Wow, what a birthday!  It's hard to believe that this time last year I was starting my first real semester at BYU and just barely dating Marc.  Now I am finishing my last couple semesters (I graduate in August), I've lived in Hawaii, and now I'm engaged.

So, I should probably explain the story.  I imagine I'll be telling it a lot in the next few days.

I had my 20th birthday on October 24.  On October 25, I had a party with all my friends.  It was so much fun.  I had about 15-20 of my closest friends there.  We had pizza and caught up on what was going in everyone's lives.  Then Bryce asked if Marc if we were engaged yet.  I said no, and that it would probably be awhile befor anything happened.

So, we opened presents and Marc gave a DVD from his parents then siad that I had to close my eyes while he gave me his.  When I opened my eyes he was down on one knee.  I was not expecting it at all!  But, it was really sweet.  I fell out of my chair and then he said, "Emily, will you marry me?"  I gave an excited, "Sure!"  But, he wanted a yes, so I gave that to him later.  But Wow!  I was so surprised.  It was nice becuase everyone who was there was a very important part of our relationship.

Michael Wiltbank talked with me outside by the pool at Campus Plaza until all hours of the night and told me to stop being a girl and go for it.

Bryce Goodwin always wanted the latest on where we were and what was happening. He always seemed to walk in at the worst moments.  :")

Jordan Fackrell has been there as a support when things weren't going to so well by supplying Xango juice and GeoCaching.

Carrie Cox was my roommate when I met Marc and can remember all my first impressions and first few months of our relationship.

Markus Cueva and Rachel Fleming started dating around the time that Marc and I did, so it's been really fun to be with them throughout all the good and bad times.  They've been helpful with advice and just good old support.

Kami and David Furr just recently got married and taught me a lot about what is really good in a relationship.  Kami and I have been friends since we were in elementary, and David is just perfect for her.

Joseph Ovard was Marc's roommate last summer and was really the reason why Marc and I started dating again.

LeAndrew Tirrell, John Lovell and Stephen Bills were Marc's roommates in the summer of 2005 when Marc and I met.  LeAndrew was also a very important part of getting us back together this summer.

Jesse Rich is my coworker and a very rational human being.  He has a great calming effect on me and made me see reason many times.

Thanks to everyone who helped us get to where we are.  You are all amazing!  More wedding details will be forthcoming.  I am working on designing a website that will have a lot of information on it.  Right now the tentative date is either April 20 or May 18.  The ring I am currently wearing is a Wal-mart imitation of what I really want.  But you are still welcome to come take a look anytime.  Later!

Baseball.  The all-american sport has reached the final days of glory this season with the World Series.  This year it's the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers. (I think most fans are just happy that the Yankees aren't in it this year).  And, in true baseball form, there are rumors of cheating.  I can't think of a sport in which more players get caught cheating than baseball.  So, the question is, do baseball players cheat more than other sports, or are they just dumber and get caught?

Which team is going to take home the win this year?  Will it be the Tigers?  The Tigers came into the series as the favorite, but have since been a hit and miss.  Plus, with the accusations of a cheating pitcher, it could make things messy.  Or will it be the Cardinals?  They have pitcher Jim Edmond, and of course the ever famous hitter Albert Pujols who has been in the top of the charts for home runs, batting average and runs batted in.

To be honest, I don't really care who wins or even if baseball continues to exist as a sport.  I can't believe that someone would actually like a sport that takes 2 hours out of your day to watch about 5 scores.  I think only golf rates as a more boring sport to watch.  Plus, with a new person accused of cheating every other day?  I mean come on.

We all know that the world of football is the only true test of real masculine strength.

 The Bush administration is yielding nothing in its campaign to create special military commissions to try those designated terror suspects or "unlawful combatants." Its proposed legislation, if enacted by Congress, would confer legal legitimacy on the same kind of special tribunals the Supreme Court described as unconstitutional in its recent Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision. Those tribunals would be permitted to employ hearsay evidence, testimony obtained through torture and other dubious methods, withhold evidence from the accused, and other practices long forbidden by the Anglo-Saxon tradition of due process under law.

 You know, there are few things in life that can prepare you for a fight or breakup with someone you love.  In fact, I'm not sure that there is anything that you can do to prepare.  Most of what you do is damage control.  And wait.

Most of my damage control is done in the form of crouching in a corner of my room and coming out only to choke down something to eat, and make sure I don't stink.

This time I tried a new tactic.  Talking about it.  And I realized that the worst thing I can do in this sort of situation is live inside my head.  It makes the loneliness much worse, and, suprisingly enough, people care about me and want to help me.

