engagement story--with ALL the details

I originally posted my engagement story here, and have referred to it several times.
I knew I wanted to share all the lovely details, and after reading Miss Latte's post of her engagement story on weddngbee I was surprised at how similar our proposals were!

So, if you haven't read, here it is...nothing spared. If you've already read it, feel free to skim!

Back story:
Fi and I have lived 2,200 miles apart since we both graduated from college this past May. We had a little long distance practice over Christmas break and my subsequent trip to Africa where we were apart for 5 weeks, but over all--it's been a rough experience.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder? I don't think so. In my case, absence makes the heart sad, stressed, whiney and miserable!! Poor fiancé. He puts up with a lot.

We try to plan trips every 6-8 weeks to see each other. Usually after 4 weeks, I’m very impatient and after 6 I'm downright miserable. E seems to do much better with the long-distance thing; he says that knowing we'll be together forever helps him get through these months apart. Why doesn't that work for me?!


Fast forward--I flew out to Cali over Labor Day weekend, and gasp, our next planned trip wasn't until he came out here for Thanksgiving! It was going to be a long haul...and things were a little rocky for us in the beginning of October. I was sad and moany that he wasn't here and he was very busy and stressed in his first semester of seminary. I was ready to start planning our wedding, and now I knew I wouldn’t get a ring until at least Thanksgiving!

here's us at disneyland over Labor day weekend...soaking wet after splash mountain.

Then one week in October my dear great-aunt jet stopped by work to ask if she and uncle jet could take me out to dinner with my grandparents to thank me for house-sitting for them the month before. I thought it was strange that my grandparents were coming with, but they had gone on the same trip as the jets, and they mentioned wanting to show me pictures. Ok, I'm up for free dinner!

Aunt Jet called me the day before and said to dress up, we were going to a nice restaurant downtown. What? Neither of these couples is fancy, nor are they ‘downtown’ type of people…we live in the suburb that’s about 45-60 minutes outside of the city and rarely get there!

But I went with it. I called E that night and his phone was turned off. It was early, so I thought it was strange…but not too strange, because he often turns his phone off when he is studying, napping, sleeping, etc. (and it drives me crazy!!)

I left a message and didn’t worry when I got a call back about an hour and a half later from him. He sounded really tired and complained of a headache and that he was going to be bed right away and we could talk tomorrow. I was a little peeved he couldn’t make time for 10 minute chat before bed, and I think I hung up upset.

On Friday I woke up like it was any normal day, dressed up a little more than usual for work and texted E in the morning my usual message. After a couple texts back and forth, he said he needed to go “pay attention”. Of course, I thought he meant pay attention to class in seminary, where he should be! So I went back to work, kind of dreading heading downtown that night because I was tired.

On the way to the city, my grandma and aunt showed me all the pictures of their vacation. I grabbed my purse to show them a picture of my cousin I’d taken on my digital….and realized—oh no! I had left my camera at work that day. I was sad because I love taking pictures of the city, but then g-ma mentioned she had brought her camera. What? They never bring their camera out in public!

We got to Navy Pier and even though it was a little chilly grandpa wanted to walk outside to see the boats on the water. I grabbed his camera and starting snapping away as we made our way all the way down navy pier.

After handing the camera back, I heard my name being called. I instantly cringed. I thought for sure some old friend from school was coincidentally at Navy Pier at the same time and was going to make a big scene in front of my grandparents and the jets. I ignored the voice and kept chatting. I heard my name again, this time it was much more familiar…grandma nudged and I looked….

And there he was.
Dressed in the sport coat I scolded him for buying the week before.
Looking freezing cold, and nervous, but
More excited than I’ve ever seen him.

I. Stopped. Dead. In. My. Tracks.

And then, in a split second, as tears sprang to my eyes, I found myself running.

I dropped my purse. I threw my arms around his neck. I whisper-screamed into his ear…”are you really here?!” And I cried.

see my poor purse? and grandpa trying to snatch the perfect shot?

He gently removed my death grip from his neck, and dropped to his knee. He popped open the box and kept it short and sweet.

I blubbered, “Of course I’ll marry you”. I was shaking so badly, he could hardly put the ring on my ring after I asked him to. and then i laughed. and cried some more.

I love this photo because even though it's horribly fuzzy, you can completely see the surprise and thrill on my face

and happiness

Here I am calling my parents...and still trying to show off that ring.

Meet my grandparents, the B's. grammab's first words to me were "whew! I'm so glad that's over with! It was so hard to keep a secret!". grampab (a retired jeweler)picked out the center stone for my ring and set it.

The dinner cruise on the Odyssey was beyond cheesy (which is what I would've imagined a dinner cruise to be). It was completely romantic, delicious food, great service, and a fireworks show. I felt so lovey-dovey we decided to break some of our PDA rules and hold hands and sit next to eachother at the table (!)

The whole world stopped for that entire evening, and we made phone calls at 11pm on our way home.

A perfect start to this adventure of engagement...and now we're celebrating three months!