Quicky

So this post is going to be quick.

Our hard drive died last week. So haven't been able to post about disneyland, but I will I promise.

Because our hard drive broke we decided to get a new computer (which happens to be what I'm using now). And is also the reason why this is a fast post, Lincoln wants to use "his" new computer. More on this to come

Disneyland was wonderful. However I lost all of the pictures on the last computer, so I'll have my family send me some and then I'll post them.

And last bit of quick info.....Lincoln put a deposit down on med school!!!! Ready to here where we will be moving next July?

Drum roll...............

Chicago!

He will be going to the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Woot Woot.

Lots more to come....very impatient husband sorry.

Coming Soon!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

The Greatest Place on Earth

In 5 Days


Oh yeah and we will be in Utah for about 24 hours prior to this. I'm sad to say this is not long enough to see everyone we would like. We miss you all.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

This is one of the card designs that you can get from Shutterfly.

It's that time of year again and so much to do. Last year I tried to get Lincoln to let me send out a Christmas card. He objected. Probably because we weren't even engaged yet. Now that we are married I get to design a card and send one out. I don't have access to a good program like Photoshop, but thanks to Sam I am going to do them through Shutterfly.

I didn't know anything about Shutterfly previously to Sam's blog post. After looking at all there designs I found some that I really like. And they are a lot cuter than what I could design. I love them because you can do a folded card (which is what we will be doing) and write your own personal message or you can just have the basic picture card. Here are links to some different styles.
Chirstmas Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
Holiday Cards: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

The folded cards are great because of the personalized message. Lincoln thought it would be lame to just have a picture of us. "People know what we look like," he said. He wants to share what we've been doing in Omaha. I think it's a great idea.

They also do the cutest picture calendars. I know lots of people that have them and this is a great way to do it. Especially if you don't have your 2011 calendar yet. I think we will wait till we have children to do one of our own, but they make great gifts. Check out this link: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Another benefit is that they're cheaper than anyone else that I could find. It's fast and easy. Oh and they have a holiday promotion where you can get 50 free cards. Can't beat that. Time is running out though. Christmas is almost here!

Snow Queen

So I heard about the snow in Utah....No snow here just cold. But that is not what this blog is about. It has been decided. We are going to make the Snow Queen's (from the Nutcracker) Castle for our gingerbread house. I don't know if she had a castle but if she did it would look something like this..



Less purple more blue and of course lots of gingerbread. Our castle will not be as elaborate seeing as I've never made a gingerbread house before. How hard could it be? After all I did make this...



OK, enough of the bragging and in all honesty it's not even close to perfect. If anyone has some good tips on making gingerbread houses I'm all ears. Suggestions welcome!

Slip'N'Slide

Here is the video of the slip'n'slide from the wedding. Love it! Great memories were/are made doing this.

Things I Love about Iowa

1. I love all the church history out here. It might not be the biggest place to learn about the Mormons, but there's lots of fun things.

We recently visited the Kanesville Tabernacle. This is the spot where Brigham Young was sustained as a prophet. It's a neat little log cabin building. They let Lincoln play the organ that's over 100 years old.

Every year they have a gingerbread house display that is open to the community. Our stake puts on the event, but anyone can enter. Lincoln and I are teaming up with the Smiths (this great couple in our ward) to make ours.

The theme is: Stories, Songs, and Rhymes of Christmas Time. It doesn't have to be the birth of Christ Christmas. It can be anything. We want something really unique. Any suggestions would be great!

2. Cheaper gas. The average price of gas that we've paid is about $2.50. I have to drive about ten minutes to work so this is nice.

3. No sales tax on food. It's wonderful. I swear we save so much money on grocery shopping. The tax is only on goods not services. So we still have to pay tax if we go out to eat, but that's not very often.

4. Same sex marriage! Just kidding. But really, I just learned it's legal in Iowa.

5. There's lots of trees out here. Everything is very pretty we've really enjoyed exploring. The other day we visited the pedestrian bridge. It goes from Council Bluffs to Omaha across the Missouri River. It looks really cool. I didn't take this picture obviously, but I like how you can see on both sides of the river. The side with all the buildings and lights is Nebraska. The dark side with the trees you can't see is Iowa.

