The Proposal Story...

All 5 followers of mine probably know that I'm engaged to the most wonderful man alive! :)

There is a short version, you just have to scroll down more.

Here's the story (Lauren's side).

The weekend before: Feb 10th

The week before we got engaged we had a pre-Valentines Day dinner and a magician (I believe it was called "Evening of Elegance and Magic"). We went with his cousin Trevor and girlfriend Andrea to the American West Heritage Center and had a really great time. Nate and I have talked about marriage a lot, so before he left, I asked him if we could go ring shopping soon. He said "Oh I don't know if I'm ready for that...Maybe we could go Monday because it's a holiday." Little did I know he had a ring already picked out. That sneaky boy! Anyways, I was coming home to South Jordan Wednesday the 15th because I had an eye appointment the next morning in Sandy. Knowing this, he told me, "I get you Thursday". I knew we'd be going on our actual Valentines Day date, where we would exchange gifts (I made him a deck of cards with 104 things I loved about him) and just enjoy being with each other. He asked me where I'd like to go for dinner that night, emphasizing that I could go anywhere I wanted. I picked Red Lobster just because I knew it was his favorite place and there was always deals going on there. The date was decided: we would go to Red Lobster at 4:30, indoor rock climbing after that, and then swing by and see Madelyn's concerto night once our arms felt like they were going to fall off.

Thursday, Feb 16th 4:00 p.m.

Nate told me that we wouldn't be coming back to change into climbing stuff after dinner, so he told me to pack some cute climbing clothes. That's when I knew he was acting different, because normally he doesn't care what I wear climbing, since we've been twice together...Once I had my stuff packed, we headed for Red Lobster in Murray. We got drinks and really expensive meals. I just thought, it's Valentine's Day so we're going to splurge a little. Nate was so hot during dinner (He was nervous and excited) and I asked him if he needed to go outside for a minute to cool down.

During our dating life, we asked each other how ready we were to get married to each other. Mine was always higher. The question was brought up tonight and even though I was 100% ready to marry him, I wasn't sure he was, because he was always telling me that we would be getting married July or August. So I said 90%, but he eventually got 100% out of me. I'm kind of a push over.

6:10 p.m.

We finished with dinner and went to his grandparent's house to change into climbing gear. Neither of us brought jackets which was really stupid...It was cold. Once dressed, we headed on the freeway to go to Momentum climbing gym off of 10600 S. by the mall. He got off clear at 7200 S. because "there was so much traffic", and then proceeded to go the complete opposite direction further away from Momentum. We went past Gardner Village and onto 2700 W. until we got 10600 S. I had an idea that he had some sort of a surprise for me, because if any of you know Nate, he hates going slow. I told him I wanted to pay for climbing because he bought dinner, but he said that he had it taken care of already.

SKIP TO HERE FOR THE SHORT VERSION!!!!

6:25 p.m.

We got to Momentum Climbing Gym and Nate went up to the guy and said, "I'm Nate. I talked to you earlier." The guy took his card and we were in. I was so excited to go because I hadn't gone in forever. We walk to the north side of the gym and Nate stops in front of the easiest climb possible and tells me to climb it. I knew I hadn't been for a long time, but come on, I could have done that easy! So I told him to go and I'd belay him. I even made him put on my dad's climbing shoes. He really wanted me to go first so I get all hooked up, and he says, "Wait! I have to go the bathroom!" So he goes over there, but I watched him to make sure that's really where he went, because I knew something was weird. He comes back and I climb to the top, and at the top is a Ring Pop taped up there. I started to get excited and confused and asked him, "Is that for me?". He said, "No, that one's from my brother, but if you want the real one you're going to have to come down!" Instantly, my legs started shaking, because I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly, but I though I had. He kept looking over the side and letting me down ridiculously slow, so I swung over the side to see what he was looking at. The first thing I thought was, "Wow. Everyone's here". My family, Nate's family, and some of Nate's extended family was all there. Brad had a bunch of roses in his hand. I can't even believe what's going on! I finally get down after forever, and Nate gets down on one knee and says, "Will you accept me for my strengths and weaknesses and marry me?". I was so shocked, but of course I said yes!!! We were both shaking so bad he could hardly get the ring on my finger and we were engaged!!

