Showing posts with label NEWBLOG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NEWBLOG. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Wedding Announcement


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Some more engagement pictures :)

With scheduling proving difficult to get a photographer for our engagements, we were finally able to get together with Ryan's cousin Carol. She did an amazing job on our photographs!










Thursday, February 24, 2011

Valentine's Day

Valentines day came and I woke up to a wonderful surprise. Ryan came over early to tape up heart cut-outs, each one with a special thing written on them. I loved waking up to the beautiful roses, chocolates, and love notes. Ryan sure know how to treat a girl ;)

That evening he made Chicken cordon-bleu. It was delicious! MMM HMM. We dressed up all fancy then he picked me up and took me back to his place. We had a lovely candlelight dinner in the same place that, "so many other cheesy moments have taken place." Only fitting to spend our Valentine's day the same place so many other memories were made. Our first hand-holding, first kiss, and first serious marriage talk took place there :)



Well, Happy V-day, a little late :)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I Will Be Here

I can't help but love it when Ryan tells me, "I love you for who you are and who you are going to be." I am looking forward to marrying this man with great anticipation! Do you know how many days there are? 76 days left. SEVENTY-SIX!

Will life be easy? Has live EVER been easy for ANYONE? No. We will have our trials and struggles like everyone else. But one thing I am sure of is that our marriage will grow and develop just like we will as individuals. And with these changes, the bond that builds our relationship will continue to do so as well. We both have potential, and already he has encouraged me to reach a little further within myself and seek it.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. SERVICE. DEVELOPMENT. CHANGE. STRENGTH. CHARITY. DEVOTION. TRUST. HONESTY. ATTRACTION. HOPE. FAITH. SINCERITY. ROMANCE. LOVERS. HUMOR. DEDICATION. DELIGHT. RANDOMNESS. LIGHT-HEARTED. TENDERNESS. BEAUTY. FUTURE. CHILDREN. PARENTS. JOY. HAPPINESS. GOSPEL. CHRIST. AGE. COMFORT. PEACE.

ETERNAL.


I WILL BE HERE-
Steven Curtis Chapman

Tomorrow mornin' if you wake up
And the sun does not appear
I will be here

If in the dark we lose sight of love
Hold my hand and have no fear
'Cause I will be here

I will be here...
When you feel like bein' quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen
And I will be here
When the laughter turns to cryin'
Through the winnin' and losin' and tryin'
We'll be together
'Cause I will be here

Tomorrow mornin' if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I'll be here

Just as sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
I will be here

I will be here....
You can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we're older
I will hold you

And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

I will be true
To the promise I have made
To you and to the
One who gave you to me

I will be here

And just as sure as seasons are made for change
Our lifetimes are made for years
'Cause I...
I will be here....
We'll be together

'Cause I will be here

Sunday, December 19, 2010

ENGAGED

Well my friends, the day has finally come.

I
AM
ENGAGED




Yes folks. Its true. You want all the details? Sweet. I'm going to give them to you! You get the "engagement story" first then can keep reading for the "dating story".

Wednesday morning Dad went into work, Caidin was at school and Mom decided to go visiting teaching. We were watching Jonny Lingo and at one point he got up to go to the bathroom. Yeah... right. I was suspicious when he went all the way upstairs to go when there's a bathroom 5 feet away. Then I could hear him puttering around upstairs. Then he finally came back downstairs but went into the living room first. We finished the movie then decided to go down and look at the temple.

I got ready to go but he was at the computer so I sat down at the piano to play for a few minutes while I waited for him to be done. He finished up, came and sat next to me while I continued to play. When I was finished he said, "Ok. Now I'm going to play you a song."

So he turned on "Kiss Me" and we began dancing like we always do. And then I got thinking "Oh Wow. THIS COULD BE IT!" When the song was over he said, "Ok, are you ready to go?" and then he turned around and I just thought, "Oh shoot!"

And then he started playing "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not". This song is the one that I'd heard the day we started talking about marriage and I'd made him look it up and listen to it. It unofficially became our song. So we started to dance once again (I LOVE DANCING WITH HIM) Before long he told me he had one of my Christmas presents. Now, I had checked the Christmas tree earlier and no new Christmas presents were to be found under the tree. But he bent down and lifted up the tree skirt and pulled out THE RING BOX! Along with the words of the song, he got down on his knee and asked,

"Janelle Cheney, Will You Marry Me?