The ZOO

The Omaha zoo is the coolest. They have a HUGE desert dome. You get to walk around as if you're in the different deserts in the world. Some of the animals are just walking around with you (mostly birds). Underground they have a nocturnal and swamp exhibit. In the swamp all that separates you from the crocodiles is three feet, a net, and a railing. Super cool.

They also have a jungle exhibit. Same concept as the desert one (except giant bats instead of just birds flying around). The monkeys just swing from trees right in front of your face. No net, no fence and no glass. They could jump on you if they wanted. The Sloth in this picture is about two feet from Lincoln. I think he wanted to pet it.

This Jaguar did not like Lincoln. He kept circling and hissing!
The rain forest bridge. There's a waterfall on the one side.
Looking through the waterfall

Lincoln trying to see what the bird is looking at.

This is a gorilla just hanging out by the window.

Home Sweet Home

I finally uploaded pictures, so there's a lot of them.


The first set is our rainy day. Lincoln had his first D.O. interview in Des Moines. It's about two hours from Omaha, so he drove. We only have one car, so I went with him. I spent most the day shopping and I went to a really neat art museum.

On our way home we stopped in Madison County. You might know of a famous bridge there? Yep, we went to see it.
We also went to see the birthplace of John Wayne

As you can see in the pictures it rained...no, more like poured a tsunami on us. It was fantastic! I love the rain. I made I made Lincoln stop at a park so I could jump in puddles. And of course I found something better. A purple dinosaur. It was one of those rocking ones on the giant spring. The best part about it was that it held two people. Not just kid sized, but adult sized people. About the size of Lincoln and myself! Oh what fun it was.



And what is a small town without the small town dinner and pie? We had the French Silk Pie. mm..mm...good.

This is our new bed. I love it! When we first got married we slept on a full that sunk in the middle. Then we moved into Grandma and Grandpa Andreasen's. They had a queen that also sunk in the middle. Now we have a new bed and it's just right.
This is our living room the first day we moved in. Pretty much everything we own is in this picture.
The drive out here was about 16 hours. We did stop one night to split it up a little. Still, it's nice to get out and stretch your legs a little. We took pictures at all the important points of interest. We only missed one. The Welcome to Iowa sign is a little difficult to get a picture of. It sits above the freeway right over the Missouri river. I don't think you are supposed to stop on the bridge.




This is our moving van. Most of it's Lincoln's!
Kim and Cory came and helped us load everything up. It didn't take too long, but it did rain. No surprise there. Ask Kim, it always rains when one of us tries to move. The kids were very cold. The next time we will see them is Christmas in Disneyland!!!
We had a list of things we wanted to do before we left. We didn't have time for most of them. This is our hike to Mt. Naomi. We packed a lunch to eat when we got to the top. We were unpacking the bag and we found $100 bill. It's not unheard of for someone to find a dollar here and there. I once found $20 in an old winter coat, but $100!? YAY!

We're here!

Well we made it to Omaha! It was about a 16 hour drive and we stopped in Cheyenne the first night and arrived Friday afternoon.

We love our apartment here. It sits on 18 acres of land all of which looks like a forest. Everything is so green and gorgeous. The apartment complex is Sherwood Forest Estates and we live on Little John Circle. We asked about the Robin Hood reference, but no one knew the story behind it. There seems to be lots of things to explore out here. Lot's of parks and lakes as well as the cool zoo and different historic sights. It should keep us busy for awhile.

My job is going well. I transferred to the Bed Bath and Beyond out here. It's pretty similar to the store in Logan, so that made the transfer easy. And it looks like I will be getting a full time position that just opened up. I'll know all the details next week. For now I'm working 40 hours without the benefits, but if I do get the full time position that will change. It's just nice to have a job and be making some money.

Lincoln is on the job hunt. We're hopeful something will turn up soon. He's spent the last week at home unpacking and getting things set up. It's nice to have him around. I think I'll keep him for awhile!

The med school update:
He's got three interviews all at D.O. schools. His first one is Thursday in Des Moines. I took the day off and we're driving up in the morning. His interview goes all day, so I'm going to explore the city. His second interview is in Denver in the first part of October. And his third one is in Chicago at the end of October. We're excited and I'll update more as things come up.

