Kayak Chicago

    When we first moved out here, we kayaked lake Michigan off the shores of Chicago. It was a blast back then and we knew ever since that experience that we wanted to kayak on the actual Chicago river that cuts through downtown. 

    My Grandpa Johansen who passed away about a year and a half ago now, would always tell Brian and me that we needed to take a river tour of Chicago when it was dark. He told me this right up until the last time I saw him before he passed away. I mentioned to Brian that it was something that I wanted to do before we left Chicago and so for Christmas this last year he got me the chance to see Chicago at dark---by kayak!

     We met our Wateriders Kayak group at 7 pm, an hour or so before sunset and loaded into our kayaks. Brian and I took single kayaks while everyone else were in tandem kayaks. While it would have been fun to be in the same kayak, it was fun to explore, race, and just look at each other. We have very badly needed a date like this one. It was both romantic and adventurous-just our style!



      I have fallen in love with this city. It is hard to believe we have only 9 more months left in this grand city before the next big adventure. Being on the river put a little outdoors into the city and I loved it.

      We would kayak a ways down the river and then we'd stop and our tour guide would tell stories of different Chicago gangsters and ghost stories. It was super fun to listen to these stories and even get a little spooked by some of the areas he showed us-for example, we stopped in an area of the river where 840 people had gotten trapped inside a boat that sank and every one of them had drown in only 18 feet of water. 

     This year marks the 100 year anniversary of that boat sinking and "supposedly" these people will be roaming the shores of Chicago river all summer long. ooooooooohhhh! Haha  

 

     While I think this would be a fun tour to do during the daytime, I think night was perfect because the river can be really busy during the day with cargo ships, tour boats, and other personal crafts. There were a few times when we had to be a bit more careful crossing the river because there was a lot of traffic.

   
     After about 8 pm, there were no boats and it was just us in our kayaks out there. It was like this peaceful moment where the river was still and silent except for our paddles breaking the surface of the water, but then we were surrounded by the twinkling lights of these huge buildings. The sounds of the city echoed very faintly around us which made it pretty magical.

Definitely the very best way to see the city.. hands down.

Chicago has stolen a bit of my heart.

Day 56! Favorite Dates

     Today's post is just going to be explaining just a few of Brian's and mine favorite days. Now remember that we've seen each other EVERY SINGLE DAY since September 9 and so we have been on loads and loads. So we have many memories to reflect back on, here are just a few!

     One of my favorite dates is the day that Brian walked me to my class at noon and as I got to the door he grabbed my hand and pulled me into his arms. I thought for sure he was just going in for one last kiss, but no.. He lead me over to Old Main hill and the next thing I knew we were playing in the leaves. This was such a movie moment for me because everything was so perfect. This last fall up in Logan was the prettiest fall I've ever seen. There were so many leaves all over campus and Old Main was covered in them. It took us hardly anytime to build the biggest pile of leaves I had ever built, let alone seen in my life. And then came the best part.. we jumped in them. We completely covered ourselves and swam through the leaves--I kid you not! This moment was so spontaneous and random for the both of us that it made it all the more fun to be apart of! I remember as we laid in the leaves Brian started to sing the Taylor Swift song, Today Was a Fairytale. And I can tell you right now that, that day certainly was! :)

Another date that I loved was one even more spontaneous than the leaves. One night we were bored and decided that we would go down to the laundry room below my apartment and... well ride in the dryers! It was kind of a bitter-sweet feeling because it hurt but was super fun as well.

One time we decided that it would be fun to relive our first date if we HAD ended up on the hike instead of in Bear Lake. So we took a midnight hike up Logan Canyon to the Concrete Playground. It's pretty cool because it's this old water aqueduct thing and so we had lots of fun climbing in and out of the tunnels. It seriously was just like a jungle gym... except on the edge of a mountain where we could fall into the canal below and die.. haha just kidding. It was a blast though.

Ha get ready for more because there is more coming! So since our first date was on a Thursday, we have made sure to go out on an official date EVERY Thursday since September. It has worked out great so far and really been something in the week to look forward to. One Thursday Brian told me to dress up and that was it. I had no idea what to expect, but then he took me to the Logan temple where he took me around the side where the benches were and pulled out his backpack. Inside he had his scriptures along with mine. So we just sat in front of the temple and read together. Wow... This was more toward the beginning of our dating experience and it was one of the times that I really felt and knew that this was more than just a relationship, but a forever-eternal relationship.

