Brandon and Christi Anne

A Crazy, Very Merry Christmas!

2011-01-02T12:24:00.001-08:00

Well this picture about sums it up-- One crazy, very merry Christmas! From work parties to family parties, present planning and buying, birthday's, cooking, decorating, and everything else it was one busy day after another! And it was WONDERFUL. I love this time of year, when you don't know what the weather will be like, you have a million things on the to-do list, and yet everyone seems so happy to be busy and bustling! I love how we can see family, finish up a year while preparing for a new one, and most of all I love focusing on Christ. Thank you everyone for the wonderful year that we've shared together!

Here we are up at a cabin with Brandon's family. It was so fun. We dug snow caves, made sled runs, watched movies, played games, and made carmel apples! I love Christmas vacation!

This is a picture of Brandon and I in costume for the Nativity on Christmas Eve. I am a wisewoman :) and Brandon is a Shepherd. It is such a fun tradition that I'm glad both of our families share!

And of course what is Christmas without a visit to Temple Square? These are pictures from when we went with the Towner's and by ourselves.

This is a pic from Adobe's Christmas party at the Grand America Hotel. It was a fun filled night of Wii, a photo booth, foods from around the world, a rock/paper/sizzors face-off and a concert by Neon Trees!

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas as well! Happy New Year!

XOXOXOXO Brandon and Christi Anne

A Very Christmas-y Weekend!

2010-12-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Well this last weekend has been a lot of fun! I took work off on friday and went snow skiing with Brandon. It was an awesome snow day! We went to Solitude and went to Honeycomb canyon. We snowed in about three feet of powder. SICK!

So Brandon and I were trying to get action shots and this is the picture I took of him. I am not going to put up the pic he took of me :)

Friday night we celebrated Christmas with the Howell side because not everyone will be available around Christmas. We acted out the nativity and had lots of fun treats. We played lots of games and it was just an awesome party!

Me with all the ladies on the Howell side!!
Saturday night Brandon and I went to Flemmings. He surprised me for a date night and it was so wonderful! He went to Las Vegas Sunday morning so he made Saturday night really special. It was so much fun! We had amazing lobster and steak! I am so lucky that I have such a sweetheart of a husband. I miss him so much!!!!

Halloween Bash!

2010-12-08T21:33:00.000-08:00

So seeing as it is December, I thought it would be fitting to put up the pics of our Halloween bash! It was a great night with some fun costumes, some games, and a costume contest that I think had an interesting ending..... (Brandon and I did not receive one vote!!!) No, but really, it was amazing. Thanks to all those who came. We really enjoy having it, and we plan on continuing the annual bash!!! We're excited for next year so plan on it!!!

Some pics to catch up!

2010-11-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

This is Branny and I in Tikal.

Us in front of the biggest tree i've ever seen....

One beautiful waterfall, Misol Ha! Our trip to Central America!

Here we are at Teotihuacan

Branny's Birthday party!!!!

Here it is our summer wrapped into a nut shell.... well not really but that's all the time I have!

Wow, November 2010!

2010-11-22T18:41:00.001-08:00

Ok, so it's been a long time since I've posted something! Life gets busy! So lately Brandon and I have been working on finishing our basement, and I am teaching at Hidden Hollow Elem. as a small group autism teacher. It has been rough the past few months! I am coming home with battle scars daily, and Brandon is balancing a crazy life of working on the house, dealing with me, and doing work!!! We also had a Halloween party at our house the the 29th of October. It was a lot of fun! Brandon and I were a couple from the 1920's. He was one good looking gangster, and went around all night saying, "I have some dough to sweeten the deal." Then he would pull some play dough out of his jacket. It was pretty funny.

Well I just wanted to do a little update! wow life is moving fast!

A fire safe?

2009-07-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so men love toys- drills, saws, cars, you know all that normal stuff. The thing I love about this obsession men have is that they believe this "toy" to be imperative to their happiness and ability to function in life. It's as if they will not be complete without it. Well.... since we got married Brandon endlessly pointed out the benefits of a fire safe. It has been on our "to buy list" since we've had one! Well one day as I was driving home from school and Brandon announced that he was going to buy one. Now I guess you have to understand- a fire safe is very important.... We are going to put all of our passwords and secret information in it. As a matter of fact, Brandon has informed me that the copy of his debit card that I have will find its home there. After all, if I lose my wallet that would be a great inconvenience and he would

have to change his cards out and all that..... So maybe the fire safe is actually a purchase to protect Brandon from my tendency to misplace things.... I don't know why, but I can't help but think it's odd that one of our first purchases as a married couple was a fire safe??????? Men.