We haven't met much of the ward yet. The missionaries and a few other people helped us unpack the moving vehicle on Saturday. Sunday was steak conference, so we didn't get a chance to meet anyone yet. Everything is pretty close though, the church building is only ten minutes away and the Winter Quarters Temple is only fifteen minutes.

We feel very blessed to be here and everything is falling into place. We are having so much fun. We can't wait for everyone to come visit us.

Oh and I will be posting pictures. I'm struggling with trying to get them downloaded.

Also here is our mailing address:

1615 Little John Circle Apt. 10
Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Changing Blog URL

I found out how to change my blog URL. Because this is now a joint blog (with lincoln and myself) the new blog address will be:
trincoln.blogspot.com
instead of buttercup22.blogspot.com.


I will be making this change on the 25th. After this date buttercup22.blogspot.com will no longer exist so make sure you change it.

MOVING!

So we have decided to move to Omaha. Well, really it's Council Bluffs, IA. Here is a map.

There are a few reasons why we wanted to move here. The biggest one is so that we can be closer to all the med schools when Lincoln starts to get interviews. When a med school offers you an interview you have to pay your own way to get to the interview. It can get pretty expensive.

We're really excited! We've talked to the bishop out there and they know we're coming. It's nice to have that network of people ready and willing to help.

Our plan is to move the week after Labor Day. It's coming pretty fast, but we're all packed and ready to go. We've been living with Grandma and Grandpa Andreasen for the last week, so all of our stuff is in the storage shed.

It's a big move but we are both ready to be done with Logan. We will miss all of our friends and family very much. But you can all come visit us in Omaha! We have a futon!

wedding pics

We got our wedding pics back. I don't have the internet so I'll post a few of them now and try to get some more later. If you have any pictures from the wedding or the reception I would love to have copies. You can email them to me at tltorman22@yaoo.com

Wedding

Well there's lots to blog about and I'm not really in the mood. But the wedding was SOOO much fun. Everything went so well. I wouldn't change a thing! Here is a picture of us coming out of the Nauvoo Temple (courtesy of cousin Harmony).

More to come later.

People Watching

People are entertaining. It's as simple as that. Yesterday I was sitting in Sunday School when the girl teaching the class explained that she was a theater major. She proceeded to tell us that she loves to people watch because that is how she comes up with characters she plays. She said if you see me staring at you I'm not judging you I just like the way do (insert mannerism here).

Here are my thought about this....


1. People watching is fun
2. Everybody does it
3. We're all unique so I may find you weird but really your just different from me
4. Don't be self conscious of people watching you, embrace your uniqueness

As I sit here in the Denver Airport waiting for my flight I have discovered many interesting people. All of which seem to be staring at everyone else thinking the same thing.

We're all wondering why that mother feels the need to breast feed in front of all of us. At the very least you could go over to the corner seat.

Or the loud obnoxious teenagers who we wondering if we were really like when we were their age.

And how 'bout the old lady who has no idea what is going on. She gets in everyone's way and takes forever getting on and off the plain. Sure we all feel bad for her. But no one wants to be behind her in line.

My personal favorite is business guy. This is the guy in the suite is always on the cell phone making some sort of loud business call. Oh not to mention the general rule of one carry-on does not apply to him. Even a briefcase and a role-on does not suffice. He feels the need to have the role-on, the briefcase, the garment bag (because whatever trip he is on the suit he is wearing is not enough, so he brings a spare), and if he's anything like the guy at the security gate he has two laptops so that requires yet another bag.

The one nice thing about business guy, although he takes up a lot of room, he will either sit quietly in his sit and not talk to you or he will engage in a semi-pleasant conversation. Mostly likely to show you how cool his business is.

My favorite travelers young adults traveling alone. I know I'm getting married, but they keep to themselves and unless it's a high maintenance girl they travel fairly light.

All in all I have to say that I like flying. Even with a two hour layover I can thoroughly enjoy myself all these crazy people.