Here is a time right after the BYU game in football where we won. We went to Angie's to eat and clean a sink with a group of friends. That was a good night! When the waitress brought out our sink full of ice cream, we had a kid on our table pretend to pour ketchup on it and all of us yelled out for him to stop.. this action made the ENTIRE restaurant go quiet and look at our table. We all just laughed and dug in. After we finished we started clapping for ourselves and the whole restaurant did as well. Brian got up and started to bow until I pulled him down beside me. Ha.. and then the most random thing happened.. a guy at a different table started yelling, "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?!" and the whole restaurant replied "WHO? WHO? WHO?" Talk about unity after that game ha.

     This picture below is when Brian and I drove down to Salt lake for conference on October 2 where in between sessions we decided to check off a thing on my bucket list. I have always wanted to go on a date where we "pretended" to be an engaged couple and go look at rings and have some outrageous story to tell on how we met. So Brian decided to do so with me. We'd only been dating for three weeks at this time anyway so we didn't feel anything too serious. We came up with a really good story and walked into Morgan Jewelers at the Gateway. As soon as the salesman started asking us questions we totally lost our story and stuttered through the whole experience. We were both so giddy and jittery and it cracked me up. Later when we drove away he turned to me in the car and said, "Anna, that could have been real!" I got so many butterflies at that moment that I turned to him and asked him if we could just scream for a minute.. so we did. Just to get the nervous excitement out that this could be real.

Below are pictures of the Sunday Afternoon Session of Conference.

 Right before I went to meet his sweet family.

Below is when we went hot tubing by jumping the fence to the Best Western Inn.

Below is a picture of when we went to the Forgotten Carols. This was an amazing experience for the both of us. It was Brian's first time seeing it and it was my second.. the first for me was when I got the opportunity to sing in the chorus last year at Dee Events Center.

These last two are just some random ones right before he asked me to be his eternal companion! :)

Day 80! 100 Guys

    I've had quite a few people ask me, "You and Brian only dated for 3 months! How did you know he was the one so soon?"
    That's a good question! And had this story belonged to anyone else I probably would have asked the same question saying things like, "That's so fast!" or "They're too young!" What I have come to find out though, is that the Lord has his own way of letting us know and it's all under His direction.. in His time.

100 Guys

    One of my best friends, Chrysti Huntsman, and I decided to make a goal when we turned 16. Both of our birthdays are in the beginning of the school year, so we both turned 16 right from the beginning of sophomore year of high school. The goal we decided on was that we were going to go on dates with 100 different guys before we could get married. Sounds shocking right? Well when we first started talking about it, it seemed unreasonable and an odd thing to do. But the more we talked, the more I realized... "Chrysti! We are Brilliant!"
    The whole purpose of dating so many guys was solely for the experience and of course.. fun! This way we would easily do what the Prophet had asked us to do by not going steady with anyone but by dating around and enjoying ourselves. This would help us stay clean and worthy for our future spouse, but also it would give us options throughout our dates.
    We would be able to experience first hand what we wanted in a future husband and of course---what we didn't. We made a list of all the guys we went on dates with but also made a list of qualities as well. After every date---even if it was bad--- we would write down a positive quality that we liked from the date so that we could always say we learned something.
    Those who knew me in high school knew that I really was a dating machine. And I'm saying this in the most modest way possible. I had the nickname of "Serial Dater" because I had a date every weekend and went to all 21 high school dances. By the end of high school I had reached #102 guys that I had been on dates with. This was completely unexpected! Chrysti would joke around with me and say, "Now you're going to get married!" And I would always tell her that I was just going to start another list of 100 guys for college.
    Little did we both know, that my dating days were coming to an end. I had reached my goal, gained my experience, and I can honestly say I knew exactly what kind of guy I wanted. I just lacked the desire to marry young.
    Ha, anyway here is my list of most important qualities that I built up over my many dating years. It has changed from dating 100 guys to having 100 qualities.

