'Tis the Season!

The most wonderful time of the year has finally come!!!  We have been antisipating Christmas time for an especially long time now!  When we got engaged in the middle of the hot and sunny month of August, we kept saying, "When it gets cold, Christmas comes,

 and when Christmas comes, we get to get married!"  Well... It finally came!!!  The first sign of Christmas, and definately my most favorite part of the christmas season is the lights on Temple Square. They went up the day after Thanksgiving and of course... We just had to be there.  We bundled up, went out for a hamburger and then walked around with the rest of Salt Lake City that had ventured out to see the lights.  It was the perfect night, the lights were beautiful, and the best part about it, was that the next time we would be there, 

would be our wedding day!  The temple looked so beautiful and I can't wait to go with Gabe... Only 13 more days and I become Mrs. Valenzuela!

My favorite tree is the big bright red one, but it wasn't lit up this year, so we figured one of the 14 orange ones would have to do.

Mr. and Future Mrs. Valenzuela!

Outside the beautiful Temple

Just practising our grand exit for the 12th!

A UTAH MAN SIR, AND WILL BE 'TILL I DIE...KI YI

What a game! Last night Gabe and I went to the University of Utah football game.  For anyone that knows me, you know that I am an advid Utah fan. And it turns out, luckily for me, that Gabe is just as much a fan. We were lucky enough to be able to sit in his dad's seats on the 10th yard line, 6th row!  Oh how I love the Football games.  The crazy Utah fans, the sea of red surrounding me... even the smell of the stadium makes me happy.  Yesterday  was a particularly crucial game because Utah was playing Oregon State, the team that, just a week before, had defeated #1 team USC.  The game was awesome!  Our boys came in with so much energy and everybody was so pumped up.  We lost a little bit of umph in the second half, but with 2 minutes left in the game, the Utes drove the ball down the field and our kicker Louie Sakoda kicked the game winning field goal, todefeate the Beavers 31-28!  

 Everyone rushed the field chanting "UTAH!" and "LOUIE!"  My friend once told me that everyday was a good day to be a Ute... but yesterday was a proud day to be a Ute. And as the song says... "Who am I sir? A Utah man am I, a Utah man Sir, will be 'till I die...Ki Yi!....GO UTES!!!"

We're Engaged!!

It was all so very exciting!!!! It was Saturday, Aug. 23, (exactly one year after I left for Ecuador) Gabe and I went to the Bee's baseball game.  He had asked me a few days before that if I wanted to go, making sure to tell me that there would be fireworks after the game. I said for sure I was in for the fireworks!  We went on Saturday to a sold out game. For the first 5 innings Gabe and I were having fun, but for some reason, after the fifth inning,things got a little crazy.  Gabe haddecided to propose that night during thefifth inning.  He had gone down to the stadium and got it all figured out.  I guess what was supposed to happen was that they were supposed to put us on the jumbo tron during the fifth inning, I would look up on the screen and be so excited that I was larger than life, and then it would flash "Abigail, Will you marry me? -Gabriel" (Isn't he the cutest?  When he was about 7 years old, he saw 2 people get engaged in the row ahead of him at a baseball game and always wanted to do that same thing!)  ANYWHO.... So this was all suppossed to happen during the fifth inning, but i didn't.... and not in the sixth and not in the seventh and not even in the eighth.  This whole time, Gabe is kinda freakin out, making up stories about howhe was sick and had to keep getting up, when really he was trying to figure out what in the worldwas going on!!!! He was getting all nervous and irritated, and I was thinking that my mom's dinner that night had made him sick.  I kept telling him that we could leave, that we didn't have to stay if hedidn't feel good.  But he kept telling me that he would stick it out.  Well.... In the top of the ninth inning.... IT HAPPENED.  All these announcements kept flashing up on the screen, mean while I was trying to talk to Gabe, even though he wasn't being very responsive.  He just kept pointing at the screen....WATCH THE SCREEN ABBY!  And then I saw it...."Abigail, will you marry me? -Gabriel"   From that moment on, I was in a state of shock.  I turned to him and he was down on one knee.  He was trying to ask me if I would be his forever, but i couldn't hear him from all of the screaming and cheering around us.  I just kept saying, "YES, YES, YES!!!"  Then he pulled out the most beautiful ring, put it on my finger, and looked at me for an answer.  All I remember is the guy behind us say,"Well???"I yelled, "YES!" And we stood up and he kissed me.  Then he said, "Look up."  I looked up and in the stands above us were my parents and my little sister laur, his parents and his little brother Matt.  They were all there and filming everything.  I was so happy they were there and they got to share that with us.  We went and got pictures and then watched the fireworks.  It was the most amazing nightof my life.  I am so happy and so in love.  Sometimes I get these random excited butterfly attacks where I can't help myself but throw my hands in the air and say, "WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!  I am so excited and I cannot wait to spend forever with my very best friend!  I love you Gabe!
 

Gabby....

It's official.  We are that couple, the bloggers.  I've gotta be honest.  We've had this blog up with our title and picture for a couple days now, and I just can't bring myself to write anything.  I don't really know what to write.  I read my friends blogs and they are so gosh darn cute and fun, and I am so interested with what they are doing.  I don't how interesting this will be to other people, but its fun.  And we came up with a good title, so we thought we had to start one.   Gaby,  The inspiration for our blog.  The combination of our two names, and we like to think that it would be our name if we were one of those lame celebrity couples, ya know... kinda like bennifer.  So here it is the official Gaby blog, I know you all are dying to keep up with what is going on in the life of the gabigail (another awesome name we came up with...).  But it will be fun to post some pics and keep in touch with everyone!