And one last story of note.
As I was passing through security this morning, I was very blatantly hit on. I handed the security guy my boarding pass and ID. He said I'm sorry...long pause...we don't let the pretty ones through. AWKWARD! I was surrounded by previously mentioned business guys. When this statement was said all of the them turned to make an assessment of security guys opinion.

Oh and cute guy next to me laughed at my joke. Old guy asked him to watch his bag while he went to the bathroom. I said to cute guy hopefully it doesn't blow up on you. YAY for laughing at not funny jokes. Probably shouldn't talk to cute guy any more. I am getting married in 4 days!!


4 DAYS!!!!

CD's a dying art

So not only are we getting married but we don't have a place to live until after we come back from all the festivities, which means we have to move everything.

The other night I was helping Lincoln pack all of his stuff (which compared to mine is very minimal). Anyway I was adding his DVD collection to mine. I keep them in a large CD case. They are all alphabetized so this is quite the process. As I began to work on this project I noticed that most of Lincoln's films are foreign. And most of those are Indian.

I half serious half joking said that we are going to need a whole new case for foreign films. I think he might have been slightly offended. He went off about not appreciating a good movie. And I baited him a little further teasing him about all his movies.

After a good disagreement we decided to keep the foreign films with the rest of the DVD's. But they have their own section in the very back!

This is just the beginning of merging two lives together. Oh what fun lies ahead!

Oh and the other thing. We both have yet to upload our CD's to my computer. So we have a stack of those too. I don't even know the last time I bought one. They do still make them right.


ONE WEEK!

Trincoln

Lincoln didn't like Tracey 'n' Lincoln for the blog title. He thinks Trincoln is more appropriate. It's the first opinion he's had about the blog so I guess I'll indulge him.

Trin.coln [Treen-kun]
- Noun
The combination of the names Tracey and Lincoln

Apology

I just found a stack of Thank You notes from my showers that I thought I had already sent out. I guess I missed them with all the chaos of sending the invitations. I apologize for not sending them sooner. They are on their way!

10 things I'm going to love about being married...

...or at least I think I'll love.

1. Not having to go home at night or having Lincoln go home.

2. Opening up my laptop and seeing one of the following...
*ESPN Main page
*Fantasy sports scores
*The White Sox
*The Buffalo Sabres
*The Buffalo Bills
It sounds lame but I like looking at all the sports stuff and then talking about it with him...

3. Learning new words. Lincoln always uses words that I don't know.

4. Having someone else to cook for me again. Yes he does cook more than I do.

5. Being able to go to be earlier. Since he doesn't have to go home there's no reason to stay up late.

6. Bacon! He knows I love bacon and just buys it for me!

7. The trash being emptied. Hannah and Kim can vouch for this one. He is always taking out the garbage.

8. Reading good books. We've read one book together (Lost Symbols-Dan Brown) I hope there's many more to come.

9. Not having to worry about dating!

10. Being able to play sports with him. And on occasion beat him at something.


Cheesy post I know. Sorry. Just excited. Only 2 more weeks!

ONE MONTH

So we're one month out from the wedding. I thought I had most everything done, but I keep finding things I need to work on. Most are little things. Some are big like the cake and the flowers. At this point I don't even really care. I'm just ready for the wedding to be here. But I just keep telling myself that I have forever to be married and I need to have fun being single for one more month. YAY only one more month!!!

Temple Session

Because we are getting married in the Nauvoo Temple we thought it would be fun to do a temple session the night before. We have schedule June 17th at 6pm to do an endowment session. If you are coming to the wedding in Nauvoo and would like to join us you will need to call the temple and put your named down as well. I have talked to some people and they have been included in the count that I have scheduled. If you are unsure if this is you or have any other questions let me know!

Here is the Nauvoo Temple number 217-453-6252

I have not set a date to get my endowments out yet. It will probably be sometime the week of the 24th. I will post more on that when I decide.

Just over a month now! YAY

Pictures

So I'm a lazy blogger. Here is the link for some of the engagements. I think they turned out really good. I'm excited! Thanks again Kacey

Finished...Kinda

Well I finished the dress enough to take pictures in. I think it turned out pretty good. I just need to reinforce some places that I had to hand sew.