It's already JULY!

2009-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

So all of you marrieds out there understand that time just seems to drone on the few months before you get married, and it did the same for us. I think the last two months before we got married- January and February- were the LONGEST of my life! But here we are and it's been four months and two days since we got married..... where has the time gone??????

Well here's the skinny- Brandon's working at Omniture in Orem, I'm going to school at the University of Utah in Salt Lake and we live in Draper. We live in the basement of my parents home, while they're in Minneapolis and it feels like our life goes 100 million miles per hour! Seriously!

Another interesting things about us- we're house hunting. I wish I was keeping count of how many houses we have gone to look at, but the worst was the orange house we saw last night. I'm not joking, this house was ORANGE. Well, after leaving the house I told Brandon that was actually the best thing about the house. It was horrendous. It was a multi-level house (meaning there were all those step-ups, step-downs to get into the different rooms.) Ok so..... there were like 10 different "levels" in the house. The kitchen had an almost fluorescent-colored wood floor, peach paint (and when I say peach, it was not pretty, but rather painful to look at) and just a horrible design. Although the house had been built in 2003 I felt like I stepped back into the 1960's or 70's. We left quickly, and surprisingly the outside, once hideous, looked charming. There was this rancid smell that followed us into our car, and stayed for the next ten minutes. Ah the glorious adventures of house hunting.

ALL THIS CAN BE YOURS FOR 225,000

The proposal (told by Brandon)

2009-01-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

So to be quite frank, this was the most awesomely planned proposal of all time and history. The premise was set days before the actual proposal night. It was the very end of November and Christi and I had already gone ring shopping on a couple of different occasions and we had looked at ring catalog books etc. She was always giving me her input as to the type of ring she really liked, but I was giving her the impression that I was still unsure about what she wanted. So I took her ring shopping again the last week of November and I mentioned to her that, “I better decide on buying her a ring pretty soon,” because we were running out of time. Little did she know I had already picked out and ordered her ring. So we went ring shopping and she began to give me some more of her input of what she liked. This time it made me a little nervous because she started pointing out things that were different about some rings that she was liking than she had in the past, and of course I had already ordered and paid for her ring! So this seemed to be back-firing a little bit. Well we left ring shopping and I just started crossing my fingers that she was going to like the ring I had already picked out for her. Of course at this point, she had no idea I had already purchased her ring.

So first and foremost, I have to travel back in time to October. I was beginning to realize that Christi Anne was the right girl for me, the one I wanted to be my wife. So I began making the necessary preparations to ask her to marry me. I spoke with her older brother and mentioned my intentions and asked for his parents’ phone number, (who are in Minnesota serving as Mission President in the Minneapolis Mission). I called them, nervously, and began to talk to Christi Anne’s father, first introducing myself and talking to him a little bit about me and how I’d like to get to know them and give them a chance to get to know me. I told him I wanted to fly out Minneapolis and stay there for a night and take he and his wife to dinner and get to know one another. We looked at schedules and agreed that Saturday, November 22 would be the optimal night for me to fly out. So I bought a plane ticket right then, and told him I’d be in touch for final plans. I spoke with my boss and told him I was flying to Minneapolis to talk to my girlfriends’ parents, particularly to ask her father’s permission to marry his daughter. So I schemed up a plan to have my boss “send” me on a business trip to a convention in San Francisco that weekend. He sent me an official E-mail with the trip details. I showed Christi Anne the e-mail and she was sold. I had her drop me off at the airport and I was off to Minneapolis. I spent a wonderful night there with her parents and had the great opportunity to get to know them a little bit as well as spend some time with Lori Beth, Christi’s beautiful little sister. It was a great experience, very nerve racking, but great. I had the opportunity to speak with Mark alone and talk to him of my intentions to marry his daughter. It was a memorable experience, and he conceded. He gave me some great advice and I slept that night dreaming about the fact that I was actually going to be asking Christi Anne to marry me. The next day they drove me to the airport and dropped me off to head back to Salt Lake City Utah. When I arrived, I delayed in calling Christi Anne to pick me up so she would see that my arrival time coincided with a flight from California in case she checked flight schedules online, which wouldn’t be abnormal. So she picked me up about an hour after I landed and we talked about my “convention” for a brief time driving out from the airport. Then I asked her if she loved me, which she responded that she did. Then I asked if she loved me no matter what? She curiously responded that she did. I told her that I didn’t just get back from a convention in San Francisco, but that I had just returned from spending a night with her parents in Minneapolis. She about crashed the car. She was a little surprised. It was awesome. So the stage was set, I had talked to her parents, and the real preparations could begin.

