The Proposal!

October 13, 2012 at about 6:30 pm my life changed forever.  The man of my dreams finally proposed!  I can't believe it is real, we are really engaged!  Cody and I have had such a rough ride getting to this point.  I think we have endured things through the dating phase that most couples would never have to face.  But I also know that is why we are where we are, that is why we have made it to the point of being engaged.  We have learned to love each other and endure anything we are faced with hand in hand, together.  

Cody told me that Saturday (the 13th) he has planned for us to go to dinner and a haunted house.  We spent the morning playing with our dogs and watching some of our favorite TV shows.  We had planned to go to dinner at 7:30 that night.  At about 3:00 pm Cody told me his uncle was drawing the personal cartoons of people down in City Creek.  I had met his uncle a couple of times before this and knew he was an amazing artist, so I thought this would be a lot of fun!  We once got a cartoonist picture of us done at the State Fair, and I love it!  So I thought it was a great idea to get one done by his uncle who was so good at drawing!

We headed downtown and walked around trying to find the ice cream shop he told me his uncle was set up in.  We finally found it and his uncle was set up with a really cute drawing he had drawn of himself and the chairs and easel.  He was drawing a picture his son and we waited a few minutes while watching him finish up.  Then we sat down to get our pictures done.  :)

It was a little bit awkward to sit there as he was "drawing" us.  He has us smile while he got idea of how we look so he could draw it.  We sat there about 10 minutes and I glanced over at Cody to see what he was doing.  I had seen some kind of flicker behind me and a quickly glanced behind me and saw a crowd of people, but from what I could see, they weren't looking at us and I didn't think very much of it.  Maybe I just assumed it was other people waiting to get a picture drawn, I don't know what I was thinking. 

After about 15 minutes in the chairs, he said he was done and he flipped the picture of us around to see it!  It was so cute of us, I loved it!  But there were these big empty word bubble above our heads and the Cody stood up.  And that's when I knew.  :)

Cody asked his uncle, "What are these bubbles for?"  And his uncle replied "Oh, I figured you could write what you want in them."  Cody then said, "I know what I want to write."  He then turned to me and took my hands and made me stand up.  At that point he looked at me and said "Heather, I love you so much.  We have been through so much to get to where we are today and it has helped me come to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. *Gets down on one knee and pulls out the most AMAZING ring EVER!*  Heather Rose Stam, will you marry me?"  This is when I see that "crowed waiting for pictures" come in the doors with laughs, huge smiles, flashing cameras, and familiar faces.  I think somewhere during that time I said an awkward and shell shocked yes.  I pulled Cody up into a hug and he put the beautiful ring on my finger! 

After that, I was lucky enough to have friends and family there to hug and love on.  :)  All of Cody's immediate family was there, and four of my best friends from my childhood!  But when I saw my older brother there, he was the one that made me cry.  He definitely got the first hug.  My parents were not there because they don't support my decision to marry Cody.  It's been a struggle for my family and something we will continue to work on.  But to see my older brother there meant so much to me and to hear that my sister-in-law and little brother would have also been there had they not been obligated to work, was such an emotional thing for me.  

After we spent some time taking a lot of pictures and talking with everyone that came, Cody and I went to dinner and a haunted house with my good friend Chelsie and her boyfriend Josh.  It was a lot of fun to be able to spend time with them and do it with a pretty ring on my finger.  Which my bragging rights for my ring comes in here- we got it from J.Brooks Jewelers (S/O to them, they are SO amazing!).  Cody knows the owner of that jeweler so we got a slamming deal on the ring!  My ring has 94 little diamonds in it and 95 with the beautiful 3/4 ct. pear shaped center diamond.  Yes, I love it very much. :)

It's so unreal to be actually engaged now.  It's something that we have been thinking about for quite a while now, but has been such a tough place for us to get to for so many other reasons.  But it really felt like the moment I had a ring on, things changed.  Our commitment to each other became so real and so solidified.  I have always felt very comfortable with Cody's family, but now I felt like real family.  I honestly could not be happier with my decision to marry Cody, and it's been so cute to watch Cody as he has gotten just as excited as I have for this to milestone to happen.  I love Cody so much!!  We have decided to get married in March because that's what works the best with his and my school schedule.  I don't want to get married in December, which is Cody's first school break, because that will be a week or two before I am set to take my NCLEX exam.  So the next break we have is spring break in the fall.  We have the Salt Lake temple scheduled on March 8th (it may change to March 7th because I've learned weekday weddings are so much cheaper than weekend weddings, but we haven't decided for sure quite yet...I will update soon!) so make sure you can come!!

