Sobremesa

Monday, March 11, 2013

Tucson Chili Massacre

Some of you may have already heard this story, but I thought the rest of you might enjoy it (plus my momma wanted to see the pictures).

A few weeks ago, my roommate and I were on our way to a YSA activity. It was cowboy themed, because I live in Tucson and we thoroughly embrace that culture. There was going to be a barn dance and chili dogs involved. Our ward was in charge of bringing some chili, so we were driving very carefully with a large crockpot full of 9 cans worth of chili in the front seat. Every turn we took was extremely slow and wide. In fact we were so concerned about spilling chili all over my car, that after picking up some coolers from the church building, we even switched the chili to a larger pot so we wouldn't be so nervous. We had such great intentions!

Literally a block away from the church building, we were going through an intersection and we got t-boned by another car, spun a full 180 in the intersection and bounced off of a fire hydrant in the back. Now, we all made it out just fine (my roommate had a concussion but is healing quickly), but you can just imagine what happened with all of the chili.

These are not the best pictures, but the chili was in our hair, all over our clothes, and we both got burned a little bit on our legs. When we got out of the car, the people that hit us almost had a heart attack because they thought that we were either bleeding profusely or another unseen passenger had exploded inside the car upon impact. The looks on the faces of the policeman and firemen were priceless!

We became instant celebrities at the hospital, and I don't think the car repair shop or any of the insurance people will forget our story for a long time. Amazingly, the chili came out of most of our clothes! I will tell you that washing chili out of your hair is harder than it sounds, and certainly does not smell good. It was quite the adventure, and definitely the best car accident story that I've ever been a part of!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Nick's Proposal continued

The happy couple after the proposal

They offered to bring them champagne.....but brought them bubbly cider instead

It wasn't easy sitting through a musical after giving and accepting a proposal....did they hear any of it??

watching the proposal made them giddy all over again

certainly a night they will remember

Rachelle was a good sport about having "company" at the table with them that night, but it was part of the "cover" story, so she wouldn't suspect and would be surprised....and it worked! After the proposal they were in their own world anyway and probably didn't notice too much around them!

It was really fun during the intermission, there were a lot of people that came up to them to congratulate them.... women that wanted to see the ring, a man that knew what was going to happen because he saw the bouquet and ring being given to the stage manager and asked Marissa and Lori what was going on. Apparently he had kept his eye on Nick during the dinner and he said that for the 1/2 hour prior to the proposal that Nick looked like he was going to pass out! Our waitress/actress said she watched from the back because she had been clued in to what was happening and she loved it, and many of the other actresses and actors came by the table to offer their congratulations as well.....it was a lot of fun to hear so much excitement and congratulations given to Nick and Rachelle. If you watched the video you can hear all of the oohs and aahhs and excitement. It really was a fun time for them.

Marissa and Lori weren't the only family there. Rachelle's parents, Lynda & Dennis Dietz, Milt, Josh and Dallin were there as well. Pre-arrangements had been made and they arrived a few minutes before the proposal time and waited in the lobby until it was time to watch the proposal. There was a moment of panic when Rachelle got up to use the ladies room. Lori looked at her watch and realized it was the time that the family was told to arrive. Luckily Rachelle went to the door that was right by the ladies room entrance....if she had used the side we had come in to be seated she would have walked right through the lobby and seen all the family waiting around. Still, there was the chance that she would see them as she left the theater and walked to the ladies room entrance. After she was out of hearing distance Lori told Nick what was going on and that Rachelle might see family and to hurry and go and distract Rachelle. Marissa confirmed that texts had been sent between her and family and they were in the lobby waiting. Nick decided to hurry out to tell family to hide for a few minutes. He said they had all been in sight when he entered the lobby, but that there were only a couple of women in line at the ladies room, and Rachelle wasn't one of them, so luckily she must have been able to enter the ladies room upon arrival and didn't have to wait around in a line and have time to look around. We crossed our fingers and hoped. When Rachelle returned to the table, she didn't say anything about seeing family and so the surprise seemed to have not been given away....whew! Marissa texted family to tell them it was safe for them to return to the lobby....and a couple of minutes later the emcee went onstage and called for Nick Anderson to come up on the stage. He took a very surprised Rachelle with him....and the rest is history!

A very fun night for Nick and Rachelle, one they will enjoy telling their children about a few years down the road!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Nick's Proposal

Nick's proposal of marriage to Rachelle at the Boulder Dinner Theater on Saturday night, November 17, 2012 (unfortunately when the camera zoomed or un-zoomed, it did not pick up the sound, but most of it is there!)