AHHHH! YES!

I started crying. And I couldn't stop hugging him. Or kissing him for that matter. Or smiling.

I am in love with the most incredible man. He is indescribably good to me. I know I can trust him and rely on him. He is handsome, intelligent, funny, loving, spiritual, and so much more! He is respectful. He is kind and generous. He is wise with his money. He is tender. He is a teaser.
I love his family. He loves my family.
And we love each other.



When we'd been dating for not very long, I knew that we were going to get married so I started to keep track of special dates in our lives.

May 15 - The day we met for the first time.

We met at church in the hall right outside the clerk's office. I had just filled out and turned in my records sheet. Him and his friend Charlotte were standing there chatting and introduced themselves.

From here out until about the end of July, we really didn't see much of each other or hang out. We didn't date or anything like that. He later told me he would've loved to date me earlier and wanted to ask me out the first time he met me, but figured that every guy would be thinking the same thing! July and August saw a lot of swimsuits and water for our group of friends and this is where we got comfortable with each other. I learned to trust him when he helped me overcome my fear of water as he encouraged me to go beyond my comfort zone - the beach.

September By now we had a running joke that we were getting married and having 12 children. For weeks that was the talk in our little group but finally one of my friends called me out on it. I was sitting with Logan Hansen in Sunday School (Ryan was in Blackfoot for the weekend - on a blind date no less) and:

Logan: "Sooo... Ryan."
Me: "Yeah? What about Ryan?"
Logan: "You two should totally date."
Me: "Yeah, I've thought about it. And I'm still thinking about it-"
Logan: "He's thought about it too."
Me: "REALLY?!? Tell me more!"
Logan: "Nope. I already said too much. That's all you get."

And that's how I decided that it would be ok to make myself slightly more available. But let me make it clear. He took the initiative ;)

September 13 - Our 'first date'.

I invited Ryan to come on a photo shoot with me. The lighting was fabulous and I was anxious to get out and take some pictures. Why not have enjoyable company along for the ride? At the construction site where I wanted to take a few pictures the owner asked if we were dating. I hesitated yet Ryan blurted out, "Yes!". The man then commented, "You're a cute couple and will have adorable children." Later at FHE a kid asked us if we're dating because of the joke about us getting married and having 12 kids. We went to his house and while we were listening to his friend Nick play songs on his guitar he put his hand on my knee. We danced our first ever dance & told Nick he had to play that song at our wedding reception. A few days later we held hands :)

September 18 - Our First Kiss
September 23 -Flowers on my front porch for my birthday October 1 - Feeling like telling him "I Love You" but refused to say it first. October 14 - "I LOVE YOU" October 25 - 6 weeks dating & mushy text October 30 - "What if we got married?" discussion November 17 - Ring shopping, dinner, and pre-registry looking November 18 - We found the Ring!

December 15 - ENGAGED

RYAN & JANELLE ANDERSEN

hmm. That looks DANG GOOD.


Ryan's Trip to Washington

Ryan was able to get time off work and come for a visit! This visit was really important as it would indicate to me his level of commitment (aka spending the time, money, and courage to come meet my family) ha ha ok not quite. I don't want you to think that I assume the $$ with the love. It was, however, important for him to get to come have a chat with my daddy about giving me a certain thing and asking a certain question. But more about THAT to come!

We got in Saturday evening and were able to make it in time for part of the ward Christmas party. Here Ryan was able to meet a lot of the people that have helped form who I am. They were all excited to meet him and get a good look at him :) Sunday we had the Carlson and Monson families over for dinner and we had a great time with them. Between dinner, playing games, and Peppermint dessert, it was a fabulous night! Uncle Jeff didn't even harass him too badly ;)

Monday we spent mostly just relaxing, sleeping in a little and a hanging out with each other. I took him out to the mall and showed him around a little bit of Vancouver. For Family Home Evening that night we went down to Portland and say the raceway lights. They were wonderful! I love this Christmas season with all the lights and decorations.