Pictures were fun. I haven't seen any of them yet. But she's a good photographer so I'm sure they'll be good. I'm sure I'll post a few when we get them.

But the hardest part is over. YAY!

Shhh Don't Tell Lincoln

Ok so I should probably start this blog off by saying something that is supposed to be a surprise to Lincoln. Maybe something like his ring came in yesterday and I need to go pick it up. This really did happen by the way. But it has nothing to do with that...

We are taking engagement pictures on Saturday and I am also doing bridals. The only problem is that I'm not done with my dress...I was complaining to Lincoln about being stressed cause I left it to the last minute. He patiently kept say that I could do it and he knew I could finish it. Let just insert here that I'm sooooo grateful I'm marrying someone who is patient with me and lets me complain and be stressed. Anyway I should be working on my dress now, but I just can't bring myself to do it....UGH. Hence, don't tell Lincoln. But he would probably just role his eyes and encourage me to work on it. Gotta love him.

So that is all....I think I'll go and work now.

Stolen Camera = No Illinois Pics

So Lincoln had his mission reunion last weekend. We decided to go and meet up with some of his good buddies. The reunion was nothing of great note, but we will remember the night just because our (my mother's) camera got stolen. The story goes as follows....

After the reunion a group of us (mostly Lincoln's close friends from the mission and their plus 1's) decided to go eat. Well of course it had to be Indian food. For those of you who don't know, that's where Lincoln served his mission. Anyway, we go to this really good restaurant in Salt Lake. I don't remember the name, but all the guys agreed that it was the best Indian restaurant. It's on 3300 S and 700 E. You should try it out.

Anyway we decided to take the camera in. Well we accidentally left it on the table when were leaving. We all congregated outside to talk some when two girls walked in the restaurant to charge their cell phone. Upon seeing the girls the nice hostess mistook one of them for a girl in our party. She told them she found the camera and proceeded to give it to them.

This is the part that makes me angry. The girls took the camera and walked right past us with it. By the time I realized I didn't have it with me it was to late. The lady at the restaurant felt horrible and said she would call if they returned it. However, it doesn't look to promising.

There is one upside to the story. My mother (whom the camera belonged to) had decided to get a new one. So by the time we got home to tell her she didn't need it anymore. Thus saving us money to buy her a new one.

The saddest part is I didn't have a chance to download any of our pictures from Illinois. All of those pictures are gone. I don't even care about the camera I just want my pictures back.

Sad day.

Joys of Life

Some things in life are bound to bring one great joy. I'm sure most of you think this is going to be a blog about Lincoln and getting married. Well you would be wrong!

Two nights ago Lincoln and I beat Mario/Sonic Summer Olympic Games on the WII! I was so excited. Lincoln was fairly proud until I made him sit through the entire end credits. Hannah was a witness to this event and was pretty indifferent.

I tried to explain to Lincoln how great it is to win a Mario game while reading him all the Japanese names I could during the credits! By the end there were less Japanese names and it wasn't as exciting, but I still made him sit and watch till the end. He doesn't understand that watching the credits is half the joy of winning the game.

Anyway much joy was had in winning. I haven't beat an entire game since I was a kid. Oh how exciting this was. Now I need to find another game to beat!

Illinois Trip

Spring Break was last week. Lincoln and I went home (Springfield, IL) to visit his family and see Nauvoo. We had a ton of fun! Bryon, Lincoln's dad showed us all the fun Lincoln (abe) sites and museum. It was like having our own personal tour guide. We even got to go into the vault (no one gets to go there). Nauvoo was really cool too. The temple is beautiful. I'm glad we picked it. I'll have to upload pictures later and tell more about the adventures!

As for wedding plans...rooms are reserved. Those who haven't decided if you're coming or not. Here is the information for the place we're staying. If you're unsure whether we reserved a room for you let me know. www.nauvoovillas.com

If you would like to ride the train out, here is that information. We flew out and road the train back. It's good for little kids because they can get up and walk around. There's an observation car that's pretty neat too. The biggest down fall is it's about a 28 hour ride. But it was fun. www.amtrak.com It will be the train from Chicago to California.

