Wedding Date Change * NoVemBeR 6th *

It’s official… the wedding date has now changed and is set for sure November 6th! We were debating on where we wanted to have the reception. It seemed like everywhere we were looking was already booked for that day… but then we thought, “What if we changed the day to Friday, November 6th?” … and viola! So now that we have a gorgeous reception hall picked out & we can send out our invitations for the big day!

Along the same note, we now have a wedding website! It has all the details for our wedding- Location, Time, Registries, Photo Albums, and even RSVPs, so check it out! ~ www.mywedding.com/grantlovesamy

1st Half Marathon!!

So I ran my very first half marathon in San Diego this past weekend- 13.10 miles! It was called the AFC Half Marathon known as "Americas Finest City Half Marathon". The race started at the top of a peninsula called Point Loma, ran right by the bay, and then ended up with the last 2 miles uphill in the city. It was quite possibly one of my biggest personal accomplishments thus far. I finished the race in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Here are a few pictures & videos from the race... Grant caught up with me at the last mile and ran by me taking pictures the whole time.

Video #1: Home-stretch...




Video #2: Finishline!




After the race getting the metal

Victory DaNcE

Candice- rockstar who ran with me!

My biggest fan. Love him<3

Engagement Pictures by Chelsea Robbins

Here's just a few pictures from our engagement photo session... Chelsea Robbins took our photos and we were so glad she did! She was so much fun to work with and so innovative! Thank you Chelsea!

3 months to go!!

Today is a very special day... exactly 1 year ago Grant took me on our very first date ever. Brief overview of our first date: He picked me up on a motorcycle, drove us out to the Boulder City airport so see the helicopters taking off and landing. We went back to his house, we made homemade smoothies, and then we watched a movie... and as you can tell, it went so well that the rest is all history!

Here's a picture of what I had on my desk waiting for me when I got to work...

Nice work Grant!

So not only is it our "first date ever anniversary" but it is also exactly 3 months until we get married! I can't believe it's gone by so fast! I feel like we just got engaged.

A few ideas I'm envisioning for the wedding... I’ve decided that I don’t want a traditional wedding cake. I’m so much more of a cupcake person and I just think that would fit my style so well. Plus, I feel like people might eat cupcakes more than they would eat regular wedding cake! Here are some cute options that I have found…

Tomorrow morning we are taking engagement photos so be on the lookout for our wedding announcements very soon!

I got the RiNg!

When Grant proposed to me he told me that he wanted me to be able to pick out the ring that I would be wearing for the rest of my life, so in place of my engagement ring, he got me a cute little Tiffany’s shaped heart ring. The very first Monday that we were back in town after getting engaged we went ring shopping during our lunch break and then spent the entire evening after work shopping too! We decided that we wanted an eternity band (which has diamonds all around the band) and then a round brilliant diamond for the center stone. Since this was such a specific request we could not find even one store that had what we were looking for. Every store we went to told us that they would have to special order the ring because #1- You can’t resize an eternity band once it is made since the diamonds are already set all around the ring and therefore they don’t care a large quantity in stock… being that Size 7 is “standard”, I was out of luck with my size 5 finger. Then reason #2 for the special order- it was a very custom request and would have to be hand crafted. Each jeweler told us that it would take approximately 3-4 weeks to construct… just the words an excited newly engaged bride does NOT want to hear! It had been a month of searching and I finally got to the point to where I SWORE I would never step foot in another jewelry store again!

Three weeks go by and Grant ordered the ring through a family friend. It was taking 3 weeks to come in… and that was a LONG 3 weeks for me! Being that we had my ring on order, Grant & I decided, one Friday afternoon during our lunchtime, that it would be fun to go look at rings for him! So we drove to the nearest Jared and started ring shopping for him. After about two rings Grant wanted to look at rings for me (again). Even though we had already ordered my ring through someone else, I humored him. I tried on the only eternity band they had in the store (2 sizes too big of course) and was amazing at the sparkle of the diamonds… but I just didn’t want to wait 4 weeks that Jared’s said it would take to special order the ring we wanted. Grant asked me if I liked that ring and just as I was saying “Well yes, but I don’t want to wait forever…” the store manager came over and said “Well you don’t have to!” I just looked at her thinking “What? Everywhere we’ve been they’ve said we have to wait AT LEAST 3 weeks!” And she explained that she took the ring to their jeweler in the store and he said that he could take out 2 diamonds on the band, make it smaller, set a six-prong setting for us, and have it ready THAT night! I immediately jumped for joy! Those were the words I had been so anxious to hear!

After work that day Grant went back down to Jared to see what they could do… when he was done he called me and told me that instead of having it done that night, it would be ready Monday afternoon! Super bummed but I had to reason with myself that it was way better than waiting 3 weeks!

