Oh for happiness!

I just wanted you to know my insides are going a little beserk (how do you even spell that) because I get to see a handsome fellow today AND that's not all. (I know right, you didn't think it could get any better either) and we have a whole stinkin week off of work!! Holy happy days! I'm so stinkin excited!!!!!!!! :D :D

Time flies when you're having... fun?

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(Which isn't my first choice of words to describe the long distance, and work.)
Time really has gone by pretty fast looking back. Looking forward? Different story. ;)
Monday my mom and I drove to Provo for some dress appointments and the engagements. :) (Weird?!?)
I seriously love the mother daughter trips I get every once in a while! My mom is pretty much amazing, and one of my best friends. It's been funny to look back at how our relationship has changed as I've 'grown up' (which I use loosely because I'm sure I'm not even half way there. :p) Matt was able to get off work a little early Monday night, so we went on a real live date! (Rare occasion due to long distance, but we've discovered our love for technology because a face time date is better than no date at all!) We grabbed some Panda and headed for the temple/MTC park(?) to eat and catch up. No big deal, we just got kicked off by MTC security. (Or somethin like that.)
Tuesday morning my mom and I headed to Gowns by Pamela. It's kind of ridiculously fun to have a consultant come and bring all these gorgeous dresses and stick you in them, like you're a princess who needs a maid to dress her, and then proceed to tell you how beautiful you look in all of them and how a corset comes with the rental package but that you don't even need one. Yeah. That's right. I may eat like crap, but hey. I still don't need a corset! I'm golden! :p
The dress that I picked was basically the opposite of what I had thought I wanted, it's kind of funny to see how your taste changes once you try them on. I've never been very big on veils either, but I've got a rather long one of those too! (I'm so excited!) Matt and I were talking about bridals with the photographer, and I hadn't realized that he didn't want to see my dress until our wedding. (I hadn't thought he was that traditional, but it's kinda cute. :p) So he's being left home for those, but we're taking them July 16th at the State Capitol building, and a park near by there? I'm kinda super really excited! (This is so weird! I'm still only like seventeen, right? Where did time go?)
Ooh, real quick. I'm not usually on the in the picture end of a camera, so I felt so awkward being all posey and such for the engagements, but I think they'll turn out well. Matt's such a goofball! Natalie appreciated it though, I think, she kept commenting on it and having us do some silly-ish poses because 'we could pull it off'. Like running around with a blanket around our shoulders like a cape. Did I feel stupid? Borderline. She had a chalk board prop for us, and suggested that we write our last name on there... we chuckled a little and wrote "Coffin" on it and then turned it around... oh the jokes that followed. :p I'm a lucky girl! ;) Right after I wrote stuff on the chalk board, though, she told us about how she wrote cutesy father's day things on it and took pictures of her kids, but ended up photo shopping what she wrote out, and using a font instead. Think that was a hint? :p Anyway. It was kinda fun though, between Matt pulling faces every five seconds, and me feeling awkward, and her telling him to tickle me so I'd laugh... it was pretty much just the time of our lives! ;)
Anywho... I just felt the obligation to blog since I was informed that I never blog anymore (probably because between working with delightful tourists constantly and talking to Matt every spare second, I don't have time for such things! Plus I've been feeling kind of blah about my ability to write. I'm 97% positive that my blog used to be a lot more interesting than it is now, because I'm not... expressive enough? Or something? Idk. I'm feelin like a blog failure, so I avoid it at all costs. :p)
BUT! I had to relay the good news. I have a dress. And engagement photos. And a cute fiance. And a lot of the wedding party clothes. And a dress for the wedding brunch. And a cute fiance. And an awesome mom. And a cute fiance. And wonderful family! (And a cute fiance. ;) )
Ooh, but since everything was going so well, I decided to lose my wallet up North to keep things interesting. And it did! Spiked a few stress levels, instigated a wild goose chase across Utah County, and maybe even inspired a few tears. And lots of prayers.
Good thing there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, right? My social security card (which, I know, I know, should never be in your wallet but occasionally is in mine anyway) is still safely tucked away at home and I got my card cancelled and issued a new one... I'm just driving illegally for a little while without my license and maybe need to call the bank again since I realized my checkbook was in there too. And my Maverik card. And one for Maggie Moo's. (My life is over! Right?)