100 Qualities: (Not necessarily in order from most important)

1. He will have a love of God
2. He will be forgiving
3. He will have a strong testimony
4. He will have wild sense of Adventure
5. He will always serve others
6. He will be a Returned Missionary
7. He will be wise and humble
8. He will always be a gentleman
9. He will be able to accept correction and change
10. He will be able to comfort, aid, and support me
11. He will always strive to make virtuous choices
12. He will embrace responsibility
13. He will affirm and build others up
14. He will treat his sisters and mother with respect
15. He will not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ
16. He will be trustworthy and gain the respect of others
17. He will be a Provider
18. He will love Cuddling
19. He will be Spontaneous and Random
20. He will be self-reliant and a Leader
21. He will be logical, but practical
22. He will be good-looking and well groomed
23. He will always be up for new things
24. He will enjoy losing at board games
25. He will enjoy quoting movies, especially Disney
26. He will get a good education
27. He will love his Father in Heaven more than he loves me
28. He will not have fingernails longer than mine
29. He will respect me
30. He will be honest in everything he does
31. He will be my best friend and my pal
32. He will love music
33. He will love to laugh
34. He will love to dance and not care who is watching
35. He will protect me and make me feel safe
36. He will be creative
37. He will be a man of prayer and scriptures study
38. He will be good with kids
39. He will be VERY patient
40. He will have a sense of humor
41. He will think before he acts
42. He will cook or want to learn
43. He will care about his health
44. He will think I’m beautiful
45. He will have straight teeth
46. He will love to be with me
47. He will easily be able to carry on conversation
48. He will be like my dad
49. He will help me be a better person
50. He will be dedicated and devoted
51. He will learn from the mistakes he makes and be better
52. He will handle conflicts maturely
53. He will want a family and children
54. He will not be selfish, but mature in all matters
55. He will treat me like a lady
56. He will seek kindness first, no matter what the circumstance
57. He will have a good career doing what he loves
58. He will sincerely care about other people
59. He will love to watch old movies with me
60. He will not be lazy
61. He will love to read
62. He will have style
63. He will stand up for what he knows is right
64. He will love his family
65. He will love my family
66. He will know marriage is forever
67. He will yell with me at sport events
68. He will have a good relationship with his Father in Heaven
69. He will love me more and more everyday
70. He will be confident but not conceited
71. He will be faithful, loyal, and committed
72. He will know how to do simple household chores
73. He will not be afraid to get his hands dirty
74. He will be a hard worker
75. He will support my goals
76. He will know how to show me he loves me
77. He will have goals and achieve them
78. He will love playing pranks
79. He will appreciate life
80. He will be positive
81. He will accept me with or without make-up
82. He will be affectionate, sensitive, and tender
83. He will be organized and not messy
84. He will trust me to do the right thing
85. He will be good at managing finances
86. He will be able to act professional when needed
87. He will be street smart, have some common sense
88. He will love games and being outdoors
89. He will be active and athletic
90. He will be taller and bigger than I am
91. He will be a little mysterious
92. He will be a great communicator
93. He will be passionate for life and it’s possibilities
94. He will be self-motivated
95. He will spoil me—even when I refuse to let him
96. He will always be a worthy priesthood holder
97. He will take me to the temple
98. He will take me around the world
99. He will be very, VERY romantic
100. He will kiss me like he means it.. because he does

    People told me that with a list like that I would never find the perfect man. They were wrong. I have found him and am going to be married to him in less than 3 months. Can you believe one guy could have it all? I couldn't.. at least, not until I met Brian! :) Brian was guy #110. That's a good number to end on. And I can answer people honestly now when they ask my why. I had enough experience under my belt. #110 but I only need 1! God knew even if I didn't yet, that I was ready for the biggest decision of my life: Marriage to my BEST FRIEND! :)

 

Yep! That's my future husband! :)



Preface before Enagement Story: First Date

It's finally here! SURPRISE! We're Engaged!

