LOOK Who's Home!

Daniel had a bit of trouble getting out of Washington and traveling to Utah.  The Army is brilliant, as we all know, which is why they have his home of record listed as San Antonio, Texas, after he tried to change it twice.  So we were thinking he was going to be flying home to Salt Lake on September 15th, but when he looked at his plane ticket they had him flying to San Antonio.  They tried to tell him that he could fly to San Antonio and just pay for a flight from there to Salt Lake.  Really??? Lets fly to San Antonio, which is even farther away from home, so that I can pay for my own flight to get back to my wife.  Sounds like a brilliant plan, NOT!  Daniel realized when he went to rent a car that he had left his licence with me to finalize on our land.  So after receiving help from the really nice ladies at the Georgia DMV, Daniel rented a Charger and drove straight through from Seattle to Salt Lake City with no rest.  I had booked a hotel for us for the night and met him there. We set out the following day to our new home in Cedar City. 

Daniel wasted no time getting to work around the house.  We needed a fence put up around our yard, so he scouted out some fencing that wasn't being used and bought a few fence posts. 

He finally got you use the power tools that I had found a really good deal on.  I was going to save them for Christmas, but I knew he would want to use them much sooner than that.  He crafted a gate out of some old wood he found laying around and it works really well! I was very impressed with his workmanship!

There were some bricks in our yard that I guess used to box off a garden space.  I told Daniel it would be nice to have a fire pit in our yard, and when I came out a little later he had this nice pit put together!

We picked up some beach chairs at a yard sale and we love to sit out in out back yard and enjoy the shade.

    We have a nice tree in our back yard to give us shade.  I wish we had taken a picture of the yard before Daniel Cleaned it all up so you could see the improvement! The yard was full of weeds and dog dodo and garbage.  Now we have a nice yard to enjoy.  The hill you can see in the background is going to one day have a chicken coup and maybe some rabbits. 

One our favorite things to do is spend time in the mountains hiking and camping. We spent a night at Kolob Reservoir, which is a beautiful place, but too cold for swimming this time of year!  I regret not having my camera, but I'm positive we will be returning soon.  We took the the back roads to get there, but found them very steep and rugged.  It was a beautiful drive, but to save the brakes on our new Toyota Tundra, we went out on the main road.  The main route takes you trough  parts Zion National Park, and we are excited to have access to some hiking trails that are part of the National Park.  We also did an over night backpacking trip in the canyon not far from our house. Again, I forgot the camera.  Silly me.

I did remember it for our hike up Ben Lomond peak though. This is us at the top, after 8 miles of uphill and torturous switchbacks. I found the hike to be difficult, but of course I am not as beastly as Daniel, who found it to be a walk in the park.

I'll say it was worth the view though, and being able to say that I did it.

There are no words to describe how blessed we feel to be able to be together once again. 

Daniel Pops The Question

First off, I just want you to know that Daniel has promised to write about his journey back to Texas after he graduated for combat medic school. 

One day in February Daniel asked me if I was doing anything on Thursday. Once I assured him I didn't have any plans he said, "Good, do you want to go on a date?"

And why wouldn't I want to go on a date with this handsome man, who had stolen my heart and moved back to Texas to be close to me while I finished my training?!  It was set, Thursday, February 11, 2010, Daniel and I were going on a "date."

Megan, a friend of mine from the branch, had asked to borrow my van for the night.  I saw no problem with it since Daniel said he was going to pick me up for our "date."  She took the van, and I was left in my barracks room waiting for my prince charming to come steal me away for the night.  I showered, put on my favorite out fit, curled my hair, fixed my make-up, paced my room, sprayed perfume, paced my room,  checked my hair, paced my  room... yeah, I wasn't nervous at all.  Finally there was a knock on the door.  In a hurry I grabbed my jacket and my purse and opened the door. Daniel was standing there with a red rose! He told me I looked beautiful, grabbed my hand and we headed down the hall and out the door.  Once in the car we left post and he drove to a favorite place of ours.

This is the Chinese Teas Gardens. These pictures were taken on a different day, but you can see how enchanting it is!

We took a walk around the gardens and up the hill.  This is the view from the top of the hill, such a pretty sight over looking the gardens and the view of the city in the background.  When Daniel took me it was sunset, perfect timing to be looking out over this beautiful landscape.  We looked out and talked a bit, about what I can't recall.  Then Daniel pulled a box out of his pocket, got down on his knee, and asked me to be his wife.  I was so excited I hugged him and it took me a minute to remember I needed to say, "YES!" He slid the beautiful ring on my finger and we stood there enjoying the moment.

We took our time walking down the hill and back through the gardens. Then we drove around town and took the leisurely way back to his apartment. When we pulled up I was a little surprised to see my van there, after all, Megan had taken it for the evening.  He unlocked the door and pleasant aroma filled the air. We walked in and found Megan hiding in the closet because she thought she had ruined our night by not escaping soon enough. All along Daniel had been texting her directions on what to do for the romantic dinner he had prepared for us!  We didn't mind finding her there, she made an excelent photographer to capture the moment!