Tuesday we headed down to Multnomah Falls with the parents. It was rainy but still beautiful. And what a good excuse to share the small space under an umbrella :) This was a great opportunity for us to be alone with my parents without the little brother following us around. I later found out why he was so tired - because he'd gotten up early to ask my parents for their permission.

Ryan & I

Smoochy-Smoochy in "Lover's Cove"

Ryan & I
Wahkeena Falls

The next few days passed in a whirl! Thursday Ryan and I did a little shopping and a little relaxing. That evening Caidin had a piano recital at the Veteran's Hospital. He did a fabulous job! He is quite the talented young man and has used his talents wisely. We went out for dinner after the recital to 'Five Guys'. It was less formal than I thought but that ended up ok. The food was tasty and the Cajun fries were GREAT.

Friday was our last full day together. We took time just for us. We went out on the town! Not quite, but we did go to Wal-Mart and look at fake Christmas trees and ornaments that we might get for super cheap at those after Christmas sales. We also bought our first house item jointly. A nice comfy, warm, large Sherpa and Micromink blanket. Its gorgeous. I wish I got to sleep with it now, but alas I must wait another 4 months, but so must he! Ha ha. We stayed up late playing games - Settlers, Boggle, and Spoons. The lights flickered a little while we were playing and then went out totally about midnight. That darn wind! We now have tons of limbs scattered about the lawn. We also did a slight gift exchange for each other. Well... mostly he opened the Christmas presents I got him ;)

Saturday started with no power and some packing. Cuddling in front of the fireplace and then heading to the airport. I hated saying goodbye and I started crying when I was on the phone with him once he got past security. We were still in the same building yet I already missed him intensely.

Merry Christmas Baby Cakes!


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Guns and Love can go together

Ryan and I headed out to Blackfoot a couple weekend's ago to spend some quality family time. Something you should know about his dad is that he is a cop. You know what that means, right? Lots of GUNS :)

So I got to shoot this Pistol.

And this AR-15 (like an M16)
And a couple more guns. And I got to learn to some pressure points. I used one on Ryan. He thought I was being all sweet coming and giving him a hug, then BAM! I hit him right in the side of the thigh and he was on the ground! He told his dad he's no longer allowed to speak to me when he's not listening and knows what he's teaching me.

And you know what love feels like? It feels like this. It acts like this. It treats you like this. This is it people! I am simply yet deeply in love with this man. And I love how different it is. I'm glad I've found the man that shows me that difference.
LOVE :)

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Corn maze...well... mostly mushy with a few pictures

Do you know what it feels like, thinking back on relationships and realizing how truly a close call it was or could've been? The feeling that you can't imagine how life would've turned out if you weren't with who you are now. The feeling of "Wooowee! I'm so glad I didn't end up there!"

Well. I can honestly say I'm thankful for all those lovely dating experiences that have led me to where I am now. Because if not, I'm not sure I would be truly grateful for the wonderful man in my life now. The way he treats me is phenomenal. And I am one lucky girl :) He's goofy, so you know that he matches my personality perfectly. And he always has the best attitude about everything in life. I love so much about him! He allows me to be me, because he is who he is. And that is the best feeling in the world.

A couple weeks ago we went to the corn maze with Brad Plummer and his girlfriend Wendy Anderson. Ironic how life seems to come full circle, ain't it?

We had fun being goofs. Here are some pictures to prove it:

Before entering the cornmaze
Isn't he cute?

And he likes to pick me up...which is fine by me!

He's like my own personal pack mule ;)


And this is my favorite picture. Some of you may ask, "why? you look fat" and the answer is "yes. i look like 7 months pregnant, awesome isn't it? at least i know i'll be cute"
In case you couldn't tell...me liking this pictures is...sarcastic. unless its from the shoulders up :)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Conference Weekend

Well, I enjoyed a "couples retreat" with my sweetheart Ryan. We traveled with another couple down to conference, stayed in SLC with they're cousins and got to putt around the city a little. Next time we go down we've already decided we're gonna look at some cool things that we only saw in brief - like their library! Has anyone seen that? It looks SO COOL! Anyways...