Thanks again to everyone who came out to watch the proposal and take some amazing pictures for us!! We are so happy and I couldn't have a better guy to spend the rest of eternity with!! :)

Pictures for your enjoyment!

My beautiful ring!!

Our picture that we filled in after he proposed.

Although we do have pictures of the real proposal, they are on everyone else's camera still... so this picture was a cheesy reenactment of the proposal, but still cute. :)

My fiance is so cute!!

I'm a dork and was making faces at my friends after standing there so long taking pictures. 

Happily engaged!

Another photo of my amazing ring.  Yes I'm spoiled.

At dinner after the proposal.

Scary house time!! I hate these so much.  But it was a lot of fun!

Our Nightmare pictures.

Thanks Chelsie and Josh for coming with us!  We had fun!

 SAVE THE DATE!  MARCH 7th or 8th IN THE BEAUTIFUL SALT LAKE TEMPLE!! (Haha, I'll let everyone know soon which one.)

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Remembering Brock

I've been pretty fortunate in my life to not have experienced much death.  I have all four of my grandparents still, all of my extended and immediate family.  I even had the same dog from when I was 5 years old up until just last October.  My dog dying was very terrible for me, and probably the worst I've experienced.  Call me lucky, or call me unlucky because it will probably all come crashing down at the same time.  But all I know is, I can't imagine the horrible pain that comes from losing someone you truly love.

I lost a friend this past weekend.  He and I used to work together as lifeguards when we were younger.  He was so funny at work, he was always getting in trouble.  I think he gave us more business than any of the patrons did because he was always getting hurt!  I think every time I saw him he had some kind of new cast.  I think he was a little more daring than he should have been.  Once I got a job in the hospital I work at, Brock and I lost touch.  It wasn't until about two years ago that I saw Brock again at SLCC sitting in the student commons area.  I went over and sat with him and gave him a hug.  I caught up with him on the last few years and found out he was pretty amazing at math and wanted to become a math teacher.  He was working on calculus homework that day, a foreign language to me.  We exchanged numbers and looked each other up on Facebook so we could stay in touch.

Brock had Crohn's Disease which eventually led to Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis which is basically scarring and inflammation of the bile ducts in the liver, causing an obstruction to the flow of bile leading to liver failure.  I didn't really know this when Brock was sick... I knew he was sick and had some kind of liver disease.  But it was Brock, he went to the hospital for a little while, and he always came home.  He'd had this disease ever since I'd met him.  Brock was a super hero.

Whenever Brock had to come to the hospital, he would always send me a text letting me know he was here (because I work at the hospital he was treated at).  I was only able to go and see him one time a while ago, but we would always talk about how boring it was to be in the hospital.  He was such a positive guy though, he always talked highly of the nurses assigned to him!

Brock and I hadn't talked for a while over the last couple of months.  I assumed he was doing better and was busy with life.  I always enjoyed the funny things he would post on Facebook and he always enjoyed seeing pictures of my dog because we both had a love for dogs.  However, it turns out that the last couple of months Brock was actually doing a lot worse.  He needed a liver transplant.  At one point he even had a liver ready for him, but he wasn't strong enough to endure the surgery.  They had to give the liver to someone else while he got better.  Once he finally was better, there was no liver of course.  He waited and waited.  And got worse while waiting.  What I didn't know is that he got bad to the point of no return.  Brock passed away on September 28th with his family surrounding him.  

It's so hard to believe it's real.  I feel like tomorrow I'm just going to see Brock back at his happy go lucky self again.  It's so heart breaking to think his beautiful presence won't be felt here on the Earth anymore.  I don't know Brock's family, but I send my prayers and love their way.  If only they knew how many people really do love Brock and will be missing him.  Brock was an amazing loving person who didn't deserve to have his life here cut short.  

I pray that in Brock's honor and others like Brock, everyone will take careful consideration when they choose not to mark organ donation on their license.  One tiny decision to donate an organ to those in need when you no longer can use it may make the difference needed in another young 21 year old's life, saving them from dying waiting for that person who did make that small decision to save others.

In loving memory of Brock Barber Butler.

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