Daniel had set the table using a bed sheet for the table cloth, and had two red place mats with a vase in the middle for my rose. On the menu was tomato soup, followed by a delicious chicken casserole he had made all by himself! I was very impressed with his plan, and his cooking!  I couldn't wait to be the Mrs. Matthews!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was bitter sweet for us.  From our date on Thanksgiving to Christmas break we spent nearly every minute we could together.  We knew by the time we split ways to spend Christmas with our families that we had something special between us.  I flew home to Utah and froze in the snow.  Daniel took off to California to see his brother Lawrence marry his beautiful wife Jen, and then returned home to Georgia.
I wasn't sure what to do for Daniel for Christmas, so I resorted to the one thing I know I'm good at.  Baking.  I enlisted the help of my three brothers and we baked up a batch of all the best cookies.

I bought the biggest tin I could find and stuffed it full of samples from every batch.  We had sugar cookies, cowboy cookies, chocolate waffle cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pepermint crackle cookies and cookies with cherries in the middle.  Once it was all packed I shipped it off to Georgia hoping this boy of my dreams would enjoy them and share them with his family.  One night when Daniel called I heard his mom say, "If she sends us cookies you can keep her!" I guess she really  just said, "She's a keeper!" but when I heard that I thought I had better keep sending cookies so he would keep me!

This was my street in December.  Daniel was so jealous that he couldn't be in Utah with the snow that he made a secret deal with my brother Andrew.  I was on the the phone with Daniel, again, when he asked to talk to Andrew.  After Andrew hands me back the phone I hear him asking my mom if he could go outside.  Next thing I know he opens my door and pegs me with a snowball!  Daniel starts laughing, "I told him to do that!" Well, at least he made sure Andrew asked my mom's permission to go outside.  Silly boy :-)

Thanksgiving

This is us just before Thanksgiving dinner.



Daniel had previous engagements for Thanksgiving in the form of an Army detail.  I was so happy when he called me that Thursday morning and asked if it was too late to change his mind about going with me to Thanksgiving dinner.  He had worked his way out of the detail to accompany me to the Gibson's home for Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed great food and company.  The kids even invited us to play the wii with them after dinner!  After pie we slipped out the door and went to walk around down town (little did I know this would become a favorite pass time of ours).  Thanksgiving is now my favorite holiday because it reminds me of our tender beginnings.

Our First Date

We kept our date for Saturday, but didn't follow through with the movie.  I had volunteered to make some apple pies for our branch Thanksgiving dinner that was going to be held Sunday.  To my surprise Daniel wanted to help me make the pies and then go on our date!  I picked him up in my van (he was in training and didn't have a car, so I didn't hold it against him) and our first stop was Walmart to pick up 4 different kinds of apples for the pies.  Our next stop was Pam Mungle's house, since I lived in the barracks I needed to borrow her kitchen.  Daniel peeled the apples and I sliced them and added to spices.  I rolled out the crust for one pie, got it all ready and stuck it in the oven.  I was pretty impressed when I turned around and found Daniel rolling out the crust for the next pie.  I'm glad he was busy so I had time to wipe the goofy grin off my face.  It was then I knew he was a keeper!
We then spent the evening at Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum.  It was a great place to go for a first date!  There were so many interesting things that we always had something to talk about. The museum fun and all, but the best part of our first date was spending time in the kitchen working together and making yummy pies!

How We Met

A few years back I had this crazy idea that I was going to join the Army Reserves.  I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Amy? Joining the Army? Are you sure?"  Yes, I was sure, but I really couldn't tell you why.  Apparently about the same time there was a boy named Daniel who decided to join the Idaho Army National Guard.  I'm sure his family wasn't quite ans surprised as mine was.  My MOS (the Army name for a job title) was a 68WM6, or a combat medic with a nursing identifier. His MOS was a 68W, combat medic.  Our job training sent us both to Fort Sam Houston, Texas.  On post there was a military branch for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that we both attended. Fast Sundays meetings were usually followed by a branch dinner, mostly so we could socialize with the other soldiers in training. In October we had hamburgers, and this "Matthews kid" was behind me in line to get food.  We ended up sitting together and having a nice conversation.  In the weeks following I remember thinking, "What happened to that Matthews kid?" He didn't ever talk to me a church!
A few weeks later a few soldiers from the branch loaded in my van and we went to eat lunch at Rocco's, the post's best dinning facility. There was only one problem. We got there about an hour before it opened to start serving lunch.  So we all piled back in the van and went t the PX to burn some time.  Everyone split up and somehow "the Matthews kid" and I were left wondering the store together talking about movies and water rafting. He had mentioned putting together a rafting trip, and I thought that was a pretty fun idea!  On my way to drop everyone off I said, "Here, put your number in my phone so we can plan that rafting trip." I could tell he was kind of a shy guy, and I thought he was kinda cute, so I had to figure out some way to get his number.  Who knew how many weeks would go by before he talked to me at church again?  I didn't even know his first name was Daniel until he put it in my phone!
I spent a few weeks trying to text him, but when he sent back very few replies I figured he wasn't interested in being more than friends. Little did I know he just wasn't big on texting. One night after our Wednesday institute I was walking to my van and heard, "Amy!" I think my heart stopped when I realized it was his voice! "Do you want to go to a movie or something Saturday?"
My thoughts at the moment: "Oh my gosh! Is this Matthews kid really asking me out on a date?!" If my heart didn't stop when I heard him call my name, it definitely stopped when he asked me to go to a movie!
Of course my answer was, "Yes!"