    Brian and I met on August 27, 2010 where my first impression of him was "What an odd boy" but I wrote in my journal of that night, "I met a boy named Brian Larson and he's a pretty neat guy." Lo and Behold, I had no idea that I would be talking about my future husband. Brian lived in my same apartment complex up at Utah State University in the Old Farm Student Housing. I saw him on and off again over the next two weeks, where he finally got his nerve up to ask me out on a date. Our first date was on Thursday September 9, 2010. The date was planned to be a group date where we were going to go on a nighttime hike up Logan Canyon.

    As Brian and I were driving up the canyon, we got lost from our group and ended up in Bear Lake. He asked if we should turn around and I was just said, "Heck, we're already up here! Let's do something." By this time it was after 11 at night and so everything but the gas station was closed. We went inside and bought squirt guns and were planning on having a water fight not too long after. I had my camera got some pictures of us in crazy hats and by this huge carved wooden bear outside the gas station. We jumped in the car and drove around to the south side of the lake where we pulled off the road and up onto the beach. This is where the evening got extremely exciting as we got out of the car and ran to the edge of the lake to fill up our water guns and then tried to spray the other. This was just a recipe for disaster as neither of the guns worked. Great! There goes $8 bucks! We laughed and went to the car to roll down all the windows and turn up a country song to dance to. The song that came on was Josh Turner's Would You Go With Me.(This and Michael Buble's Everything, has become our song!) He took me by the hand and started swinging me around on the sand. Now where I come from in Huntsville Utah, there are SO many stars in the night sky every single night and I learned in my Astronomy class that with the naked eye a person can see about 2000 stars.. But that night at Bear Lake, I swear we could see millions. The entire Milky Way was stretched over our heads and there were SO many shooting stars. As cheesy as this sounds, I think Heavenly Father was celebrating the great occasion of Brian and I finding each other with us.
    As we danced the next song was Michael Buble's everything that came on and for some reason we just got more into our swing dancing and he pulled me in close---shocking me, I mean, it is our first date! As the song ended he looked at the lake and suggested we go for swim totally joking. What he didn't expect was for me to be all for it. I started running for the lake, rolling up my pants as I did so. He laughed and ran after me where he grabbed my hand and asked, "Would you go with me?" Before I had time to answer, he picked me up and threw me in. Now, those of you that know Bear Lake really well know that one has to walk quite a ways out in the lake in order for it to get deep at all, so when he threw me my pants just FILLED with sand. Not to mention, it was SO COLD! We messed around for a little bit until I got him under---and then it was a race to the car as fast as we could and blasting the heat all the way home to Logan. It was a pretty epic night, and one neither of us wanted to end, Brian especially, as he asked me out the next night.

 

 

This is the sand that I dumped out.. just in my underwear.. that night when I got home and showered. Gross right? This is a bad picture of it.. But it's all I have haha

 

The Proposal

The Proposal:

    So Brian and I have been talking about the big "M" word for some time and were debating between March or May. On Tuesday December 7, we actually sat down and wrote a list about the pros and cons to marriage earlier or later. We decided we would discuss it later and so off we went to class. Brian later texted me telling me that he would be picking me up from my last class at 4:15. So I hurried out of Human Development and jumped in the car. The first thing he did was smile, give me a peck, and then say, "So I put my contract for Old Farm up for sale." I about had a heart attack... WHAT?!! All the sudden our playful little marriage talk was real! I was so shocked. He told me that he was planning on talking to my dad on Friday the 10th after my sister Raquel's graduation from WSU. As he dropped me off at my apartment, he told me he was going to go call my mom and figure out when the best time was. I walked into my apartment a bit dazed. Over the next few days Brian and I looked at rings online and planned out our date on Friday. Our plan was to go to Raquel's graduation and then head down to Salt Lake to go to Rocky Mountain Diamond to look for rings and then dinner and to see the lights.