So we met up with some friends for frozen yogurt… the same couple that had been there the weekend we got engaged- they were the ones hiding in the bushes with the video camera. Just as we walked into the store Grant turned to his friend and said “Nick, can you get this on video? Does anyone have any granola bars??” And knowing how much of a jokester Grant can be, I just looked at him saying nonchalantly, “Oh shut up…” And then in the middle of the frozen yogurt place he gets down on one knee and pulls out the ring box… I still didn’t believe him. Just then he opened the ring box and there was the RING!! I was SHOCKED! And to my surprise, Nick was getting it all on film AGAIN! Grant asked me for the second time, “Amy, will you marry me?” And I just laughed and reached over to see the ring! And he said “No! Answer me…” And I said laughing, “Yes yes!” And I hugged and kissed him just like the first time! Everyone in the store was just staring at us believing they JUST witnessed an engagement! I think I even heard someone remark as they walked by, “Wow, SOMEONE likes yogurt!” haha. Just then Grant took my left hand and slipped the ring on my finger! My eyes were in SHOCK! I couldn’t believe that he surprised me AGAIN!

Here is Grant leaving Jared's

This is him telling the person that their finger is in the way....

He had to get a good picture because he knows I love to scrapbook

Video of after he gave me the ring...

The ring...

Diamonds go all the way around the band...

Next step… engagement photos! We’ve set the date for November 7th, 2009… so I’ve got a lot of planning to do in a short amount of time!

We're getting MARRIED!!<3<3

For the past month and a half Grant and I have been traveling out of town every weekend... We've taken trips to St. George, UT, Disneyland, a family wedding anniversary, cabin trips, Zion... you name it! So when Grant told me he wanted to go out of town the weekend coming up AGAIN, I didn't feel the same. I told him that I just wanted to stay in town and relax for a weekend. He didn't like my answer... I used the excuse that I had a girls day planned with one of my best friends & I had to be at church for my calling. He still didn't like my answer. He told me that even if he had to tie me up, I was GOING out of town! So we had a little disagreement...

I told him he was a brat... I called him selfish... I told him he didn't support me in my calling... But as most couples do, I decided to compromise and we ended up going!

He owns a cabin right by Brianhead, UT. So we drove up and met some friends up there. It was Saturday afternoon and we decided to grill up some hamburgers on the deck at his cabin...

We enjoyed our lunch outside while hanging out on a couch they have on the porch. I looked at him and said "This is the most amazing day!" And he looked at me and said "It's only going to get better..." And then there was a pause, and he finished by saying, "...because we're going to make hot chocolate, go on four-wheeler rides, go fishing..."

As we finished eating he asked me if I wanted to go on a four-wheeler ride. Just as I agreed, we walked into the cabin to grab some coats and he started filling his pockets with granola bars! I looked at him and asked "What are you doing? We just stuffed our faces!" And replied "Oh, umm... just in case we get lost". I just laughed.

We took a ride down the road to a spot on the mountain that's sentimental for us. It was the first place I had told him that I loved him. We parked and got off and walked over near a stream. He stopped and handed me a granola bar and asked "Do you want this?" And I looked at him and laughed saying "What? We JUST ate!" And he just kept handing me all these granola bars out of his pockets! Just as I was stuffing them into my jacket pocket he pulls out a small teal Tiffany's box with a white bow wrapped around it. I was stunned! I looked at the box and then back at him... sheer shock. And then he got down on one knee and said "Amy Marie Jenkins, will you marry me?" I looked at him and half whispered in awe, "Seriously??" And he just looked at me and replied, "Well yeah! I'm on one knee!" And I anxiously answered yes!

I couldn't believe this was happening! I thought to myself, "I can't believe I'm not crying! I had always imagined I would cry!" And just then Grant began to undo the beautiful white bow on the box and just as he started to take off the lid, the rush of emotion hit me and I started crying! He was still kneeling down as I grabbed his face and just kissed him!

Just before he opened the ring box he told me that he had to explain something... He said that he didn't know exactly what kind of ring I would want, so he bought me a ring to remember this day. He wanted me to be able to pick out the ring that I would wear forever because that would be something I would absolutely love doing! And he is right...

He looked at me and said "You're my finace!" And then almost in unison we exclaimed "Whoa!" and then laughed. I asked him how he knew my ring size and he said that he had called my mom. I was blown away! I asked if anyone else knew and he said EVERYONE DID! He had visited my dad at his Fire Station in downtown Las Vegas to formally ask him... he called my mom to formally ask her (She lives in Wyoming)... and he even called my step-dad to get his permission as well! Not only did I completely give him the hardest time for wanting to go on ANOTHER vacation, but he went well out of his way to ask permission to all the right people! What a go getter! I can't believe I have found the person I am going to spend the rest of my life with!

