A year ago today....

Hours before Dale proposed....
(There is a twinkle in his eye!)

Because the pink eye and sinus infection has left me bedridden Dale and I have had plenty of time to catch up on not only our favorite TV shows but also on what we call "belly theater". I may have been needing my rest but our little baby has been quite the acrobat making my belly look somewhat lopsided and quite scientific. We have been able to spot when his head or butt is sticking out and whether that kick came from an elbow or a foot.

What has really been entertaining is testing our baby's music tastes. Yesterday he started swaying almost immediately at the start of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and lulled himself to sleep with Phil Collins 'In the Air Tonight' only to wake up violently beating me when the epic drum solo blasted on. Dale is pleased with the baby's tastes and is determined to create a baby playlist that they can enjoy together.

We realized last night during our "belly theater" session that a year ago today Dale PROPOSED! Many of you have heard the story first hand or read the story in our blog "Ode to Big Sky" so I will refrain from retelling all the details. But yes, a year ago today, after a long hike, fears of getting eaten by a grizzly, and a couple of cold beers later, Dale asked me to marry him. Obviously, I said, yes.

The morning after the proposal we already had dates figured out and shared the news with our parents. We had plans to get married April 26th, 2009 at Lake Union Cafe in Seattle but after realizing how damn difficult it is to plan a wedding and pay for it, we decided to settle with our simpler sides and got married on a quite weekend in October on Orcas Island, WA with our closest friends attending. Plans change as life happens.

Last June, I was graduating college and starting my first day of work as a preschool teacher. Last August, Dale and I were discussing where to get married and certainly never expected that we would be moving to Montana in a few months. October we got married. November we celebrated our first Thanksgiving together. December I took a job offer in Montana, started packing bags and celebrated our first Christmas together joking that it would be awesome to have a baby to celebrate with next year......January we moved, February found out I was pregnant and from there you know the rest. It just baffles my mind, how quickly time has passed and yet how many wonderful opportunities and blessings we have been given.

I still tease Dale all the time, because last year, before our trip to Alaska he swore to all our co-workers that we wasn't going to propose then because it would be too predictable and instead had an elaborate plan set up for another occasion. Again, things change and usually, for the better.