So, combined with Nat King Cole, Bryan Adams and all the other singers that can put to music the hole that's in my heart, I think my friends and I will get through this.

I was talking to a friend last night and mentioned that my first impression is to become a crazy stalker ex-girlfriend.  In fact, I think that the phrase I used went, "I want to live in his oven just so that when he opens it he can see me and won't forget about me."  Maybe an oven is a little extreme, but I think you can see the point.  My friends can keep me from doing extremely crazy or stupid things like sleeping in his oven or doorstep.

Well, it's time to work some more.  Here's to a week of struggles.

So, I suppose I have something to confess.  I needed to make sure that things were official before I started telling people this great news.  I am officially dating someone.

Most readers probably don't know a lot about Marc.  I kind of started blogging after my relationship with Marc ended, right before I went to Hawaii for four months.  But, yes, we are dating again.

You know, it's an interesting situation.  We dated for five months before and I never thought that we would be dating again.  But it's really nice.  I know him really well and he's definitely my best friend.  We're going to have some hard times, but I think that we can make it through.

I'll write more about it later.  Hope the summer is going well for everyone!

So, my friend Marc and I were talking about baby names the other day.  My family is named all traditional names (Emily, Jacob, Sara, Rachel and Samuel).  Marc mentioned that he wanted names that weren't outright traditional but weren't so completely out there that they would date his children.

Now I've been thinking a bit about baby names.  There are a few names that I've liked.  Some I've stuck with and some that I haven't.  I really like the name Sparticus.  But, obviously, that name opens itself up to a miriad of different nicknames that could be really bad.  But, I still like the Roman thing.  So, one I've really stuck to is Atticus.  I like it because of the heroic lawyer in "To Kill a Mockingbird."  I always like to hear about heroic lawyers.

Also, going on the fact that I am a bit nerdy, there are a few names from fiction and television I like.  Luke, which is generally pretty traditional, gained a lot more popularity in the 70's with "Star Wars."  I really like the name because of that.  Also, I like the name Eowyn.  I probably won't give a girl the first name of Eowyn, but it will probably be a middle name.

I talked to some people at work about these names today.  Atticus got many thumbs down.  They said that the kids would come up with some pretty cruel nicknames.  But you know, kids will do that anyway, and honestly I don't think there is much to make fun of with Atticus.  But, taking into account everyone else that I've talked to, it's split 50/50.  Which is fine with me.

I am the queen of blind dates.  I think I have been on more blind dates than traditional dates.  It's sort of like, "You're a nice guy, he's a nice guy, thus you must be perfect for each other."  It's kind of funny, because girls generally set me up with guys that they would never go on dates with, but for some reason, they are acceptable to me.

Well, luckily, this time I wasn't set up by a one of my girlfriends, but by a great guy friend. He's been meaning to set me up with this guy for awhile.  So, I told him to give the mystery guy my number and have him call me and let me know when and where we will go on a date.  So, the next day mystery man calls. We set up a date and talk for a little bit.  He seemed like a really nice guy, and I will admit that I was really excited about it.

So, Friday rolls around.  He comes with my friend and they pick me up.  We went to eat and then went geocaching.  We didn't find many geocaches, but we definitely had a lot of fun.  He was pretty easy to talk to with only a few lulls in our conversation throughout the whole night.  It was just a really fun date with a really nice guy.  So, he dropped me off and I said, "Thanks so much for taking me, I really had a lot of fun.  We should do something again sometime."  He said, "Definitely, maybe we can go hiking or something.  Can I have your number?" I got really confused and said, "Umm...yeah....." And then it clicked in his head and he said, "Oh! I already have your number....right...."

I think the date went pretty well. I had a lot of fun, and some definite potential for a second date. So, I guess we'll see how it goes.

You know, I think I was crazy for deciding to take spring and summer classes. This news reporting class I just finished about kicked my butt. Now, I am going to take statistics and a research class. Ugh. Well, I keep telling myself it will all be okay in the end.

About my last blog entry. I realized that yes, I have kissed with braces. Actually, my first kiss was when I had braces. Hmmm. Well, that kiss didn't turn out so well. Hopefully future braces kisses will be more enjoyable.

So, I've been having a lot of problems with a particular guy lately. It's like I don't know how to tell him that I can't hang out with him all the time. I've told him a million times that I am not interested. I just think that he needs to branch out and find someone new.

Last night I went to the Manti Pageant with a group of friends. It was a lot of fun. My coworker brought his brother along. Talk about funny! This guy was so random and said the funniest things. I'm hoping that I will get to see him again.

Anyway, I've got to get back home and get doing stuff with my day. TTYL!