Please bless that Yellowstone comes up much faster than the idea of five days away sounds.

If ya like it... well, then you put a ring on it. ;)

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It's probably really outta nowhere sounding-ish, seeing how I haven't been all swoony/spill my guts about dating Matt on here very often... but...
We're Engaged!! (Not sure why I made that look all title-ish.)
Aaaand since everyone has been asking for the story, and I'm pretty much just too lazy to text it out slash call up everyone (which maybe makes me an awful person?) I'm gonna stick it on here and just send out referrals. :p
Alright... where to start? :D
Matt and I have been talking about wedding madness for a while, so I knew we were getting engaged eventually, I just wasn't sure when. He had mentioned this past week that maybe he'd take my dad and mom out for ice cream and ask their permission this Saturday, since he'd be down for Anne Marie's mission farewell. (Yes. Bribery is good. ;) ) This last week has seriously been one of the LONGEST weeks of my life! So far anyway... I'm sure there'll be a few more of those before all is said and done. Friday night I talked to Matt on the phone and felt impatient and excited and was informed that he would arrive in Hatch at 10:00 the next morning. Saturday morning came and I was up at like, six. (I'm telling you, these weekend visits are like Christmas morning!) So I read some scriptures. And ate some breakfast. And washed my hair. And did my hair. And makeup. And wandered around. And read a book. And then sat on the porch with Meg and Miss. For an hour. Matt finally showed up at 11, and I was mostly just happy to see him, but mildly flustered that he was an hour later. (He blamed his 'girl truck' for being late.) My parents pulled in a few minutes after Matt did, and they hugged everyone and then we headed to Pines for some lunch and pie! (Emphasis on PIE!)
The rest of the afternoon was filled with random hanging out and helping clean and stuff, and every time my dad and Matt would be heading somewhere they'd ask me if I wanted to come. ("I don't know, Matt, do I want to come?" *Raising eyebrows* *Verbal winks and other such "are you gonna ask my dad and want me to stay here" body language cues*) I figured Matt was just going to ask my dad next time. Or Sunday. Definitely Sunday.
That evening Matt wanted to go hike in Red Canyon and watch the sunset. Cheesy? Romantic? Good exercise? Quality time? Yes. So, off we went. While we were driving, he kept messing with the zipper of his jacket, so I was thinking, "Hey! Maybe he'll propose!" But then I remembered our conversations where he'd say things like "I've got to stop being picky and just get a ring" or something of the sort. So I quickly smothered my hopes. :p
We got to the first pull off before you go into Red Canyon and parked the car, grabbed some jackets and the camera, and started hiking toward the very top. I'm suuuper out of shape so the whole time we're going, I'm thinking "I seriously hope he can't hear me wheezing, that'd be awkward." We finally got to the top and he picked out a flat rock to sit on, until the wind got super bad, and we hopped over to a different rock. (Hopped is used lightly here. It was super steepish and there are a lot of loose rocks up there so we more like tip toed.) Matt was being kinda quiet, so I rambled a little bit, and then started snapping lots of random pictures- because in case you were wondering, Red Canyon is GORGEOUS at sunset. Matt suggested that I set the camera down and so we could move somewhere where we could stand and dance. (Cutesy, eh? We may or may not have a history of 'dancing' in random spots. Like a random Ephraim homeowner's yard, or Pinetree's parking lot, or the kitchen in Cedar...) so we start dancing... which if we're being honest was mostly like hip swaying with the hand positions of dancing. I might have been a little scared of falling up there. In the middle of our cutesy moment Matt grins at me, "Remember how I was late today?" Yes. Yes I do. "I was actually in Hatch around 10." "... What?" "I was talking with your parents..." (Cue butterflies and mild shock. This is the point where I was 97% sure that he was going to propose) "and they gave me their permission. So," gets down on one knee and whips out a little black box "Shannon, will you marry me?"
Cue some kisses and squeals and hugs and "Oh my word!"s and giggles. And, of course, a "yes!". :) And some more hugs and finally a ring :p And some more hugs and "oh my word"s and, ok ok... maybe a few smooches. And maybe a "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!" being yelled at the top of my lungs. :p
We hiked back down and he offered to drive since I was still freaking out a little bit. :) Then lots of hugs at the cabin and more squeals and sisters trying on the ring and hugs and squeals and snuggling and happiness!
(I'm beginning to realize I really stink at story telling. Majorly. You're welcome to ask Matt about his version. Earlier today it involved me threatening his life and dangling him over the edge, and then finding a ring magically formed by the sands of time. Guess I pull some pretty convincing ultimatums. ;) )
Anywho. Here's some pictures.... Sorry I stink at story telling. It was at least seven thousand times more awesome than how I just told it. :D
We're planning on the second week of August. (hopefully!) Feel free to say some prayers about reducing stress levels and pulling this off. :) Either way we're happy and I get to marry my best friend!! :D Who is stinkin adorable.