Strangely enough, Christi Anne went to Minnesota the following week for Thanksgiving. Weird to think we were both out there a week apart, and she initially had no idea. So I went to work finalizing some of the details of my ingenious plan. Previous to all this, I had begun writing a song for Christi Anne that just needed some final touches. I worked hard on it that week to finalize it. It was my plan to play it for her when I asked her to marry me. So I finished that. Now back to her ring. Her ring came in with the diamond set and everything perfect like I wanted it that week while she was gone. Also, I had made reservations for us to go on a sleigh ride in Park City up to a lodge restaurant the night of December 6, 2008 and I finalized those reservations that week. Then I scouted out my decided location at the Draper Temple, had my brother Jason go with me as I explained to him my scheme. Everything was set. So Christi Anne got back from Minnesota that weekend after Thanksgiving and I had a plan, a song, and a ring waiting for her. I was jumping out of my skin having to wait for 6 more days to propose to her.

So we went about our week as normal and sometime mid-week I told her that I was planning a date for us on Saturday and to not make plans. I told her I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be a group date or just us, but I’d let her know. I was planting the seed. I had to make one final preparation before Saturday and that was to order ring box with an LCD light so that she could easily see the ring when I presented it to her in the darkness of the unfinished temple grounds. So I had one rush-ordered to my house for it to arrive in time, and it happened to just barely come in time on Saturday. So then toward the end of the week on like Thursday, I wanted to try to sweeten the surprise a little more so I brought up the subject of the ring again. I asked her if she was getting harassed by people about the fact that we weren’t yet engaged. She mentioned that some people said stuff but she didn’t mind, and she asked why I asked. I simply said, “Well, it’s the holidays and it turns out that jewelers are all backed up this time of year, and it might take a few more weeks for me to finalize a ring than I had planned.” She smiled and acted as if this wasn’t a concern, although I knew it made her a little uneasy… So we went on about that night and I left it at that. When Saturday came, I told her to dress nice and also to dress warm. She asked what we were doing and I told her it’s a surprise. When I picked her up, she looked beautiful! But she always does. When we got in the car I told her that my brother and his girlfriend, who I was thinking about inviting, weren’t going to be able to come. So it was just us. Of course they were never going to come; I just wanted her to not think it was an abnormal date. In all of it, I realized that she would probably have suspicions and I decided I didn’t necessarily want to keep it a secret that this was the night, but I more wanted to keep her guessing as to when it would happen.

So we drove up to Park City as she continually was asking what we were doing. I kept quiet until we arrived at the Park City resort for the Sleigh Ride. We walked to the meeting place where someone mentioned that this was where we meet for the Sleigh Ride, and she flipped when she heard what we were going to do. We were both really excited as we saw the horse-drawn sleighs ride down the mountain. As we got on the Sleigh, I mentioned that this was an anniversary of our first meeting in Jerusalem, and of our First date 6 months previous. She was excited and kissed me, although I think she was a little disappointed hoping that the occasion wasn’t just in celebration of the 6 month anniversary of our first date. So it took us up to a lodge where we had a nice dinner and had a great evening. As the sleigh took us back down, I knew she was suspecting whether I had some set plan to propose to her. I didn’t. We then got in the car and started driving. She asked where we were going next and I mentioned we were off to activity number 2. We drove down to Salt Lake and we stopped by Temple Square where she realized we were going to look at the lights. We went and walked around Temple Square and had a great time. I specifically took us over inside the direct Temple gates where we stopped at a somewhat secluded spot and stared at the temple hugging. I figure she’d think that I was possibly going to propose there. I didn’t. We then walked out of Temple Square and walked down Main Street. I mentioned I needed to blow my nose and asked if it was ok for us to go into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We went in and I immediately went to the elevators and pushed the top floor. I knew she might be a little suspicious about this as well. We went over and looked out the windows overlooking Temple Square. We hugged there for a minute and talked. She undoubtedly thought I was going to propose there. I didn't. So then we left.

We began driving back to Draper when my brother Jason sent me a text at a pre-determined time set by me just asking how the night was going. This was the key moment for me to send him up to the Draper Temple to make the preparations for the proposal. I told him it was going great and asked what he was doing. I knew Christi Anne would be looking over to what/whom I was texting so I told her it was Jason and that they were sorry they couldn’t come that night. Jason texted me again and asked where I was, so this was the moment I told him we were on the freeway about 53^rd south. This was the code to send him up to the Draper Temple. So we made it to the Draper exit and I nonchalantly asked Christi Anne what she wanted to do with the rest of the night. I told her I was a little tired, and she sadly asked if I wanted to take her home. I said, “well if I take you home I’ll come in and sit and talk with you for a bit before I leave. I don’t just want to drop you off.” She consented to the boring thought and we drove up 12300 S.

