Glacial Proposal

So here's an update for ya! I'm engaged!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!!

Here's how it happened:

After I had been in Alaska for a couple of days with Justin he woke me one morning and said, "OK! It's time to get up! We have to leave by 7:30!" I asked where we were going and he said, "it's a surprise!"

Now there were three main things that I wanted to do when I got to Alaska, one was ride the train because all summer I heard him talk about taking his passengers to the train yard to ride the train because it's a really pretty tour. Two was go on a hike, any hike in Alaska would HAVE to be absolutely beautiful! Three was eat Salmon. It's good.

So he tells me to dress in hiking clothes and we get ready and get in his green VW bug and start driving... I soon notice that we're driving toward the train yard and I get really excited and exclaim, "Are we riding the TRAIN?!" He says, "Yep!" and I thought that was a great surprise! We ride the train up a canyon a ways and he starts to look troubled and I asked him if he was ok and he broke out of whatever trance he was in and gave me a big smile and said that he was great! It was an absolutely gorgeous ride!



The train stoped part way and we got off at a trail head and start hiking. We were hiking in a rain forest and it was so pretty my heart almost melted. There were blueberries growing off the side of the trail and we stopped and picked some and they were so good! I was loving life and I was thinking, wow...what a great surprise!

I wasn't sure where the hike was leading to and after a couple of miles I asked him if there was a peak that we were hiking to or a specific place that it ended and he said there was. It got to a point where I had to watch my feet closly so I wouldn't misstep and after another mile I asked what it was that we were hiking to and he straightened up and said, "that!" I looked up and saw the most beautiful glacier!!! No words could describe how beautiful it was! Like looking at a majestic inspiring palace! I was so happy! I was definitely thinking that this was such the great surprise!

We kept hiking and challenged ourselves to get onto the glacier itself. The hike got a little precarious at that point. We were crawling over small boulders that would rock under our weight we could hear underground streams running close by. We were about to give up and turn back but we decided to make our way up to the top of a certain hill and when we did we saw that we were actually on ice! It was part of the glacier flow! We also had really good view of the mountain where the flow started. We sat down to rest and eat a granola bar. After staring at the glacier for a while the clouds came down and covered the mountain. That's when Justin got on one knee and said, "Gretchen, I thought that if I was going to do this that it should be while on a glacier in Alaska..." and he pulls out a box and opens it to show the most gorgeous ring! Tears are streaming by this point and he asks me to marry him. I said no.

Ha ha! Just kidding!!! Of course I said YES!!! and threw my arms around him and we kissed a lot!! A few minutes later the clouds lifted and we could see the glacier more clearly than we had the whole hike!!! It was amazing! When we boarded the train again the narrator for the train announced that we just got engaged and everyone was so excited or at least pretended to be. :)







Later on Justin said that he made dinner reservations and we dressed up and I got my salmon.

It was the best day! Justin is the love of my life and I feel so lucky! So there's the story! I hope you were able to handle the cheese! I feel like I've waited long enough to deserve some.

Shamefully late!

I'm headed out to Alaska in 11 days!!! This trip has more significance to it than it did when I casually mentioned it at the end of my last post. One of my "friends" that's working out there is Justin...and he's turned out to be much more than just a friend.

It feels a bit late in the game to be mentioning this now. But as I said in my last post...it's taking me some time to fully join the blogging world. I keep up on my facebook much better.

Justin and I met through a common friend while he was living in Provo. There were a bunch of friends getting together at said common friend's apartment for dinner and Justin was his roommate. It's kinda tragic for me to say that we were both too scared to really talk to each other until after he left. Facebook is a blessing for this reason!

When he first got up there he was alone so I would catch him a lot online and we chatted. And then it got to be where I would sign in for the one purpose of finding him there waiting to talk to me. It soon got to the point where that wasn't enough. I remember the first phone conversation...nervously waiting for him to call, wondering if I would remember what he sounded like. But as soon as we started talking it felt natural and it was fun! He made me laugh all the time and we've just been growing closer ever since!

I'm so lucky! Not only am I going to see the most amazing person in the world, but I also have such an amazing sister and brother in law that made it possible! They have a lot of frequent flier miles and offered to buy my ticket! I'll be getting quite the tour of U.S. airports since that's how frequent flier miles tend to work. I start off by flying to Dallas and from there I go to Santa Ana. From there I go to Seattle and then to Juneau and from Juneau to Skagway! I'm so excited and very nervous! Justin feels the same way. I only have a one way ticket out to Alaska...so that means that I'm there until he's done working and then we'll be driving home together.

I can't wait to write about how things go! I really feel so lucky to have found Justin! It may be crazy to say but I love him...even though we haven't even had our first kiss!...soon to be taken care of...;) I'll be posting pictures soon!

Lately...

So, I've decided that it's going to take a bit for me to get in the groove with this blog concept. Ha ha! :) I've been chastised today for falling behind, so here's an update!

Right now life is a waiting game. I moved from Logan to Salt Lake last August for no other reason than I needed a change. My Aunt Grace has always suggested that if I ever wanted to move to Salt Lake, I could move in with her and my uncle. So one day I decided to take them up on their offer. It's been a great adventure! I've met so many awesome people and have done so many fun things since moving out here. It's brought me out of my shell and I'm excited about it. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to go from here, but I'm sure that will eventually take care of itself.

Since moving out here I've been able to work at a couple of different bakeries. One of them being Les Madeleines, where I worked as a pastry chef. I learned so much from Romina Rasmussen. She is so talented and I still crave the food there to this day! The timing for that job wasn't the best so I switched jobs to Great Harvest in Holladay where I'm currently working. I'm being trained as a bread baker and that's been a great challenge. I work with a mixer that's a lot taller than me and the mixing bowls are enormous! I love the people I work with.

I have big plans for this summer! I for sure plan on camping as much as possible and I also hope to be able to make it to Alaska as well. I love that place! It's so beautiful. Plus I have some great friends that are working there for the summer and it's a good excuse to go visit them.

This update is going to be a bit short! I'll add more soon! I promise!