I'm so excited to marry my best friend!! We are getting married on May 24th and I couldn't be happier! He is the best guy for me and I love him to pieces! I can't wait to be Mrs. Jackson for time and all eternity!!

"BIG A STAR STAR" SHOW! (as my dad calls it...)

I found out about the Big A** show through listening to the X96 radio station. I bought tickets right after I had heard about it. My wonderful boyfriend came with me along with my sis and her friend. It was a blast! We saw Switchfoot, Anberlin, Neon Trees (by far the best band that we saw?), and Panic at the Disco (the lead singer got malaria, so the other singers pitched in to help). Pictures are more fun than words so here you go:

Right when we arrived, it was starting to rain = Lauren looks like a wet dog :)


Lead singer of Switchfoot. He literally was 15 feet away from us!!


Us with Brogan Kelby... yeah we didn't know who he was either...

Just hangin' out :) waiting for Anberlin


Anberlin in the flesh!!


After we saw Neon Trees! Best one by far, and notice by my wet bangs that it rained...

If he pulls this face, I can't help but laugh :) Us watching Panic at the Disco.

I had such a good time at the concert! Nate always makes my weekends more fun :)

Catch up time!

It's been a while since I've written. I'm not worried because there's maybe 5 people that read this blog haha.

So going back clear to November 24th! Nate came up for Homecoming weekend :) He got to Logan Friday night and we went on a triple date with his cousin Trevor, and Amanda (my roomie) and Matt (her beau). We started off clear out by the Wal-Mart in Providence. The goal was to flip a coin, and if it was heads, you turned right and if it was tails, you turned left at a stop sign or stop light. The goal was to get to Chilis in less than 30 minutes and the loser paid for everyone's dinner. We could only flip this coin. We started off going in circles, and I tried so hard to be honest each time. Sometimes when Nate would say, "Ok we NEED a tails on this one" magically it would happen... (I didn't cheat... maybe). Anyways, we were last to the arrive at Chilis and I was so nervous that Nate would have to pay... but all the boys were nice to him and he only paid for me :)

Miniature golfing with my date. Isn't he handsome?


I love this girl!!

He had never seen the Logan temple before, so we went there and took lots of pictures. I'll only put a few up...

Right after becoming true aggies!

Chicag- OH! So close...

I'm in the beautiful city of Chicago for Annual Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Conference!! I'm so excited! What could be better? I'm missing school, and I don't have to do any homework for the rest of the week. I miss Nate, but I'm seeing him next week :)

The trip here started out as a good one. We flew from Salt Lake to Minneapolis and I sat by the coolest woman. People who know me know that I'm a very friendly person especially with strangers, so naturally I asked her where she was from and where she was headed. She said, "I'm going to go see my boo, you know girl? He's a football player up in Wisconson" She busted out her sweet iPad2 and showed me a picture of him. "He's fine right?" She's dating a Green Bay Packer! Crazy huh? The more I got to know her, the cooler she became. She is a legit model and knows all these famous people. She told me she's been modeling since she was 18 and she's traveled all over the world for her job. "I tried bein' married for six years, but he was the wrong guy for me." She knows tons of famous people. Once again, busted out the iPad2 and showed me pictures of her modeling and a bunch of pictures of her with famous people like Nelly and Little Jon and Sean Paul. I just kept thinking to myself, her life is SO much different than mine is. I'm just this geeky Mormon and she has people make her look stunning every day. I've never met anyone like her in my life. It was such a fun plane ride. Oh, one more thing that I can think of right now. I felt really cheap sitting next to her with my "Engineers are Sexy" shirt and my worn out jeans. She had to have been wearing $300 jeans at least, and she was wearing a head wrap thing. She looked legit. I can't imagine living that kind of lifestyle. Having people buy you extremely nice things, having your own body guard and driver, staying in a mansion in Africa, going to Paris, Germany, etc...
Even though she's extremely cool and I was a little star struck without really knowing her, I'm still grateful to be going to school and living in Utah, and dating the most fantastic man ever :)

Tomorrow is workshops and more workshops until I pass out from fatigue. More updates tomorrow!!

