The Thankful Tree

Daniel and I have been starting some fun traditions in our family and this is one of them.

Every day for the month of November, we added a leaf to our tree and both listed one thing we are thankful for on the leaf.  It was a great way to feel the spirit of Thanksgiving!

 

(PS - Yes, those may or may not be stockings next to our thankful tree.  Christmas began immediately the day after Thanksgiving in our house). 

The Big Day! (October 5, 2012)

I am overwhelmed at the thought of even writing about this day.  In short, it was the best day of my life.... One completely perfect day.

I hope to someday have the time and energy to write about this amazing day, but in the meantime here are some photos of some of our sweet moments caught on camera:

Just Another Day at the Firm

Overheard at the office:

Special Moment #1
Madi (my assistant): I am sooooooooo sick of the IRS!  They keep claiming they never get anything I send them!
Me:  I know, but what can we do?
Madi: Throw rocks at them.
Me:  But then they'll claim they never received the rocks we sent them.

Special Moment #2
Len (my boss):  Hello (insert client name here).  I am calling because....
Client: click click click
Len:  What's that?
Client: click click
(later in a chat with Madi and Kylie)
Len: There's something different about that guy.
Kylie:  Yes Len.  He's Black.

In other news, I looked in the main conference room today and this is what I saw staring back at me:

The best part was that his owner said absolutely nothing about it, like it was the most normal thing in the world to bring a massive dog to an appointment with his lawyer.

Details Details

We had our engagement photos taken this week and they turned out great!  Head on over to Crystal's blog to check out the sneak peak: http://www.envisionimage.blogspot.com/2012/08/daniel-and-maryanns-engagement-sneak.html.

And just to update you on details, we have an official date!  We will be getting married on October 5, 2012 in the Salt Lake Temple.  We have decided not to have a reception and to just have a small dinner after the ceremony with our families and a few close friends.  Surprisingly (at least surprisingly to me) I feel like this has turned out to be a bit of an appalling thing to some people.  I guess it makes sense because we're living in a culture where everyone invites everyone they have ever met to their wedding reception. We hope no one will be offended and everyone will understand our desire to have a small wedding.  I will post pictures though!

Lastly, since the blog is now about "our story" rather than "my story" I thought I should change the blog name to something other than "Maryannland."  Any suggestions?  The blog address will not be changing.

Engaged!

I know this is slightly outdated, but Ru Ru took these photos just after Daniel asked me to marry him and I thought they should make it onto the blog. 



This is the actual spot where Daniel proposed.

Bride Family Cotillion

Every summer, Daniel's family hosts a formal dance in their backyard.  I think it's such a great tradition!  

My friend, Kate, is the head of the Cinderella Project in the Salt Lake Valley.  The Cinderella Project is a non-profit that lends formal dresses to low-income girls to allow them the opportunity to attend prom.  Kate told me that she would be happy to let me wear one of the Cinderella Project dresses and that there were a ton of them in her office.  When I showed up, I realized there was a whopping one dress that had sleeves, so this is what I ended up with.

It's really something isn't it?  One of the little girls at this dance actually thought I was a real princess!  



As a side note, the Cinderella Project NEEDS more dresses, especially dresses that are modest and bigger sizes.  If you have dresses that you would like to donate, please let me know and I can put you in touch with Kate or you can give them to me and I'll make sure Kate gets them. 

 

Here we are with Daniel's three sisters (Helen, Abby, and Maria), and his brother-in-law (Scott).

Here's all of my sibllings minus Launce.  

I'm so in love with this man!

Daniel's parent's (Terrence and Lucy).  I think they are so cute!

And, here's a few more pictures just for fun.

Oh Say Can You See?

So last night I went to the Days of '47 Rodeo in Ogden with the sibs.  My brother, Jason, and I got there just in time to hear the national anthem.  I put my hand over my heart and turned toward the flag.  My brother, on the other hand, put his hand over his heart and turned toward a completely different direction.  I looked over to see what he was facing and saw something that looked almost exactly like this:

Haha.  Gotta love that kid!