If you're flying and planning on coming to Springfield for the open house Wednesday night St. Louis would be the easiest place to land. The only direct flight is on Delta and it can be pricey. If you're just coming to Nauvoo St. Louis or Des Moines are about equal distance.

I hope you're getting excited...we are! I'll post pictures later.

Wedding Update

So as far as the dress goes I started making it and then decided to go try on some dresses to see how to put in the lining. While we were there (hannah and I) I tried on one that we really liked. The lady told me that she had just marked it down to $99 cause it doesn't look good on short people. To make a long story short I ended up buying it. It's strapless so I need to put sleeves on it and I'm changing the back. I figure I'll be making enough changes on it that it will be exactly what I want and I saved myself time!

As far as flowers and colors go I've decided on Gerber Daisies and all the colors that they come in.



Also I need addresses! If you already sent it to me on Facebook great! If not please send it to me asap. Thanks we're getting really excited!

Save the Date!

We have finally decided on a date!


JUNE 18th, 2010!


We will be getting married in the Nauvoo Temple. We would love for everyone to come, but we understand it's not the most convenient. If you are planning on coming please let us know. There are no motels in Nauvoo so we are going to try and reserve some rooms at some condos close by. We need to get them reserved soon and need a tentative count. So even if it's a maybe let me know! We'd love to have you there.

And don't worry for those of you who wont be able to make it we will have a reception/open house on the 26th of June in Ogden. I'm trying to make it as close to a party as I can, so it will be tons fun.

Let us know what you're thinking. We are VERY VERY excited!

Belated Birthday Post

So I totally forgot to post about the big birthday celebration. The whole family came to town, so we started out with family pics. Kacey is sending them, so we haven't seen them yet. We made Lincoln be in all the pictures, so now he is officially part of the family.

After pictures we went out to eat at Ruby River. Very good food! I made grandma's birthday cake as is tradition. She blew out the one candle and I blew out 24. All in all 25 candles (for my birthday) 90 would have been to many!


Then we went back to grandma's house and went tubing down her back hill. We built this awesome jump and had a blast taking down all the great-grandchildren.

All in all it was a great day and so fun to spend with the whole family! Thanks everyone making it a good day and all the birthday wishes!

Here is the train that we made going down the hill. This ended with two popped tubes!


This is Lincoln going off the jump. Nice air!

Design My Wedding Dress

So my mother and I went wedding dress shopping a week ago It was lots of fun and tried on lots of different dresses. Between the price of the dress and then the price of the alterations to make it temple ready I have decided I'm going to make my dress. Call me crazy, but I'm actually really excited.

I've got a few ideas of what I want it to be, but nothing set in stone. This is where all of you come in. I have posted two pictures of the shape that I want the dress to be. I want all of you to fill in the rest. All you have to do is print the pictures and color in what you think would be cute, take a picture of your design and email it to me!!! Sounds like fun huh!! I will post all of the designs and maybe even pick one (keep in mind I said MAYBE). Here is my email: tltorman22@yahoo.com

And for those of you who are wondering when we are getting married....plan on June 17th or 18th. We're really indecisive! Oh and it will be in the Nauvoo temple with a reception a weekish later in Utah! I'll post the set dates when we get them. Till then have lots of fun designing my wedding dress!


Front of dress


Back of dress

pre-engagement engagements

So this last weekend was the big birthday party...my Grams turned 90! Everyone one was in town, so we decided to do family photos. My sister-in-law is a great photographer and was willing to take all of them for us.

She hasn't done very many in the snow and asked if Lincoln and I would be willing to let her take some pictures of us. I said yes (Lincoln hesitated a little, after all these aren't our engagements). Anyway we're not the most photogenic people, but I think these turned out pretty well. And I'll post more on the birthday celebration later.

The Proposal

Ok, here is the story everyone has been waiting for. A few disclaimers before I start..one, this is from my point of view. Two, I don't have all the pictures (they didn't up load for some reason). Three, this is probably the only time I will write this down, so it will probably be really long. And four, Lincoln is not here to correct anything that he sees wrong with my side of the story!