On a random 4-wheeler ride with the twins Saturday
afternoon. :) They're super photogenic, don't you think?

At 'Old Town', being silly... as usual. 

I might love this one...

Behind view from our rock at sunset. :p

Pretend we're not undertalented at self portraits.
(Or make up words, like "undertalented".)

Do you see the teensy little cars down there? We were
up pretty high!

On our way back to the car, "I think we should take a picture!"
"Oh yeah!"
"I think that's what people do after they're engaged." :p
Good thing Matt thought of it, because I was just
floating down the hill basically.

 Ok, ladies and gents. Here's the part where I feel borderline awkward because it always drove me a little crazy to see engaged girls flaunting their ring pictures. I understand now. And of course there was always part of me who was obnoxiously curious to see the ring pictures anyway? Whatever. I love it and he did an awesome job with picking it and surprising me, and being him! :)
(Gross. We're all squishy and twitterpated. ;D )

T minus 25 hours!

Which probably does make me really ridiculous. That's ok with me.

This post is coming straight from Hatch, Utah. Are you jealous? :) You probably should be, the twins, Bri, Erin and I have been partyin since Wednesday! Complete with obnoxious giggle fits, roasting s'mores (how can we have some more when we haven't had any yet?) and random bursts of work out motivation. (Ok, so I'd be lying if I use the plural of burst. We did that once. Wednesday night. Never been the same since. Laughing is officially painful.) 

We also learned (from Pinterest) that the lines on a solo cup are measurements for alcohol. Pinternet is a very educational place, apparently.

It really has been so much fun to switch things up and party with my sisters between work shifts this week, I was getting borderline nutsy beforehand. 

I've got some great tourist stories, which is partially why I'm blogging. (The main reason is a time killer.) The other day I met this woman who was slightly grey, very colorful, and toting a garden gnome. Totally normal, right?

I couldn't decide if it'd be rude or not to ask "Ma'am, why in the world are you smuggling a small gnome?" She must have noticed me eyeing her accessory because she piped up with "My son is making me take pictures with this gnome everywhere I travel. That's why I had to buy batteries." *Insert 'cwazy eyes' and a huge grin* Aha! Problem solved. Not only is she senile, but her son is fueling said insanity! Sounds like a healthy, happy family to me! ;) (Ok, so just kidding. Apparently it has something to do with a French film, called Amelia.) 

Most of the other stories are more like mini horor films. So I'll just let those slip through the cracks. Ok... this is the worst blog post ever probably... I just am super antsy. And such. And obligated to blog. 

I'll just stop there. Just stick with the gnome story. Yeah?

And these grand songs that we dance to in the cabin.

Oh. And this. Just because. :)