Ring Shopping and a Proposal

After Alex told me he loved me, it took me a while to say it back. I had been hurt before by saying "I Love You" too quickly, and i didn't want to make the same mistake again. Alex knew that I loved him back (i kinda made it super obvious) and so he made an effort to let me know that he didn't need to hear it back right away. He wanted me to be 100% comfortable when i finally told him. I really appreciated his patience too, and I have come to learn that patience is one of his most admirable qualities.

I finally did tell him, about 3 weeks after he had first told me. one night sitting in front of me parents house, in the car, staring at my feet, totally nervous. super romantic, i know. don't be jealous. luckily, Alex didn't mind my super lame declaration on love, and instead just kissed me and told me how happy he was to hear me say that.

A few more months go by, and we are just in love, and courting, and basically planning our lives together. However there has been to official talk of marriage, or rings or wedding dates. We were comfortable in the relationship we had, and saw no sense in rushing anything.

The day before alex's first day of college, we headed up to Payson for a little day trip. We packed a picnic lunch, played frisbee in the park, went antique shopping and just enjoyed the cooler weather. We had an absolute blast, and everything just seemed to click. We were planning staying up in Payson for a few more hours, but I remember Alex just looked at me, and said, "I've made a really big decision..." but wouldn't say anything more about the subject. But he just suggested that we head back to Mesa to catch some dinner and maybe go to a movie. That sounded like a great plan to me, so we loaded up the car and drove out to Superstition Mall.

Alex was acting kinda strange, and i knew why once we reached the mall and walking inside and he said we should to into Kay Jewelers "just for fun". I was freaking out, and couldn't believe that we were about to look at really shiny diamonds for the first time together. It was an awesome experience and I remember that the very first ring i tried on, was so special. Other rings were lovely, but there was something about this ring in particular that just felt to right. Obviously, we didn't buy anything that day, but it was so fun to look, and to feel like we were moving in the direction of marriage.

Now, just to give you a little bit of a time frame for this whole thing. We looked at the first ring in August. like august 9th or something ridiculous. So i mean clearly i'm expecting a proposal, because at this point we are constantly talking about 'the wedding' and 'our life together' and 'where we want to live' and 'wedding colors' and 'honeymoons' and lots of other things that would suggest that we would be getting engaged.

Well, august comes and goes. no ring.

September comes, and there are a few dates that i thought could be the proposal day. They weren't.

October is here, and we still have no ring and my gash darn finger. and at this point i am dropping hints like crazy and i am basically on the verge of yelling "PROPOSE ALREADY GOSH DANG IT".

i didn't. but it was close.

Then finally, it's november. and we were coming up on our 6 month anniversary. And alex honestly isn't really the planning type. but when we called me and told me not to worry about planning anything because he had it under control, i began to become suspicious and totally excited beyond belief.

{side story} So, we were engaged on november 2. and I went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my mom and my moms best friends. We were right by the ring store where i had seen the Ring of my Dreams. and so i suggested that we go and see it. So we go into the store, and i tell the salesman what ring i'm looking for, and he says, "Oh, a nice young man actually just came in a bought that from us a few days ago. We wont have another one in for a few days." And me, being the naive person that I am, I didn't even consider that alex would be the one who bought the ring. Hahahaha... little did i know...

okay, back to the story. So November 2nd rolls around, and Alex comes and picks me up for our date. He says that we are going to Fountain Hills for a picnic and a movie. This was so special because Fountain Hills is where Alex first told me he loved me (while i was awake :) I was so excited. We drove to out to the park and set up a lovely picnic area. We ate our chipotle and drank dr. pepper and reminisced about the last 6 months. It was so great. But, it was also freezing. November, in the park, by a lake, in the mountains... awesome. So i was freezing and kindly asked if instead of watching the movie he had brought if we could just go home and watch instead. He seemed kinda annoyed that I would ask, but obliged. We drove home and he was super quiet the whole ride. We were just about to my house, when he bursts out, "nope, i have something i need to do."

So we turned the corner and went to the little park in my family's neighborhood and he jumps out and takes me to the gazebo, and turns on our song (Para Ti by Camila) and he asks me to dance. We are dancing under the stars, while he is singing to me in spanish. I was melting. It was so romantic and perfect. Then after the song was over he looks at me and says, "Allora, will you do me a favor?"

I just look at him with tears in my eyes, as he gets down on one knee and says, "will you be my wife?"

I barely got the words out, but i just kept repeating "yes, yes, yes! Of course! Oh my gosh!"

He stood up and gave me the biggest kiss ever, and we were both crying, just so happy. And in all the commotion, i didn't even look at the ring! HA! So after a second, alex says, "Do you want this?" holing up a little velvet box with the most perfect ring inside. it was MY ring. the first one we had looked at way back in august! And Alex was in fact the nice young man who the jeweler was talking about. He had bought the ring just the day before I went and tried to show my mom! So funny!

I was so excited to be engaged, and we quickly ran to our families houses to share the exciting news.

I was engaged to the best man, he proposed in the best way, and I couldn't wait to start planning for the best day of our lives.

Our Wedding Day.