WE’RE ENGAGED!!

After five and a half years, I am beyond ecstatic to say, we are engaged! With so many years together, it got to a point that pretty much any time we did anything out of the ordinary, I was hopeful he might propose. One time he said we were going for a drive and wouldn’t tell me where we were going, totally thought he was going to propose… we went to Chick Fil A for milkshakes.

Well, this vacation was no different – I went into it hoping for that moment, hoping that I would come home engaged. The last night of our vacation we decided to find the best spot to see the sunset on the sound. As usual I was running behind and we were tight on time, but luckily there was a popular spot not too far down the road. We parked and started our walk to the sound.

What we didn’t realize was it was a mile walk, through sand dunes, barefoot.

Let’s just say, after walking for forever, we kind of missed the sunset.

We got to the top of the hill right when the top of the sun just started to disappear and the colors started to fade. After a few moments of rest, we started on our long way back.

Honestly, if he was going to propose, I thought during sunset would be the moment. We traveled back to our little apartment on the beach in the dark. We walked in the door and he said something along the lines of, “let’s go outside for a minute!”. Thinking nothing of it, I went into our room and changed into comfy clothes, grabbed a drink, and then head out the door with him.

We walked hand in hand to a pavilion overlooking the beach. I remember he tried to turn the light on, but it wouldn’t work. He sat down next to me and asked me if I was having a great year. Well, yeah! Between the riding ring being put in, some great barrel races, and then this vacation, it has been a pretty great year! I mentioned it would be hard to beat last year since that was the year we made the huge step of buying our farm.

He asked me how this year could get any better. Still a little bitter about another moment I thought would be a great moment to propose, I blurted out that it would be great to get married. He said, “I’d like to get married, too” in a very sincere way.

We have a very joking, honest relationship. So I blurt out, with a humorous tone, “You can’t say that! You’re the one that needs to propose! You’re the one that needs to get down on one knee and put a ring on my finger!”

“Okay.”

Wait, what?

And I look up, and he’s getting down on one knee in front of me, pulling a little box out of his pocket.

“Will you marry me?”

WHAT. (Literally, my jaw dropped and my exact word was “Whaaaaaaaaaaat!”. I didn’t know if he was pretending, joking around, was fake proposing – it’s pitch black out with no lights.. am I imagining seeing this little box? We joke around a lot, it totally could have been a joke.

Nope, it’s real. It sparkled in the moonlight, it was right in front of me, this was really happening.

“Is that a yes?” He asks, with a big smile on his face. My only word up this point has been “”Whaaaaaaaaaaat!”.

“YES!” I manage to get out, in such a high pitch I didn’t even know I was capable of making. Girly moment.

He grabbed my left hand, making a joke about how he knew which hand was the right one – I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. I’m a secret fan of everything Bachelor related, so during the proposals on Bachelor in Paradise I had jokingly told him to take notes! It just really made me smile hearing him mention that.

The ring slid right on, and, even though I had no idea what it looked like (again, pitch black out), I already loved it.

Leave it to him to find the one time I wasn’t expecting him to propose to me! I’m actually really, really glad he surprised me. After all this time together, I was convinced there was no way he could surprise me. I so wanted to be surprised like you see people all the time, I just thought I would be able to tell. Nope, he had that ring in his pocket all night. I had hugged him just a little before then and didn’t notice it!

Long story short: my fiance is incredible. He managed to pull off a beautiful, unexpected proposal in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I cried. A lot.

Once I finally got to see my ring in the light, I was so very pleasantly surprised! I had showed him all round cut, simple rings. He, all by himself, picked out a princess cut, very flashy ring that is absolutely beautiful. I always say he knows me better than I know myself, and seeing the ring was no exception. I never even looked at rings like it, but I wouldn’t trade it for any other ring in the world!

I’m so grateful for my beautiful ring, beautiful home, and beautiful life. Good things do come to those who wait. September 10th, 2016 will forever be a reminder of this!