Get Dirrrrty!

This weekend was a blast! Friday was Madelyn's birthday. She turned 18! Look out! Now she's old enough to buy dry ice! I didn't see much of her because she went on a date :) I on the other hand had to go pick up our packets for the race on Saturday. It was pouring the whole drive home. I went to Nate's house looking like a wet dog, but he didn't care. He was just excited to see me :) I said hi to his family and then we went to my house for dinner and my family's company. He had two tests on Monday, so we decided to have a study party at his house with his cousin, Amy. I brought my homework over and tried to work on it, but all of us were having a hard time focusing. I was so tired so after a while I fell asleep on Nate while he was talking to Kyle about cars (can you blame me for falling asleep?)

Saturday was the Dirty Dash in Soldier Hollow! Let me say something, this is the best way to get a workout in! The Dirty Dash is a 10K run in a whole bunch of mud and nastyness! We climbed over walls, crawled through barrels and trudged through swampy smelly mud water, and I found mud in places I didn't know I had. Here are some pics:

Before: (Actually three minutes before the race started...we were running late)


Almost done! (I love my sis :) )


Throwing Megs in the mud


Can you believe Nate kissed me covered in this? He's the best :)


Look at how blue our eyes look with all this mud around our faces!
One guy looked at us and said, "Woah, your eyes are creepy..." Haha I love it!


The group:


Once I got all cleaned up and pretty, Nate took me out to Red Lobster for the first time! I'd never been there and we were both excited to eat all the shrimp we could. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but just imagine one good looking couple because that's what we are :)

Overall, pretty freakin' awesome weekend! I just have to work really hard this week because this weekend is homecoming week at USU and Nate's coming up for the dance!! I can't wait!

First two weeks of school

This weekend was a great surprise. I was kind of bummed because I wasn't going to see Nate this weekend (I know it's been 4 whole days since the last time I saw him) because I was planning on studying for the GRE and doing homework with some classmates. I was asking Emily what her plans were for Friday, and she told me she had to go to Salt Lake for a scholarship dinner, and she was taking Josh. I was like, WHAT?? you're going to Salt Lake? I want to go with you and then you guys can meet Nate! So as they were in their dinner, I met up with Nate and we went to the Gateway. We actually ran into Megan's friend Heather and decided to eat with them at Z Tejas. Heather told me Megs was actually coming so we stayed and surprised her when she sat down :) It was great to see her and even better being with my cute boy :)

Here's a picture of us at the restaurant. Pay no attention to the Asian stunt-double pretending to be me. She just gets really squinty-eyed the happier she is :)

Life as I know it...

This is Nate :) We've been dating for a little over 2 months (2 months and 6 days, but who's counting?)



We met at a singles ward activity over the summer and have been together basically every day during the summer, give or take a week or two for family vacations. He is a great guy and I miss him a lot now that I'm up in Logan for the final year and he's home going to SLCC and working.


I've had a ton of fun with him during these past two months. We've had kind of a weird summer together and more hospital dates then I would have liked to have.

During the beginning of July, Mads went in the hospital for open heart surgery and due to recovery problems, stayed there for the entire month of July. So for all of that month, I would go to work and then go to the hospital until 9 or 10 pm and then go home and hang out with Nate for like an hour or so and then go to bed and start all over again. I think Nate came up at least 4 times and I loved it!

Then in August, his twin brother Brad went in for Scoliosis surgery. Brad has Cerebral Palsey so after the surgery, he ended up going to South Davis Hospital in Bountiful, and after a long three weeks, he finally came home! Everyone was excited!

I love being around Nate. He makes me a better person and his family is just as awesome. I'm going home this weekend for Labor day to see my family and him :)

I'm going to try and update more often.