Ryan & I

Logan & Aubrey, Janelle & Ryan

We had tickets for the Saturday morning session so we headed down Friday night after Ryan got off work. The drive went surprisingly fast and was fairly relaxing. Traffic on the way down and up was good. We had a parking pass for the conference center, but ended up getting a handicap parking space because of Aubrey, who had surgery on her knee not too long ago. Sweet deal! Alyssa and Bryce went down as well but stayed with his parents for the weekend. Kind of sad I missed out there! Last time it was so much fun seeing his family! Anyways, they were able to get tickets for the session as well once they got into SLC. We met up for a few minutes, took some pictures, and then headed into the conference center. Conference was great! I especially loved Dieter F. Uchtdorf's address.

"Love is really spelled T.I.M.E."

4 Essential Relationships
1. With God
2. With Family
3. With Your Fellowmen
4. With Yourself

Eight of us headed to Olive Garden where we had reservations for lunch. It was delicious :) We then spent the afternoon doing a little shopping in the gateway mall. Since Logan's sister was up from St. George, they wanted to do a little more than conference.

Ryan and I got tired after a short while. It'd been a very short night and I was recovering from Bronchitis. So we found a nice little bench in a nice quiet corner in the nice shade (it was still very warm) and took a nice little nap!

Janelle & Ryan

The boys headed to Priesthood, we took them to the stake center and even though the doors were locked there were TONS of people so they figured they'd be fine. Turns out that the only ones in the stake that hadn't heard where conference was going to be was the Samoans... so the boys hitched a ride with some of them over the the other stake center. I got dropped off and took a 2 hour nap before fixing dinner. Then it was movie time and bed.

I attempted watching the morning Sunday session but was out cold within the first 10 minutes. I was so drained and exhausted I slept through the whole thing and didn't wake up once! We spent 2nd session on Temple Square and in the Visitors Center.



Sunday was Ryan's birthday! Aubrey's cousin made him a SWEET cake! I bought him some Aeropostale Sport cologne. We'd gone shopping and smelled a few others, but this was ultimately what I decided to get him, because it was what he already had and it was a scent I already associated with him. Love it! Smells so so good! And of course, in Cheney tradition I made him a candy bar poster!


EXTRA! My MR. GOODBAR is 23! What a SHOCKER! U-NO he's kind of a NERD, but he is the biggest SWEETHEART! he's worth 100 GRAND to me! I SKOR-ed when I met this BIG HUNK. He makes my heart play a SYMPHONY when he does the MAMBA & I love looking at the STARS & the MILKY WAY with my SUGAR DADDY. So let's share some SNICKERS and have MOUNDS of fun!
♥ your sweet BABY & SIXLETS & SIXLETS






Tuesday, September 28, 2010

22 Birthday Celebrations

I would be remiss if I didn't thank my God and my Parents for the gift of life they have granted me. Thanks for bringing me into this world and dealing with your stubborn daughter!

Alyssa got this idea from her roommate and decided to make me a little list where I could record my birthday celebrations! I tried to keep them in order of how they happened. So its not favoritism. Although I may have...you know... bolded and italisized a few things...

1. Target shooting with some of my favorite people! Alyssa, Bryce, Ryan and I headed out to Menan area to the popular shooting range areas up there. We had a great time! Ryan's shotgun has quite a bit more kick than I remember others having, and I got to shoot Bryce's 270, which is loud and about knocked me on my butt. We bought some cans of soda and shook them up before shooting them. That is dang entertaining :)
Alyssa & Bryce (22)


Janelle (270) & Ryan (shotgun)

2. Craigo's Pizza & "Despicable Me" in the cheap theater for date night. Ryan and I tripled with Alyssa & Bryce, and our church friends Brannan & Melanie!

3. Meeting Ryan's mom, dad,Analisa & TJ, and Marissa. He's got an amazing family, very fun loving people.

4. Being gifted homemade bread from his Grandma. The best stuff I think I've EVER had.

5. Finding these gorgeous roses on my front doorstep as I was leaving for work on the morning of my birthday. Made me feel so twitterpatted all day :) He got up at 6am to make sure they'd be there before I left!