Just as we were embraced in a hug, I felt his arm waving around... I stopped and said, "What are you doing?" And he just looked over to some nearby trees. I followed his gaze to find two of our great friends walking out from behind some trees with a video camera! They had been hiding the entire time filming the whole thing! I was blown away! They had impecable timing because they walked up right in the mist of all of the excitement and started to interview me!

I'm now going to be Mrs. Amy Marie Cropper! I couldn't be more excited! Here are a few pictures of us... (Just for Shelly :)

A Little about AmY's Life.

8 TV shows I like to watch:

Desperate Housewives
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
How It’s Made
Planet Earth
Destroyed in Seconds
Time Warp
Mythbusters
Deadliest Catch

8 Restaurants I like to eat at:

Yogurtland
Gramaldi's
Cafe Rio
Fausto’s
P.F. Changs
Red Robin
Chipotle
Smokehouse BBQ

8 things that happened today:

Got 5 hours of sleep last night.
Packed my gym clothes for guaranteed gym-time after work.
Carpooled to work with Grant.
Had a Taco Bell lunch with Grant & his buddy Nick.
Sang “Happy Birthday” to my very grouchy boss.
Had a case of the hiccups.
Turned on my little office heater so that I wouldn’t be a popsicle.
Ate a Root Beer hard candy.

8 things I am looking forward to:

Finishing decorating my new bedroom.
Being on the relay triathlon team with my man.
Graduating college with my Bachelors Degree.
My moms wedding (an excuse to visit Grant’s amazing grandpa)
The co-ed softball team Grant & I signed up for.
Improving my wakeboarding skills every weekend.
Making goals every month and accomplishing them.
My half marathon in August. Highlight of my summer by far

8 things on my wish list:

Being a professional cheerleader for a Pro Football or Basketball team.
No windy days ever again.
A new kitten. I miss kitty terribly.
For my mom to live completely and utterly happily ever after.
The fastest metabolism ever.
A trip to Atlantis in the Bahamas.
For naturally golden tanned skin all year around.
Getting married someday.

DiSneYlanD/ CaliFoRnia AdvenTuRe...

This weekend Grant and I went with another couple down to California to spend the weekend at the beach and Disneyland! It's probably been years since I've been to Disneyland so I was really excited! We had park hopper passes for Disneyland and the California Adventure park. We arrived about 9 am and left around 10:30 pm! Such a long day but it was so much fun! We packed a lot of rides into that 1 day at the park... One ride in particular was the Maliboomer in California Adventure. It is just like the ride on the top of the stratosphere where it shoots you up in the air and you free fall down all while your stomach is twisting and turning and you can't breathe! Well at least thats how I feel!

Before we got on the ride I looked at Grant and told him that I just didn't think I could go on this ride... I was shaking just LOOKING at it! He convinced me to just stand in line with them while they waited and I could just walk right through and watch from the other side... Little did I know what I was about to embark on because before I knew it we were in line to board the ride and I was right there along with everyone!! I looked at Grant and said "I really don't think I can go on this ride!" And he just sort of laughed at me... and I said "Umm... I think I'm going to cry!".... So there I was almost having an anxiety attack about this silly ride when I look around and see all these little kids HALF my size excited to go! Grant looked at me and said "Amy you dont have to go!" And I replied "No! I'll just go! I'll just go!" That response was half convincing myself that I could do it...

So there I was doing the walk of shame over to board the ride as Grants holding my hand trying to calm me down! I sit down in the seat and he's strapping me in as the tears are still flowing! I couldn't believe how scared I was! He sat in the seat right next to me trying to calm me down... This is about what I looked like when he was strapping me in... and yes, that IS a funnel to catch any spew that might happen because of this ride!!

They totally have this ride down to a science... what they do is lift you off of the ground just enough to where your feet dangle and they sort of bounce you there for a good 15-20 seconds as the anticipation builds because you don't know when they're going to shoot you up into the air! My heart was going a thousand miles a minute and by THAT time the tears had dried up only because I knew there was no turning back! And just then we got shot like a rocket all the way to the top and just free fell down to the bottom! My stomach overturned about 100 times and it was all I could do to breathe!! All the while Grant was encouraging me to just look out at the park and see the view! I just couldn't do it though... I was counting down the seconds until I was over! Sad part was... it was literally a few seconds! When we jumped off the ride Grant grabbed me and gave me a big kiss! The Disney Crew Member working gave me a big high-five! haha! One experience I will never forget!