So the story begins Saturday. Lincoln had told me something went wrong in the biology lab and he would be working late. I got off work around seven and my cousin Hannah/roommate wanted to hang out. Lincoln said he would meet up with us later.

Hannah had told me that she needed to pick up a book at my sisters house, so she wanted to go there first. Right before we left Kim's house Cory (her husband) had told me I left some laundry there. I went to grab it and there was a note sitting on it. The note read: 'Go to the place where this was said: "Wait, you have Brave New World and Jane Eyre on your bookshelf?" And from there we will go back to the beginning.' So I went to my old room at Kim's house. He had said that to me the first time we ever hung out.

When I got to the room I found another envelope that read First Kiss. Now this is a part of the story that I have to take a small detour. When I saw these notes I wasn't sure I was supposed to find them. You see Lincoln had told me that I would know that the proposal was coming when everything started. I assumed that he was supposed to be with me. We usually go over to Kim's house on Sunday nights and I thought I wasn't supposed to find it till the next day.

I told Hannah that I didn't think I was supposed to find it. She just kept telling me how fun it would be and we should just do it anyway. I told her I didn't want to ruin it so I put everything back. Then I text Lincoln and asked him. He said to follow the clues and come get him. I was still thinking he was at work, so I asked if he wanted me to come pick him up. The poor guy, I was not understanding anything. Flustered he said no and I was supposed to follow the clues that lead to him.

So now that I was back on track and ready to go I opened the First Kiss envelope. It read: "Who's the girl in the black skirt?" Of course this is what he said to a friend the first time we met. The only problem is I was in a gray skirt! This clue led me up to Elkridge park where we used to play volleyball.


When I got there the note read First Meeting. The clue was: "Do you want to be friends?" "Sure." This is how I asked him for his number. So we went to the church where again we played a lot of volleyball. The note there read First Move. That's right I made the first move!


The next clue was a quote from his stake president. When we first met he had a calling that worked really close with the stake presidency. The quote was "Oh, it took me just 30 seconds to realize she's miles ahead of Lincoln." Lincoln had taken me to a stake high council party for.....Our First Date!


This next clue was where I went wrong. [walking with girl] "...[blah blah blah] [pause]...Whoa" I could not figure out this one, so the only place I could think of was 'A' Mountain. This is the lighted 'A' on the mountain that I had worked so hard to get back up there. We had hiked to the top one night and just talked for hours. It was the only place that I thought it could be. So we went there and I hike half way up the mountain when I finally stopped and text Lincoln. He told me I wasn't supposed to be there. So I sat down on the snow and slid all the way back down the mountain. Then he gave me a few more clues.


Tube Slide. I was still lost till Hannah said that sound's like maybe a park. Then it all came back to me. It wasn't Lincoln and I talking it was another couple. We had been playing at a park and both went down a tube slide and got stuck. The couple was walking by and didn't here or see us. When they got right in front of us the boy stopped and said "Whoa". I think we scared him. So off to the park we went.

The note said First....turning point to marriage. He didn't want to make us drive all the way to the real park that we talked about marriage for the fist time, so this was a stand in. The next clue read "Tracey...[kneeling]...Will you marry me?" I was supposed to stand there confused and looking for him. But he was so frustrated with me not wanting to go in the beginning and then not going to the right place he ran back and put the address on the card.

Sumac Park. I'd never been there but Hannah used her Iphone to help us get there. We pulled up and I got out to get the next note and Hannah sped off leaving me alone. The note said First Proposal (I hope it's the only one). It had me follow the sidewalk to a bridge to finish the journey.

When I got there he was waiting. He pointed out the view (we could see Old Main and the 'A' from there). Then he got down on one knee and said "Tracey, will you marry me?" And as an inside joke I said "Yeah, I guess." And then I said "YES!!" We stood up and he kissed me. When we looked up at the 'A' it had turned blue. Not planned but it was really cool.

So that is how it happened. Hannah was in on it the whole time. Laughing at me hiking half way up the mountain. Lincoln really didn't have to work and was one step ahead of us watching each move I made with binoculars. Hannah put Lincoln on speaker phone every time I read another clue so that he could here. I think I might have called him a nerd! Oops!

Even though there were a few rough patches it turned out great. And I said yes!