mike in his. When we came out we found mike at the gumball machines purchasing a toy. This toy.

This is the blue alien ninja. Mike just HAD to have it (now's the time to insert how much I love him, right? I'm talking about Mike).

Blue ninja made the trip to the cabin with us and had a blast doing what ninjas do best...appearing out of nowhere. He ended up almost being eaten from hiding in the bag of popcorn. He hid in Mike's cigar case, in the m&m's and so on. Unfortunately, the weekend came to an end, but blue ninja came home with us.

Since being home he's been on some fantastic missions, like hiding in the salt bowl and my personal favorite coming out of the refrigerator's ice machine as Mike filled his glass.

The point of this story is, its is so. much. fun. The look on the face of the person that finds it is priceless.

Just two weekends ago Mike's baby sister got married. What made it even better (for me) is that one of my best friends (Mike's cousin, Kari) came all the way from Florida to take pictures for the big event. We had a really great time and here are just a few pictures from the wedding.

Mike and the pretty bride, Jen.

Normal?

Nope, this is my normal. Why does my face naturally squish up every time a camera is pointed at my face?

I did my best with a real picture. But this next one is more me.

Thank goodness Kari has another cousins wedding to come back for in June. Miss you already!

And finally, this is the only picture I got with the bride. Also, this is the Bride for the June wedding Kari will be photographing.

I really classed up the joint if you can't tell.

Needless to say, it was really a fantastic time. I danced and was sore for two days. Two.

And this pizza right here, well its just one of the reasons. This is a Frankie's taco pizza and it is beloved in these parts. I never understood it until last weekend. Kari, my bff, if you will, was visiting from Florida for Mike's sisters wedding (more on that later) and it was a mandatory stop while she was here. Yes, that is absolutely Doritos on top of a pizza and they are amazing. I posted this picture to facebook and within maybe 5 minutes there were at least 8 likes/comments. People love. this. pizza. I guess I am now "people." Sigh. Like I needed another "excuse" to eat Doritos.

If you're into Doritos you should totally check out this hilarious post on best week ever's blog. It's called the 50 most delicious doritos flavors: from disgusting to cool ranch.

Back in 2007, when Brett Favre was still the Packers go-to guy, was the last time I made it to Lambeau Field. It was a playoff game against the Seahawks and it ended in blizzard like conditions. It was amazing, with the biggest "snowflakes" (think clumps of snow) I have ever seen. Holly was there and said that she's afraid to go to another game because there's no way another would top that experience. I'd have to say I agree. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to try...

I was just looking back at an article and here's what Brett had to say:

'"I've been hoping for that for 17 years," Favre said. "I was watching the weather all day and it's a shame, I'm like, 'Just give us one of those big snow games.'"

"I wanted to play where you couldn't see the field, and the snowplow comes out. It keeps getting worse and worse," he said.

With Lambeau Field looking like a snow globe, the Packers posted their biggest points total in postseason history.'

The snowplows indeed came out. But first they swept the yardlines as it started to snow, then they moved onto using shovels to clear the yardlines, and finally they had to move onto the plows. It was incredible.

Anyways, the point of this post was that obviously I'm pumped up for the season opener tonight and because of that game and this event that happened before I cannot get excited about football without hearing this sound in my head:

You see, we went to the game with Mike's longtime friend and his wife and we stayed in separate rooms. Mike went down in the morning to get some pre-game donuts at the continental breakfast and he heard someone exuberantly shouting out that sound. Mike came back and told me about it and we giggled (yup, Mike giggled). Just a few minutes later we heard it outside our door when there was a knock. Wouldn't you know it was Eli, Mike's friend, all along. So, from that point on we hum this theme song whenever we are excited about football and will forever remember that game.