    Friday morning I woke up and was super giddy and it took me a couple minutes to figure out why. Brian sadly had to work the night shift the night before as a CNA at Legacy House of Logan so he was really tired. I drove him to school and then got myself ready to leave Logan by noon to get to the Dee Event Center. Brian was so exhausted when I picked him up from school and we took off for Ogden. I drove while he slept but it took him FOREVER to fall asleep because he was so hyper and he wouldn't tell me why. Once at the graduation we rushed in, only to find that it still had another hour to go. When Raquel's name was read, we yelled like crazy! Woot! Way to go Raquel! Anyway, when it was time to leave Brian said, "So let's drop your stuff off with your mom" I was confused and asked what stuff. My mom quickly jumped in. "His laundry of course!" and I fell for it. Off again in the car and down to Salt Lake. Brian and I hurried fast because 5 O'clock was approaching and Rocky Mountain Diamond was going to close. It took us a bit to find it but when we did we made it right as they were closing and they let us slide through. I then spent the next half hour picking out rings while Brian talked about prices. We left all giddy again. Next came dinner at Biaggis Italian Restaurant where we had to wait about a half hour or more to be seated. Brian was starting to get really anxious and he seemed to be on a time schedule and I didn't understand why. Dinner was so delicious and after he spent the rest of the night sooo hyper as we skipped around the lights at the temple where he kept telling me that we'd be going there someday.

    Have I mentioned how much of a blonde I am? I totally wasn't expecting what was coming next even though all the signs pointed to only one thing. On the ride home I kept Brian awake by asking the craziest questions. He told me that he had written me a note that he wanted me to read alone sometime. As we pulled up to my house he said "Alright, I'm going to tuck you in bed first, and then you're gonna come down and tuck me in." I protested saying that was a weird thing to do because after being tucked in I didn't want to have to get out of bed again to walk downstairs to tuck him in. When we got inside my Mom, Raquel, and Brooke were all gathered in the family room kind of shocking me that they were just sitting there. We said our hellos and Brian told them that he was going to tuck me in bed. First of all, my mom just smiled and that was NOT the reaction I expected from my mom about a boy going into my bedroom and second of all, Brian winked at my mom which I again thought was weird but didn't think anything of it and just climbed the stairs to my room. Brian took the clothes and bags in my hand and tossed them on the ground. He took the note out of his pocket and handed it to me saying I could read it, I asked, "Well don't you need to leave then so I can read it alone?" He laughed and pushed open my bedroom door where there were Christmas lights strung all along my four-poster bed and roses ALL over my floor, bed, and hanging all around. There were chocolate kisses and Reese's on the floor and bed and where my dance pictures had once been on my walls were now pictures of me and Brian. Now, me being the blonde I am still didn't get it. I just kept asking who did this to my room. He pulled me in and sat me on the end of my bed where he had me read the note. It was an incredible note.. it made me cry and he had written me a poem inside. At the bottom of the note it said, "So Anna..."

    At this point I looked up with teary eyes as he knelt in front of me and pulled a box from his coat pocket and opened it up with a ring inside. He asked, "Anna Kendell, will you marry me?" And all I could do was sit there and ask, "Are you serious?" about twelve times and cry before I could think of the next thing to say...

"OF COURSE!" Were my words as I gave him a hug and he kissed me.

(Disclaimer* This is what the original ring looked like.. It was changed a week later)

    He pulled back and put the ring on my finger saying that it was his favorite that he'd seen so far but that if I wanted we could still shop around some more. He then told me that in my room there were 105 roses all around each signifying the days since we had met. He then told me that the reason he had been frustrated at dinner was that he was afraid we would get home too late and it would no longer be December 10th. He said he wanted this day because it had been exactly 3 months since our first kiss and 3 months and a day since our first date. He then went on to explain that he had proposed in my bedroom due to three reasons. 1)I always talk about how much I love my room because it reflects my personality in every way. 2) I love where I live and being able to look out my window every day to the lake and Snowbasin. 3) It's where my family is. He then told me that because these things were special and important to me, that he wanted to be apart of it so that is why he proposed in my room. Isn't he a charmer? Haha every little part was SO thought out! He then took my hand and asked if we could dance. I laughed through the tears and he just held me as we moved around the room. I can honestly say I love this boy and it was definitely the best night of my life thus far! And it's only going to get better and better from here!

March 5, 2011... Here comes HAPPILY EVER AFTER!

Here is a picture of my final ring. The ring Brian originally proposed with turned out to be a weapon in disguise. (I'd go to give him a hug or kiss him and it'd scrape him or myself)

 I love my ring!

 This is what my room looked like!

 Goodbye Anna Kendell... HELLO Anna Larson!