As we descended down the hill toward her house, we had a clear view of the new Draper Temple and Christi Anne brought up the fact that we went there on our first date 6 months ago. She asked if I remembered that night, which of course I did. Then she ironically brought up the funny fact that she made an engagement comment up there on our very first date. We both laughed and I tried not to smirk at how funny and perfectly this was developing into my plan. So I kept driving until I reached her street where I turned on my blinker to turn and at the last second asked if she wanted to take a drive up to the Temple in commemoration. She excitedly said yes. We drove up to there and I was about to burst from nervous excitement. We pulled in and drove around the Temple first while I scoped everything out to make sure all was set. We parked where we had parked on our first date and got out of the car and walked toward the Temple. Now Jason was hiding behind one of the planters with a video camera in hand. He had stashed my guitar and the ring box in another planter where I had previously chosen. We walked for a brief moment and reminisced of our first date. Then I led her over to the bench beside this planter and asked her to sit down. I reached over and grabbed my guitar and asked if I could play her a song. She held back a curious, confused, excited smile and said yes I could. I told her I had written the song for her, and that it was about her and I hoped she’d like it.

I played her the song as my fingers were going numb in the brisk winter air, and surprisingly it went pretty well. At the end of the song, I set the guitar down and reached over and grabbed the ring box. I then got on my knee and asked her if she would make me the happiest man who ever lived in the history of this planet by marrying me. She said yes and we stood up and kissed and hugged while my brother Jason stepped out of hiding and recorded us. This went on for a time and I showed her the ring again and she took it out of the box and put it on her finger. Ha ha, this was funny. So I asked if it was ok for me to put it on her finger, and she removed it and handed it to me embarrassed. I put it back on her finger and we hugged and kissed some more. While doing so, Jason came closer and was talking to us and video recording us while we stared into each others’ eyes. While she wasn’t paying attention, I reached my open hand behind my back for Jason to hand me the Wedding band that goes along with the ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and put it in my hand which I quickly put in my pocket without her noticing. We then decided to get her camera out of my car and take some pictures. While she was leaning into the car and grabbing her camera, I slid the wedding band ring into the empty ring box and put it back in my pocket. We then went back to the spot and staged the engagement again and took some pictures. So I pulled the box out and got on my knee again and opened the box while Jason took some pictures. It took her a second to look down at what she thought was the empty box when she noticed a new shiny accessory occupying the space to which she replied, “what in the heck is that?!!” Ha ha, it was funny. So I explained it was the wedding band and it would go with the ring on her finger once we’re married. We spent a little more time at the Temple until we decided to go down and celebrate at my parents’ house.

This is the story of our engagement. And despite what she might say, she had no idea I was going to propose to her when I did and how I did, and it was awesome!!!

Surpises!!!!

2009-01-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

December was the CRAZIEST month!!! It seems like every night there was something Brandon and I had to do. I was finishing up a semester at the U, and Brandon was busy with work. We were buying presents for Christmas, and I had a birthday. On the last day of my finals, Dec 19th, there was a huge snowstorm, and it took me an hour and a half to drive home. Brandon had told me we were going to leave that night at 5:00 PM to go with his family to a cabin, so when I got home around that time, I was rushing to pack! When I had thrown everything together, we were on our way but he told me he had left his phone at my house. We went back, and walked through the front door.... and pow... I was attacked with silly string!

Brandon, being the sweet amazing wonderful guy that he is, had planned a surprise birthday party for me! He knew how important it was to me to have a birthday party with my whole family, and he knew that wouldn't happen because I was going to visit my parents... so he planned a party with my siblings that live here in Utah. He came up from provo early with pizza and silly string, and after we left everyone came over. It was so much fun!! Shar and Brian gave me a princess set (which Ava LOVED!) and pajama pants. David and Kari gave me a super soft blanket!

and Brandon gave me this awesome perfume. He also put together a poem, and a yellow brick road (which you can see below). At the "end of the yellow brick road" there were two tickets to WICKED! I am So excited! We'll be going after we're married! It was such a wonderful birthday! Brandon made sure everything was covered! He even made sure Shar made my favorite cake, and decorated it!!! It was so special. I just can't believe I'm so lucky to have Brandon! Sometimes I feel like I just don't deserve such a considerate, wonderful guy!!!!