6. Kids singing "Happy Birthday" to me during snack time and giving them candy treats. All the lovely birthday cards they decorated during gathering time. I believe I counted 14 in my locker when I left for the day.

7. Bajio's lunch with the staff, Diane's gift of Bath& Body Works lotion and body spray. A good fall scent - Apple!

8. Shopping with Alyssa @ the Shade sale. We bought matching shirts and dresses. We're dorks!

9. Maria's mirror note: "What a gift to the world to have such a beautiful girl in it! Happy Birthday Janelle!" What a sweetheart!

10. Babysitting Ayla while Megan and Bri went swimming. It was a very peaceful 45 minutes. I love holding that sweet baby!

11. Dinner made specially for me by Alyssa, Bryce, and Ryan. Chicken Yaki Tori, homemade french fries and green beans. Hmm. So good :)

12. Bowling 2 games and getting the lowest score. Ha! I played horrible but it was still great. I love bowling.

13. German Chocolate Cake with the yummy coconut frosting. Oh deliciousness. The best cake ever. Alyssa did a great job!

14. "Letters to Juliet"& Andes mints from Alyssa, "Blink" from Bryce. "The Hunger Games" from Nick.

15. CAMERA, camera books and extra battery from Dad & Mom. Did I mention CAMERA?Yes, you're right. I got it back in July, but that doesn't mean I don't remember what it was really for ;) I'm in love with this thing. Nikon D90. Hmm... Its a sexy camera :)

16. Cards from my family :) Check from the grandparents! Phone calls from the family too :)

17. Scarf from Sister Henrikson, picture of Hannah and I in a frame, Snickers.

18. OLIVES, Snickers, and Mike & Ikes + a singing greeting card from Kira.


19.
"Cities & Knights" expansion for "Settlers of Catan" from Ryan. Wow Baby!

20. PARTY!
Thanks to Tasha & Megan for working so hard on the desserts. Tasha made 4 ice cream cakes!


Me & Tasha - she's such a loving and giving friend!

Me & the old roomies! Such good memories :)
Kimberly, Hannah, Janelle, Marisa

21. Stuart coming up to visit! He made it for the tail end of the party.

Stubaby & I

We were supposed to go hiking in the Tetons Saturday but I knew that I wasn't going to feel well enough to do that undertaking. We settled for a short, about 1 mile? hike on the Cress Creek trail. I'm so glad we didn't go hiking for REALS, because I was dying!
Alyssa & Bryce at the viewpoint.

Ryan & I at the viewpoint.
Can you tell how tired I am?

I slept for 2 hours after getting back from that hike. I was exhausted!

We played some settlers, did some lounging, checked out the babes at church (well Stu did that...) Partied until the wee hours of the night, and didn't get near enough sleep, but it was all worth it! Thanks Stu for coming up!


22. And the greatest celebration of all -

The LOVE I felt surrounding me so completely :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Monday Adventure

I get in these moods. Moods where I just want to be outdoors taking pictures. So what do I do? Drag along a friend to model for me! We headed out to St. Anthony (my favorite picture taking spot) and made a night of it :)
There is a story here, I promise. There is a spot on the main drag into town where they are remodeling this large building that takes up pretty well the whole one side of the block. I'd wanted to take pictures there before but was afraid of getting in trouble for trespassing. However, Monday night there were some workers out there so I got up the guts to ask if we could take some pictures. Well, one of the "workers" was the owner, and agreed to let us take pictures IF we promise to send him a copy of one we take. He plans on having a wall of all the pictures people take as a walk through history lane when people come back 20 years down the road. Neat huh?
You know whats even cooler? He's remodeling it to be an Inn, Entertainment Lounge, and Restaurant. Can you say EPIC? He hopes to be done in two years. You know what that means? I'll be done with college and can apply for a job. It was so neat talking to this guy about it! And his place really is remarkable. It looks like it has so much history and will be breathtaking when its done. I hope he takes the suggestion to put a ballroom in that one large room. And there was a beautiful staircase... ah! This was my dream! Maybe I'll still do it! Ok. Enough rambling...Onto the pictures!

Presenting: Ryan Andersen

Drum Roll Please!


Blue, Blue Eyes

(These two at the Inn)