The Proposal

We're engaged!!!  What a surprise!  Now I know you're thinking, "How could this be a surprise?"  Well, I was under the impression that Andy wanted to meet my parents in person to ask for their blessing (which wouldn't happen until Thanksgiving weekend).  So I knew an engagement was coming, I just thought it would be further down the road.  But alas, there is a ring on my finger, phone calls have been made, Facebook status has been updated, and finally....here is the story:

On Sunday, October 11, 2009, (yes, yesterday!) we made plans to drive down to Riffe Lake...a place we fell in love with on a recent trip.  These are some pictures from our previous trip; I think you can see why we love this spot so much.

I suggested we take pictures along the drive since we are planning on making our own invitations and needed some fun shots.  My inspiration came from a DIY picture idea found on Cori's blog, August and After.  I thought it would be fun if we brought a few changes of clothes and Andy suggested we also do a "Benny and Joon" type shot.  I couldn't quite get the image in my head so he had me imagine those old black and white Hallmark cards with the little boy who is giving a rose to a little girl.  Aha!  I finally got the image in my head and we went over to Goodwill to find "costumes."

Our bags were packed into Gwendolyn (the VW Bus) and we were off!  There were so many beautiful places to stop and pull over....we took over 100 pictures and I would love to show them all, but we have to leave some surprises!

A candid shot of Andy...I adore this picture!

Then we were off to our next locale.  This is where we found the perfect spot to dress up in our costumes...the pictures were sooooooo adorable I wish I could show you.  Ok...well, maybe just one!

Ok...here are some different shots.

And our next location...

And yet another place...

This was so much fun.  We had an amazing time and what a great memory that our engagement day was documented along the way.  We finally finished the drive and made it to the Lake at around 5:30pm.  It was empty...just Andy and I.  We parked Gwenny and took a long walk.  What an amazing day it had been, and I had no idea just how much more amazing it was about to get!  When we got back Andy started making dinner.  (Which I will blog about on my food blog!) I watched him as he cooked...I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  I distinctly remember praising God for bringing him into my life and truly feeling like to most loved and adored woman in the world.  "Oh, how I love that man" I said aloud.

He brought candles to add a little ambiance...I am telling you, candlelight dinner in a VW bus with mountains and water on all sides of you, and a hot man whispering sweet things to you...I'll take that over a 5 star restaurant any day!

After dinner I told Andy that this had been our best date ever.  I just loved every second of it, and it had ended perfectly.  (Little did I know it wasn't over!)  He started cleaning up and putting stuff away when he asked me if I could help him pull something out of the back of the bus.  "Sure," I replied.  By this time it was dark and when I went over to the back of the bus he turned me around only to drop the ring box.  Fortunately I had no idea what he had just dropped because I was completely oblivious to what was going on and it was dark.  He grabbed my hands and said, "So, I talked with your Dad...."  My response?  An ever so sweet "Shut up!"  It hit me at that moment what was going on and tears started to well up in my eyes.  I'm sure he said something utterly beautiful and poetic after that, but I just starting shaking and crying and only remember the words that came out of his mouth once he got down on one knee.  "Will you marry me?"