The proposal... (as told by Christi Anne)

2008-12-14T10:12:00.000-08:00

On December 6th, 2008 Brandon proposed! He didn't tell me what we were doing for our date, but I thought maybe this was the night! A couple weeks earlier he had asked me if I was bugged he hadn't proposed yet. I told him it was fine with me, as long as we got married. He said that the ring would take longer than he had planned because it is a busy season. So anyways, in preparation for our date saturday he told me that I had to dress warm, but that I still had to dress nice. I was super confused. When he picked me up, he still refused to tell me what we were going to do. He drove up to Park City, and as we were walking around looking for Gad 2 (the ski lift) a woman asks us if we are looking for the sleigh ride too... So we went on a sleigh ride up the mountain to a cabin/restaurant called the Snowed Inn.

We had a wonderful dinner, and sat by the fire. On the ride up Brandon told me that this was in celebration of 6 months since our first date. Naturally I was a little disappointed... I thought he was going to propose... On the sleigh ride down I thought that maybe he would... but he didn't. As we were getting into his car I thanked him for the wonderful evening, to which he responded "on the the next activity." Of course I began to be excited again, thinking that maybe he would propose wherever it was we were going. So we headed to Temple Square and looked at the lights there.

we walked around I thought, ""maybe it's gonna be here.." as we were walking past the temple Brandon led me inside the gates so we walked directly in front of the Temple.... He paused, put his arms around me... and then unzipped his coat, pulled his hands up into his sleeves and said " My hands are cold. Do you want to walk down Main St. and go to the car?" I couldn't believe it! To me it seemed as if he was going to propose!

So we walked past the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and he asked if we could go inside so he could blow his nose.... Then we got on the elevator and went to the 10th floor. We looked out the windows on the West side, overlooking temple square.

Again I thought that he would maybe propose, but he didn't. As we were leaving, we saw a good friend of my family, and he congratulated us on our engagement. I quickly responded that we weren't engaged (and thought in my head that Brandon had ample opportunities that night to ask me!)

So we left, and walked back to his car. On the drive home I was trying to not feel any disappointment. I kept thinking about what an amazing date Brandon had planned, how sweet he was... How was he going to be able to propose to me a different night and how would he ever top this date??? On the way home his brother texted him and asked him what we were up to. Brandon told him we were on our way home, and on the freeway. His brother kept texting him, and he acted perturbed. Little did I know that was part of the plan.... As we got off the Draper exit I asked Brandon what we were going to do. He said that he hadn't planned anything else, paused, and then said that he was tired and asked if I was as well. I asked him if that meant he was taking me home. He said that if he did take me home, he would stay for a bit and we could talk or watch a movie.... I was so disappointed, and to be honest I remember thinking "If he proposes to me in his car, or on my doorstep I will kill him!"

Now for the last part you need a little background... This was our 6th month "first date" Anniverserary. On our first date, at the end of the night, we headed up to the Draper Temple to see how it was looking (it was under construction). We hopped the fence (at Brandon's suggestions) and walked around. I was nervous we were going to get caught, so I thought up the perfect excuse. I told him that if someone caught us I was going to say that he was proposing to me. WHO SAYS THAT ON A FIRST DATE???

So back to December 6th- We were driving south on 1300 E., towards my house, when Brandon asked me what I was thinking. I told him I was thinking about our first date, how crazy it was that we went to the Draper temple, I even brought up my excuse for being there. I told him how much fun I had, and how beautiful that temple was the night it was lit up. He was about to turn down my street, when he asked me if I wanted to go up to the temple. I was happy the night wasn't about to end, but didn't suspect a thing this time. After all, this was my idea, wasn't it? So we went up to the Draper Temple, walked around for a minute, and then Brandon pointed to a bench and asked me to sit down. As he did, I saw some light reflecting off a guitar in a flower bed right behind the bench. He pulled it out, and told me he was going to sing me a song he had written for me. It was an amazing song!!

We both became slightly emotional, and after he finished the song he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him! I have never been happier in my whole life. He had picked out a beautiful ring for me, and amazingly it fit! Little did I know that his brother Jason was filming the whole thing. He then began to take pictures for us, and we were re-enacting the proposal when I saw that Brandon had put the wedding band in the ring box! So that night there were some major surprises! Then we went to his parents house in Draper, watched the video, and had an "engagement party".

The thing I can't believe is how amazing Brandon is!!! He worked so hard to make that night so special... and it was. I love him so much, and couldn't be happier to be starting my life with him!

Let's get it started.....

2008-12-14T10:07:00.001-08:00

Well, here we go! Brandon and I met in high school, then we ran into each other again in Israel of all places (he always says we had to go half-way around the world to find each other again)! We are getting married on March 14th, and could not be happier! Like Brandon said, "we're taking the plunge, and we're excited for the ride!