How did I do it? Well…

It was Monday night, after class. We both got done around 8:00 and headed home. While Joni waited unsuspectingly at home, I set my plan into action. After getting everything set up, I called her and asked her to come over.

I intercepted her before she got to my place, and I told her I had to mail a package. The post office is just a couple buildings down, so we made the walk down there. On our return, we walked through the water park, just by my building. You can see it on the map above - it’s the circle below the stick figures.

As we passed through the park, I reached into my pocket and with my cell phone, signaled the show to start. I pointed at the building across the street, where big strange white boxes were flying across the building. It was mysterious, but clearly patterned. Then it stopped, and in giant letters across the building we saw this:

2 years, 2 months, 27 days, 20 hours

7 months, 19 days, 9 hours

It was how long we had known each other and how long we had been dating, respectively. As I narrated the display, Joni realized what was going on. Next we saw words that reminded us of places we had been, things we had experienced and other things that we have shared: Munich, 1L year, Punkin Chunkin, etc.

This is the building:

Next, the side of the building turned into a re-enactment of a conversation I had with Chris Landrigan just a couple days before I asked Joni out for the first time. It went something like this:

Chris: yo - so you and joni should go out

me: wait… what?

[...]

me: i definitely don’t want to miss an opportunity here by letting it pass

So with “I LOVE YOU JONI” in giant letters, music playing in the water park, and among the trees, I got down on one knee, presented a ring and asked Joni to marry me. She managed to get the first two letters of YES! out.

We couldn’t be happier. This has been a long time in the making, and I’m so glad to be at this point now. Joni is amazing and I look forward to getting married next year!

Fedex Field.

A car (?) on fire.

This was BEFORE the game.

The view from our seats.

Diehard Steelers fan. Also pictured: guy catching Joni taking picture.

Panoramarama (click for bigger version):

Update: Someone just passed out in line. Firemen attended to her and then she voted. What a trooper.

New deer scent? We just couldn’t figure that one out.

I caught this one firing. If you look closely, you can see the punkin in the air.

The whole event takes place in a corn field. Everyone parks on part of the field. When we returned to our car, it was covered in spiders. They had created a web over most of it. There had to be several dozen spiders crawling all over the car. And it wasn’t just our car - the people next to us were covered too. And our friends who didn’t park anywhere near us had spiders too. That field must have been crawling. None of us wanted to get into the car, so I got my snow brush from the trunk, and wiped the car down, killing spiders as I went.

On the way home, we ran into traffic:

So I took some pictures:

And now the videos!

Trent + me = Statler & Waldorf (the Muppet Hecklers)

Joni + Melissa = Amy Winehouse + ???

Lincoln + Ali = McCain + Palin

In trouble.

A dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence.

His name is Chris Cillizza.  Two people in one week told me I look like him.  (Or he looks like me?) I thought the video above was appropriate, considering that I have a bit of a beard myself.  Here’s what he normally looks like:

You decide.

Edit: Jane has suggested another contender - LOST creator JJ Abrams. Compare:

Thoughts?

Here are some flowers. They were on the side of the road where we stopped to collect our American flag. While at the Dollar General (where you don’t have to get dressed up, like you do for Wal-Mart) and the Shop n Save, we got flags for the cars. Ours fell off, so we stopped to take care of it.

Hick Fest was a big part of why we went. Held at the 4-H Camp in Parsons, it features a logging contest, the Queen Laurel pageant, corndogs, tractor pulling, karaoke and more.

These pictures were taken on the way:

Some standing chopping:

Ax throwing:

The venue for karaoke and the Queen Laurel pageant:

The ice cream eating contest (I know they look like hicks, but they’re with us):

R.I.P., Mandy:

Men’s room in the 4-H building:

I love the answer. I also love this sign, including the spelling:

Joni and I, in front of the stage:

My t-shirt says “Waiting for the perfect woman.” Joni liked that. Mom gave me the t-shirt.

Some (local) karaoke participants:

Here’s Trent:

Here’s Mandy singing:

And here’s the crowd, loving her rendition of Proud to be an American:

Mandy won the $50 prize - awarded by drawing.

Some random pictures, taken as we drove and listened to MAGIC 106.5 - which doesn’t “play any annoying rap music”:

Note the spelling on the stop sign. These were taken at the Black Water river. The river is more like a reddish-brown, caused by the tannins in the water. The walk way leading down to the waterfall hugs the natural features, a process that Frank Lloyd Wright called “organic design.” For some reason, an informational sign name-dropped Wright - even though he had nothing to do with the project.

Haroon is getting his green card soon.

We also took a chair lift, and hiked around at the top for a bit:

We also played some mini-golf:

Trashy mini-golf. Avoid the water hazard:

And this (incredibly long) blog post would still be incomplete without a mention of church. We went on Sunday to a ward that was about an hour away. In Sunday School, we heard this:

Guy: I don’t think any of us need to fool ourselves that secret societies aren’t running our government. They are.

The same guy who said that then started talking about how teachers are dumb. Then we witnessed this exchange:

Guy: I was in education 29 years!

Gal: I worked for social security for 35 years! And we hated when teachers came in!

(Later) Guy: You know who I’d put with teachers… is engineers! [...] You can’t let your intellect get in the way of your common sense!

And that same gal kept blurting things out:

Gal: I can’t even get a ride to the temple!

Gal: Are you two together? (to Trent and Mandy, after someone said that Mandy kept hitting Trent in class - really, she was nudging him when someone said something funny)

There was some scripture that prompted this exchange:

Gal: Like when you make fun of my long prayers?

Random guy: The food was getting cold!

Other random guy: Don’t get in between a fat man and his food!

Finally, the teacher said this to the gal:

Teacher: We make fun of you because we love you. And you’re such an easy target.

And then:

Gal (to teacher): Thanks for all the journals you give me every year.

Teacher: I’m glad you like them.

Gal: Yep. I put recipes in them. Waste not want not.

Did I miss anything? Thanks for a great weekend everyone!

[Edit: I forgot to mention the game that Trent taught us: fraggle rock! Thanks Trent!]

[Edit: And Joni destroyed us all in Acquire. Go Joni!]

Joni and I made these. Good stuff.

I recently learned that Joni hadn’t been to Ben’s Chili Bowl. For no special reason, we made plans to go tonight. Trent and Mandy joined us. As soon as we got up to the street level from the Metro, we could see the line going out of the building and down the sidewalk. I had never seen that before. So we got in line and discovered the reason: it was their 50th anniversary! We had no idea. We got stickers. Sadly, Bill Cosby was there the day before.

That’s the sticker. In the photo, it looks like a badge. Well, it was a badge… of honor.

Then we headed out to Fairfax to see a movie. We were probably 90% through the movie, when the film stopped, and everything melted. What we saw on the screen looked like something caught fire, then burned from the center out. Almost as soon as it started, some employee (probably the projectionists sleeping on the job) sprinted out of the theater. After a short wait, some random guy walked in. “Uhh, the film is like… ruined. And there’s some kind of panic scene in the film room right now. So they’re giving out free passes outside.” I don’t think he worked at the theater. As we got our free passes and walked outside, he was hanging out outside with his shirt off.

Then, on the way home, Mandy said she’s like a horse jockey and Trent and Mandy sang the hits.

And I’m writing this while sitting on my balcony. What a beautiful night!

[Edit: Trent sent this link of what the melting film looked like.]