The Lochness Wears Off

This blog is less than two months from being dead, yet there's only four posts on it. Prebert readers, please excuse the lapse. It's been so long, in fact, that I originally posted this on my old blog. Crimany.

A lot has happened in the month or so since the last post. We found a church to get married in and then changed it, the Hilton almost drop-kicked our reception out of their hotel, and, somewhere in between, Derrel and I celebrated our year anniversary.

We started out at a church deep in Apple Valley, but we decided that it was just too far away from the reception site for a Friday night drive down one of the busiest streets in this area. So we moved to a church that's at least half of the distance.

Which almost didn't make a difference. Derrel had calmly expressed his concern to the Hilton that it seemed if something should happen during our reception that they weren't going to be flexible enough to help us handle it (because they hadn't been flexible with some minute things we had asked for). The hotel's GM called back accusing him of harassing their staff every time he called. Everything Derrel does is calm, so this phone call was quite a surprise. Anyway, the dust has settled and everything is fine. Our reception still has a home.

I just noticed my skirt is dirty...great. I guess that's what happens when you dress for work in the dark.

In more relevant news, Derrel and I are four episodes away from wrapping up season 2 of 24.

Oh yeah, and we moved Derrel into what will eventually be our apartment. Man, I've gotta be better at this bloggin' thing.

Give me the gun, and no one gets hurt...

I'm pretty sure that we could have registered at a thrift store if we were given a scanner gun to do so. Derrel would have been just as happy. I thought he was going to go into overload in the kitchen gadgets department.

Derrel demanded that there be a spice rack in our future.

We had a good time. So good, in fact, that we're doing it again today after church. We think we can get the same items for a bit cheaper at another store, so we're gonna give it a go today and see what gives.

Things are going along smoothly in some areas and bit rougher in others, as far as wedding planning goes. We have site for our reception, and most of the details are set. It's in a place that happens to be next to Scandia. So for those who'd like, help yourself to the mini-golf and air hockey portion of the reception.

We're having a bit of a rough time finding a ceremony site. Our church down the hill is too small and we were hoping to keep it local for the sake of our families. We didn't realize how difficult it would be to find a place that we could bring out pastor into, so we've hit some road blocks. We understand why the process is what it is, but we'd just like to have this facet taken care of.

The invitations are coming together, thanks to Stacy's creative magic. We're hoping to pull in Derrel's, mom's printshop to help take some of the project of her hands.

Anyway, so that's the update, and I'll continue to try to get the Lochness to make an appearance.

The "Pictures to follow" are finally following...

It is been brought to my attention by my non-blogging fiance that I never actually posted the pictures that were meant to follow. On trying to remember which pictures were to follow, I found some other little treasures.

The day after we were engaged, Derrel wanted to give dying my hair a go. Derrel had a blast, which is crazy, but works out. This way Stacy doesn't have to fly down from Sacramento to do it.

The Mitchells took Ebert and I to Davis to play one night on our last visit. We had a couple of attempts at trying to catch this sweet moment.

Derrel was chosen as the MC for the Hesperia Days Parade. Some of you may wonder where Hesperia is, but if you've ever spent any time in here, the more relevant question becomes, why does it have days?

Derrel had a good time and said he would do it again. After yelling "nice float" at a local church who just used a vehicle to be in a parade, I don't know that the community will have him. He also (accidentally) failed to introduce a couple of school board members that were in the parade. These were two of three members that are currently being recalled. Maybe the community will have him back.

We visited a new ice cream parlor with the Mitchells about a month ago. Derrel was ecstatic because he thought he could get a dipped cone there. He was tragically mistaken. Apparently "dipped" is a synonym for "scooped." I promised him that night that I would take him to Dairy Queen sometime to get one, and that finally came to fruition a few weeks ago. Look at how happy he was.

The Following Takes Place Between the First Tequila, and the Second Whiskey

CTU Agent Jack Bauer (also known by his stage name, Kiefer Sutherland), was arrested last night for a misdemeanor D.U.I. The man has a mad crazy job, and ungrateful daughter, and a dramatic girlfriend (as of season 5), what else would he be carrying in that messenger bag of his?
The more disturbing news, however, is that if the man I only recognize as Jack Bauer is convicted of this, his second D.U.I., he's looking at mandatory jail time. Jail has to be a terrifying experience but, even worse, is a season 7 that is Bauer-less. And how do you interrogate the interrogator?

In Ebert news, we've decided to move the wedding from next October to next February. We don't have a specific date yet as we're trying to nail down locations for the ceremony and the reception, but I do feel like we are making some progress.

Our first order of ebert/prebert business was to dye my hair, which Derrel happily did the day after we were engaged. He was so excited, and I won't be surprised if he gives up baseball for beauty school. Which would really cut down on professional make-up artist costs for Game Day.
Pictures to follow....

Meet Me at the Boathouse...

I know that most of you reading this were either at the proposal, or have read the subsequent email, but Derrel put so much effort and love into it, that it bears repeating....at least 400 more times.

Derrel and I had gone to lunch Saturday; nothing special, just a new sandwich shop in town. As we're leaving, he gets a call from his best friend's wife "reminding" him about his best friend's party happening at a local park. On the way over there I was kinda bummed. We had plans of watching "24" and taking a nap, and those plans were now being sidelined. What a schmuck I am.
We were walking through the park looking for his friend, Derrel trying to convince me that this large bingo party was where his friends were. We approached a tree with a blanket set out, roses, and a song playing, at which point he told me there was no birthday party. He sang "From Here to Eternity" to me, got down on his knee, and asked me to marry him. Judging by the new blog, I said yes.

Then our families emerged from the bingo party, who was also kind enough to give us a round of applause before yelling out B-29 (really, we have it in the video). :O)
Both of our families came up from Orange County, my sister, Rodney and Nathan from Sacramento, and his brother and niece from Phoenix. His mother then hosted a little engagement party at their home. It was absolutely perfect. An amazing day that was topped off by the Rascal Flatt's concert we went to that night. When they played our song, it meant so much more than it ever had before.

So that's how this story begins. God, in his own perfect time (which was about 8 years), has blessed us with this journey laid before us. And, hopefully, this blog will help bring you all on the journey with us!