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Anyway, I threw him a “Welcome to the (30′s) Jungle” monkey themed party. It was a fun time of celebrating my favorite monkey. You can see pictures on our Flickr site here. The most popular gift of the night was the flying/screaming monkey. You send it flying like a sling shot and it does a crazy banshee scream when it hits something. A little scary when it comes at you, but mostly just fun.

The fun fact we all learned about Matt is that he has apparently played Barrel of Monkeys a lot because he pretty much always wins.

Happy Birthday Matt!

Student 1: What good are books?

Student 2: That’s like saying what good is breathing air.

Student 1: What if you could breathe in a biodome of completely fresh air? That biodome represents the internet.

Matt Skyped me around lunchtime to see if I had plans for the night. We both had basketball practice, but Anne and Jeff covered basketball practice for us so we could go out. Thanks Anne and Jeff! After school, we went to Matt’s apartment [I had to pick up the bling]. He said we had plans for the night, but he kept looking at the clock and stalling, so eventually I walked out to the elevator [She's very impatient sometimes]. He yelled at me from the apartment, “What are you doing? You can’t leave. You’re not supposed to be out there. Come back in here.”

When I came back in he pulled a velvet box out of his pocket. He opened it to reveal a pair of diamond stud earrings [Bling Bling]. He said, “I wanted to give you something that you can wear everyday, and I wanted to give it to you in the apartment because this is where all the everyday mundane stuff will be happening. I want these to remind you that even in the mundane everyday things our lives will still sparkle.” [She has a pretty good recollection of this one because she wasn't crying yet]

After that, we went to Schönbrunn. [Going in I noticed that the gate closed at 6. I glanced at my watch: 5:45. Oops. Guess I stalled a little too long] We hiked up the trail to the Glorietta, but he wouldn’t take the short way. He made me take all the switchbacks. When we were at the bottom of the hill the closing alarm started sounding. We went up anyway and got to the top right at sunset. It was a beautiful blue, orange, and pink sky. We stood on the side of the Glorietta and looked out over Vienna. He pulled out another velvet box. [She said, "You're like a treasure chest!"] This one had a beautiful diamond necklace with seven diamonds increasing in size and layed out in an “S” pattern. [She teared up] He said, “I know you’re wondering why we had to walk up all the switchbacks, but I want this to represent marriage. We start at the bottom, and it takes work to get to the top, but it’s worth it. This necklace starts small and grows, just like our marriage will.” [With my breathing still a bit heavy from the climb, I said, "I made you take the switchbacks because it represents the journey we are undertaking in marriage. It will not always be easy. It may seem like we're always going uphill. But if we commit to completing the journey together, our love will continue to grow more glorious like the sunset or the Glorietta. The diamonds in the journey pendant increase in size much like I hope our love will increase over the years] At this point I was crying and smiling all at the same time. :)

Then we started hiking down the hill wondering if we could get out now that it was closed. [We saw quite a few runners, so we tried following one of them. Unfortunately she was running and we weren't, so we lost our guide before we found our way out] After about 45 minutes [It was more like 20] of wandering through the gardens in the dark, we found a fence to hop to get back into the main courtyard. Luckily we found an open gate at the front to escape through. [I was pretty impressed we made it out without getting yelled at in German] Whew!

After this we went downtown to the Rathaus. [This is her favorite building in Vienna] We sat on the steps of the Burgtheater facing the Rathaus. The Rathaus was beautiful with the ice skating and all the colored lights. He asked me if he had ever told me about the first time he knew he loved me. I said no. [So I told her. "It was getting close to Christmas, and I was looking for presents for you. I found a small pillow with that cartoon sheep I know you like. The one that says "Ohne Dich ist alles doof!" (Without you everything is stupid/meaningless). I figured you could snuggle with it when you missed me. (This one had a Christmas theme and said, "Ohne Dich ist Weihnachten doof.") After I got home I started thinking about the theological implications of "Without you Christmas is meaningless," and realized I hadn't looked very closely at everything the pillow said. So I pulled it out of its hiding place afraid that it might say something like, "Baby Jesus ist doof." Relieved that the gift was indeed sweet and not blasphemous, I was struck by a fact I had not previously considered: What it said was really true. Without you my life really is doof. I love you. I don't want my life to be doof anymore. Tricia, will you marry me?"] After he shared the story with me, he pulled out the final box with my grandma’s ring in it. Then he told me he loved me and wanted to marry me. “Will you marry me?” Yes! and lots of kisses! Then he said, “Maybe you should stand so you’re taller than me.” :) [Kneeling doesn't really have the same effect if she's sitting on the same level] Then he put the ring on my finger. More kisses and I love yous! :)

We sat on the stairs for awhile just watching the skaters and enjoying the moment. After that we went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant that we had walked by.

It was perfect! We’ll be getting married on July 26, and I can’t wait! :) [Me neither]

When I came back in he pulled a velvet box out of his pocket. He opened it to reveal a pair of diamond stud earrings. He said, “I wanted to give you something that you can wear everyday, and I wanted to give it to you in the apartment because this is where all the everyday mundane stuff will be happening. I want these to remind you that even in the mundane everyday things our lives will still sparkle.” :)

After that, went to Schönbrunn. We hiked up the trail to the Glorietta, but he wouldn’t take the short way. He made me take all the switchbacks. When we were at the bottom of the hill the closing alarm started sounding. We went up anyway and got to the top right at sunset. It was a beautiful blue, orange, and pink sky. We stood on the side of the Glorietta and looked out over Vienna. He pulled out another velvet box. This one had a beautiful diamond necklace with seven diamonds increasing in size and layed out in an “S” pattern. He said, “I know you’re wondering why we had to walk up all the switchbacks, but I want this to represent marriage. We start at the bottom, and it takes work to get to the top, but it’s worth it. This necklace starts small and grows, just like our marriage will.” At this point I was crying and smiling all at the same time. :)

Then we started hiking down the hill wondering if we could get out now that it was closed. After about 45 minutes of wandering through the gardens in the dark, we found a fence to hop to get back into the main courtyard. Luckily we found an open gate at the front to escape through. Whew!

After this we went downtown to the Rathaus. We sat on the steps of the Burgtheater facing the Rathaus. The Rathaus was beautiful with the ice skating and all the colored lights. He asked me if he had ever told me about the first time he knew he loved me. I said no. After he shared the story with me, he pulled out the final box with my grandma’s ring in it. Then he told me he loved me and wanted to marry me. “Will you marry me?” Yes! and lots of kisses! Then he said, “Maybe you should stand so you’re taller than me.” :) Then he put the ring on my finger. More kisses and I love yous! :)

We sat on the stairs for awhile just watching the skaters and enjoying the moment. After that we went to dinner at a new Italian restaurant that we had walked by.

It was perfect! We’ll be getting married on July 26, and I can’t wait! :)