Trip to Utah-Nathaniel and Audrey's Engagement!!!

We spent the morning getting ready for our trip and packing. We made the flight just fine and it was pretty uneventful. It was great to meet Audrey, finally. She is awesome and she and Nathaniel seem very happy together. There was a lot of traffic so we went straight to dinner at P.F. Chang’s. It was delicious! Then, we went to Sweet Tooth Fairy so I could get my favorite cookie. Audrey got one too that was made with M&Ms instead of chocolate chips and she loved the frosting. We stayed at the Best Western Plus University Inn on Freedom Boulevard.

Nathaniel and Audrey picked us up on Saturday morning around 8:20 AM and we went to meet Audrey's parents. They were very nice and seem to really like Nathaniel. Karen was telling me how she knew pretty quickly that Nathaniel was special to Audrey because she normally doesn’t warm up to people that quickly. Anyway, it was nice to talk to them and get to know them. We left a little before 11 AM and went to the hotel. Emily met us there. Audrey had some things to do on her laptop for work. Then, we all walked together to the stadium. They had some tailgating activities going on and Michael and Nathaniel got a hotdog at J Dawgs. Then we went in and found our seats. Then, Michael went and bought some drinks and Cougar tails (18-inch-long doughnut with maple frosting) and Emily got a pizza for herself. Audrey and weren’t hungry, but we did have some of the Cougar tail. It was a good game, but BYU easily won 59 to 14.

After the game, we walked back to the hotel. Nathaniel really wanted a break so Michael and I took a nap and the three of them went back to the apartments. They were going to pick us up at 6:15 PM but they were running about 10 minutes late. There was a lot of traffic at the mall but we made it in time to Tucano's and they seated us right away. We had a blessing and then we were going to go to the buffet and then Nathaniel said he had something to tell us. It turns out, while we were napping, he was proposing to Audrey! That's why they were running late.  Apparently, the ring had been delivered to his apartment and was there when they got there. He wanted to surprise her next week, but the ring came early so they went over to Provo City Center Temple and he proposed. They even asked Emily to come with them so she could take pictures, so that was awesome! 

We gave them hugs and told them how happy we were for them. Nathaniel seems really happy. I asked each of them what they admired in the other. Nathaniel said Audrey is smart and pretty and he loves to talk to her for hours. Audrey said that she was impressed with Nathaniel from the first date and that he’s such a great guy and we raised a good man. She said she also loves to talk to him and she loves being around him all the time.

The food at Tucano’s was amazing. We stuffed ourselves with the buffet and all the meats and even got dessert. 

Audrey was excited to tell her parents about the proposal tomorrow, and I suggested maybe they should go see them tonight. We drove over to the apartments and parked and we did a FaceTime call with the boys because Nathaniel wanted to tell his brothers himself. They were pretty happy for him. Daniel admitted he already knew because he overheard me on the phone. Andrew clapped. Jonny made his goofy smile and gave a thumbs up. We joked that he has been asking for another sister. We said our goodbyes to Audrey and Nathaniel and told Audrey, “Welcome to the family!” We went to Emily‘s apartment so Michael could see her room and then we went to the Wilkinson Center to go bowling. We played two games and it was really fun. After that, Emily drove us back to our hotel. We’re pretty exhausted. It was almost 11 PM by the time we got back to our room, but luckily it was daylight savings so we got an extra hour of sleep.

We got up and packed and Emily picked us up at the hotel at 9 AM. We drove to Joe and Brandie‘s house in Taylorsville. They have a great house. It was so great to see them and meet baby Veronica. She is adorable! We had so much fun holding her. She was such a little angel. We had a nice talk with them and stayed and visited for almost two hours. Delilah was shy at first, but by the time we left she seemed sad. This was Brandie’s second C-section but she looked great and seems to be feeling well. 

Emily drove us to the airport. The plane landed early and we were home by around 4 PM. Daniel had stayed home from church today because he threw up yesterday, poor kid. He didn’t have any other symptoms, thankfully, and was feeling better. Andrew and Jonathan went to church. Apparently, Andrew bore his testimony. Of course, he chose to do it on the one week we were out of town. Oh well, I’m proud of him.

It was a wonderful weekend!  Congratulations, Nathaniel and Audrey!