My Tom

So, it is a fabulous Friday night, and Tom is out of town with the wrestling team. And so here I am after putting together all of the invitations to send out in the mail tomorrow. I bet you are excited! Please let us know what you think of them...we are pretty excited about them. In other words, please let us know how much you love them, too!!

I thought I would write a post tonight about the reasons I love my Tom. Many of my friends from college have never met Tom so I thought I would explain the reasons why I am the luckiest girl in the world because we are getting married in 5 weeks and a few hours. So, here is a list of the things I love most about him...in no particular order...and by no means, all of them...

First, I love his smile. Tom's whole face lights up when he smiles and I feel so happy when I can make him smile. This is closely tied in with his blue eyes. He told me once that he pledged to himself when he was younger that he needed to marry a girl with blue eyes so he could pass that recessive gene on to his future offspring. Phew...

Second, I am grateful for his lack of a temper. Tom always amazes me at how calmly he takes the unexpected or the unwanted. One of my greatest examples of this is when I borrowed his camera once to go to a wedding. When I returned from Seattle, I told him that I had left the camera in the hotel room. He kind of shrugged and asked if I had called the hotel about it. I realized he thought I had left it completely, and I meant that I had left it when I went to the wedding. He was so calm and reasonable about it. I was amazed! This is a trait I feel I will be even more grateful for once we start sharing a bathroom. :-)

Third, I love how he makes me laugh. Tom reminds me to be silly and to play. I can get pretty busy and worked up over things, and he helps me relax and see the positive in everything. I don't think there's a problem that Tom doesn't believe could be made better by laughing about it.

Next, I appreciate how hard he works. He is always willing to put in the effort to do what it takes. He really knows what it means to put his shoulder to the wheel.

I also really love how well he gets along with my family. He connects well with everyone. The very first time he met everyone was the day my sister gave birth to her son. We had planned to have Tom meet everyone that day when my nieces sang in church, but since she went into labor that morning, he met everyone in her hospital room. How about that for diving right in?

I have many more on my list, but I just realized that I am really really really tired. I think I am going to sign off for tonight and I can continue this list later. But, just know, if you don't know him yet...he is incredible!! I love him very much, and I am so excited for FOOOOREEEEVVER!

The Ring

Okay, many people have questions on Janell's ring. Yes, I did make it, with a little help. I have always wanted to make the wedding ring for my future wife. So I wanted to design a ring I thought Janell would like, however, as some of you know I cant draw so I went to the jewelry supply store and bought some caving wax.

I just started carving. After a few attempts I carved a design I liked but it wasn't the right size and it was a rough draft, it was not a finished product. So I started over, carving out of wax what would become Janell's ring. So I got to a point that I needed to talk to someone about diamonds and casting the wax into metal. So I went to Gary Richmond. After talking to him he loaned me a few tools I didn't have and I went to buy a pair of magnifying glasses.

Armed with my new tools I went to put on the finishing touches to the wax.

With my torch, ring mandrel, knife, picks, and sand paper I made my final touches. I know the photo below isn't that great but I the iphone only does so good and I had no idea I would ever be sharing it with anyone.

With the wax done it was time to go back to Gary and look into casting it and find the gold and diamonds. For casting the wax into gold we took it to the jewelry district in Portland and went to a company that specializes in lost wax casting. Now before they can cast it they needed the gold so to save on cost (oh yeah and be green) we decided to melt down an old man's ring that Gary had in his shop. Before we could do that we had to take out the 6 diamonds in it (which we used in Janell's ring too, they are the diamonds that run down the sides). Now with the diamonds out and gold in-hand, the casters went to work. I was sweating a bit because if it didn't cast correctly or completely the wax would be gone and I would have to start all over. The ring came back and looked great. Now we had to find a center diamond, so we had a diamond dealer come in and he had the diamond I wanted but it was in and old diamond solitaire ring so we cut off the crown with the diamond in it. I then had Gary solder that crown into the center of the new ring. We took 8 more small diamonds out of an old ring that Gary had in his shop and those make the rest of the diamonds on the side. Gary did a great job setting all the diamonds. The final look is a classic style with a hint of modernism.

So there you have it. The creation of the ring. I really enjoyed making the ring. If anyone has any more questions just ask and I will tell you or blog about it so everyone can know.

Cake Testing

So I thought Janell was excited when I asked her to be marry me. As you can see cake testing at st. cupcake gets quite a reaction. I love places that you show up they give you free food then, "just in case" they send you home with free food.

Once upon a time...

Hello Everyone! Welcome to our new blog. We have been under a lot of pressure to give this thing a shot, and so we thought that as we count down to our wedding (8 Weeks!) we could use this to share with you our story. We are also under a lot of pressure to join Facebook, but I don't see that happening any time soon. I really don't need to have "friend" requests from kids in my 1st period.

So, let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time...October 1, 2005...it was a Saturday evening. A group of friends from the singles ward and I headed to Montage for dinner. After a fantastic meal, the gentlemen in the group decided that they wanted to go to someone's house and watch a movie. My friends, Jessica and Jessi, and I decided that we looked too good to sit in the dark at someone's house so we went off to find a different adventure. We ended up at Kell's (the only place I really knew downtown) with the goal of having our drinks (like my Diet Coke) paid for. It also didn't hurt that my student teacher at the time was working as security (read: bouncer) there and had been bugging me about meeting a fellow employee of his. He kept talking about this great Mormon guy I should meet. I did try to explain to Bret that our Mormon faith was not enough to guarantee a good match, but I was willing on that night to meet him if they were both working.

Once we got there, I found Bret working at the back door. He let me know that this guy he wanted me to meet was working at the front door. He took me outside and introduced me to Tom. What I remember from that night is that I liked his smile a lot and that he was wearing a beret kind of thing. I'll have to let him explain that one. So, we talked for quite a bit and I enjoyed our conversation. Little did I know that the bouncers were all connected through ear pieces and microphones and that they were talking to him in his ear the whole time we were talking.

When I returned inside, I found out that one of the bartenders had offered to pay for my friend Jessica's drink, some sort of juice. I doubt that's what he was thinking when he offered. In the end, all of our drinks were paid for. A truly successful night. :-)

When we left, we went and chatted with Tom for a bit so I could introduce him to my friends. He kept saying that he didn't have a place to watch General Conference, this broadcast from Salt Lake City that was to be on the next day. I was disappointed that he hadn't planned ahead for something so big...but when he tells the story, he was trying to get an invite out of me. Guess I was a little slow at that game.

After we left, I text messaged Bret and told him to give Tom my number. I was very intrigued by this Mormon/artist/bouncer/wrestler.

And that is how we met...