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Megan and Paul

July 1, 2011 by Megan 6 Comments

Megan and Paul

Congratulations Paul and Megan!

We were sitting in the living room when Dan came in and asked Paul if he wanted to go hike to get an old shovel they had found months ago. Paul said that was a good idea and I reluctantly went along, giving them reasons why I didn’t think it was a good idea. We got in the Jeep and Dan got a phone call from a friend asking him to go country dancing, so then Dan backed out of the trip to search for the shovel. Later of course I found out that the call was fake and Dan was in on the plan to get me into the Jeep.

Rings

Pencil grip and cubic zirconium rings

So Paul and I headed up Farmington Canyon and he turned up a road that we had been on before instead of going to the old shovel road. I didn’t think much of it because I thought that all of my reasons the hike was a bad idea had finally sunk in and we were just going somewhere else. We ended up at a big rock that we had been to a few times before, where you can overlook all the lights of the cities.

As we were sitting up there paul grabbed my hands and somehow got down on one knee on the giant slanted rock and pulled out a ring box. He opened it up to reveal a collection of brightly colored pencil grips! (The week before I had a dream that Paul had proposed to me and when he opened the box it was a bunch of pencil grips.)

I started laughing when I saw what was in the box and then he took one of them that he had fashioned into a ring and put it on my finger and asked me to marry him. I of course said yes! Then he pulled out a cubic zirconium ring he had gotten and put that on my finger. We will be going to pick out a real ring together in the next little while.

Megan with rings

Who cares what the ring is made of?

After Paul had done all of this he told me to stay put and he jumped off the rock and went and grabbed two bags out of the back of his Jeep and brought them up to me. From the first bag he pulled out a KFC mashed potato bowl. I really like them and they are what we ate on Valentines Day. They were even still warm somehow. The second bag contained a variety of sodas that Paul had picked up in California.

He pulled out a cucumber flavored one and we sat on the rock together, eating mashed potatoes and drinking cucumber soda.

We called my parents first and then came and told Paul’s parents. Paul woke them up at 1 am to tell them. Paul’s mom was really excited and got out of bed to talk to us but Paul’s dad rolled over and went back to sleep.

I suspected that Paul would be asking me sometime soon but he surprised me and really threw me off by getting Dan involved and having him in on it with the fake phone call and everything.

Paul and Megan

Happiness is a new engagement ring

Filed Under: Megan, Paul Tagged With: Wedding

Jake Executes A Flawless Inverse Proposal

October 17, 2010 by rickety 13 Comments

Rachel and Jake

The short version: The wedding is on Wednesday 15th December 2010.

The detailed version: The proposal was kept top secret. No-one knew. Steven helped to figure the ring size from photographs by counting pixels. So he knew that a proposal was coming but he didn’t know when.

Jake explained to me in an exclusive interview for Rickety blog that he wanted to execute an inverse proposal. It works by asking for her hand in marriage at the beginning of the evening, and then the rest of the evening can be enjoyed as an engaged couple. It also contributes to being a complete surprise. I added that if she says no then you can cut your losses and cancel the rest of the evening.

Rachel, ring, and Jake

Once Steven had figured the ring size from pixels, Jake bought a cubic zirconium, to preserve the surprise, on Friday 8th October. On Sunday 10th October Jake knew he was going to ask Rachel that day but didn’t know exactly when. In Testimony Meeting at the Davis Park YSA Ward, Bishop Visser gave a strong testimony about not delaying important decisions. With that, Jake decided the proposal was to be done as soon as possible.

Jake drove Rachel towards her home but turned off and drove to their favorite hill nearby. Rachel noticed but didn’t think anything of it. Jake suddenly stopped the car and immediately got on one knee, showed the ring, and asked the question. Rachel was so shocked that she did not say anything for a long time. Jake eventually said, “You haven’t said ‘Yes’ yet.” Rachel responded, “Yes.”

The following day, Monday 11th October 2010, Jake took two of my home-made candles and arranged an Olive Garden-to-go candle-light dinner.

On Monday 17th October Jake and Rachel will pick up a ring (with a real diamond this time) that Rachel has chosen.

Thus was executed a flawless inverse proposal. Jake, you should work for the military.

Rachel and ring

Rachel by picture of Sarah

Rachel by a wedding picture of her soon to be sister-in-law Sarah

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Filed Under: Jake, Marriage, Rachel Tagged With: Wedding

This Is What 30 Years Of Marriage Looks Like

August 22, 2010 by rickety 2 Comments

Jill and Rick
The time has flown by and in the process we have produced five children and they in turn have given us three grandchildren — so far. I don’t really have too much advice for newly married couples except to tell you to make sure you go to church together often. In my church on a Sunday the men meet separately for part of the time and quite often we will be reminded to honor and respect womanhood and to tell our wives that we love them.

And over the pulpit a couple will hear how debt is worse than the plague, how they should work hard, that they should nurture and provide for their family, and not rely on government.

So while most of the credit goes to Jill for making our marriage great, the Church and its supportive members have to be recognized for the great contributions they have made to our marriage.

Our favorite daughter-in-law honored us on her blog today over at Ada Shot Me.

Update

At the year of writing (2010) we had only one daughter-in-law. But now we have two more, also favorites.
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Filed Under: Jill, Marriage, Rick Tagged With: Anniversary, Wedding

Greg and Mandy

March 12, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Greg and Mandy

Greg and Mandy

I attended the reception of Greg Dixon and Mandy Tolman tonight. They will be married in the Salt Lake Temple tomorrow and have another reception in Honeyville. Both are returned missionaries, Greg fluent in French and Mandy speaking Spanish. So I asked them if communication was going to be a problem in their marriage. They didn’t answer. :)
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Filed Under: Marriage Tagged With: Wedding

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Who is this Rickety?

Rick at homeI'm Rick Willoughby. I live in Utah, a retired Software Engineer. I'm a Mormon, married with 5 children and 12 grandchildren.

I emigrated from England in my late twenties, bringing with me one small suitcase and a few dollars. I appreciate the opportunities America has given me and the friendliness of the people to new citizens.

I blog about my family as well as politics, religion, finance, technology, and other topics.

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