Our Engagement Story: May 11th 2004

Eight years ago I was asked a question that changed my life forever! But that's getting ahead of the story. My husband, the gifted event planner, lover of a good story, and romantic at heart did not hold back in the day/event of our engagement! 

On May 11th 2004 at about 5 o'clock in the morning...okay hold on I need to back up a bit. 

On the evening of May 10th, I shockingly enough, had procrastinated writing a big Psychology paper in lieu of looking up wedding ideas for me and my then boyfriend. I ended up crawling into the closest bed to the computer I had just finished working on at about 4:30am. It just happen to be the extra bed in my brother's room.

What I didn't know is that my sister did not do her job well of getting me to bed and rested for a big day. And I was too tired to note the weirdness of her riffling under the covers to make sure I wasn't sleeping in my underwear at 5 o'clock in the morning. So when a camera flashed in the room I was in, Markie sleeps in a really cold room by the way...hence my entire body under the covers, I was a little confused. There was my handsome boyfriend with a fresh haircut, which is one of his favorite things, waking me up.

He told me to get my snowboarding stuff together and that we were going to go spring skiing, cause I had never been. So I brushed my teeth and we were off. When we walked outside his dad's nice car was sitting in the driveway and inside was my favorite Starbucks drink, which he only had made correctly by stealing a previous drinks sleeve and handing it to the barista saying 'could you make this please?'!

We got up to Timberline and it turned out the lifts weren't open on Tuesdays. So we went for a quick run down a little hill by the ticket booth, just to say we did it. I'm pretty go with the flow so I wasn't to worried about what to do next, little did I know Jer was racking his brain for a plan b.

So we ended up at the beautiful Columbia Gorge Hotel and took part in their 5 course breakfast, brunch meal and it was amazing. We both love food which made for a pretty fabulous plan b!

Then we wandered the beautiful grounds of the hotel, and I wasn't pushing anything but going with the flow expecting him to pop the question any minute...

But I played along

 

 Enjoyed some kisses and the view...and got...really...tired! The kind of tired that a girl gets about once a month...yeah, special right?! So we started driving and I thought I had to be at work by 2 that afternoon and Jer just assured me that I could take a nap while he drove me home. Here is where I thought he was just throwing me off and he must not be proposing, this was all just a giant ruse to throw me off the scent of when he was actually going to ask me.

So I fell asleep...hard! And woke up parked in the parking lot at Multnomah Falls, with seemingly little time to get home, changed, and ready for work in half an hour. So when he stayed on 84 instead of getting on 205 to take me home he mentioned that I had the day off work and Amy was going to make sure all of my papers got turned in to my teachers on time!

So we drove into downtown Portland to a Spa and he dropped me off for a massage! It was fantastic and I'll be honest not the most relaxing thing cause when the masseuse asked me what I needed focused attention on I informed her that 'I think my boyfriend is going to propose', and proceeded to not shut up for the entire hour. And when the massage was over I walked into the lobby and there was my ever so handsome, all cleaned up from our morning, Jeremy John, holding 4 DOZEN red roses! I teared up a bit...convinced this was the moment! All the ladies in the lobby were ooooing and ahhhing 

The funny thing about this picture is I could rarely stop smiling when we were together so he ended up kissing my teeth a lot...

What assured me that this was the moment was my clever boyfriend asked the receptionist to take pictures for us. And then he said, okay lets go! Ahh it was infuriating and intriguing all at the same time!

So he took me home and told me to get freshened up dressed in normal clothes but to have a coat because it may be a little chilly, and on the way we saw Nat walking home from the bus stop so he picked her up. The funny thing was when I walked into my house with my always lovingly inquisitive family...no one said a word about the giant bouquet of roses I walked in barely able to see around!

And so we started driving. He kept trying to get me to guess where we were going, and I didn't even really ever figure it out, only that the beach was our destination cause we kept going west!

 

We pulled into the parking lot of Pelican Pub and Brewery and walked to the beach. Jer carried with him a little cooler and we just kept walking. All the way around out on to look out over the ocean. There he laid out a blanket, he pulled out Caramel Frappaccino's, strawberries and chocolate, and started saying all of these really wonderful loving things. I was gazing into his perfectly blue eyes preparing myself and after about 20 min of watching the sun sink closer to the water, and soaking in his poetic words he said, 'So are you ready to go' I answered quickly "No" to which he asked me 'is there anything you want to say, and quickly I thought to myself  "well I'm not going to ask you so" and then out loud "nope I don't have anything to say, let's go". So we packed up our things and started walking back to the restaurant as boyfriend and girlfriend and I was trying not to get too frustrated with his antics...he was clearly enjoying every second of this evidently non-eventful day. That's when he started talking again, and before I knew it he was specifically talking about marriage and me, and then he pointed to the sand where I saw

I ♥ Heather 

and he told me he loved me for the first time (and that I knew he was saving for a proposal) and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I hugged him so hard I tackled him and we were quickly concerned about loosing the ring in the sand but it was in that box nice and tight...I bet they are made that way on purpose. And proceeded to say "I love you" enough to make up for months of keeping it in.

At that point I wondered who had put the rose petal heart and writing in the sand, or was I too oblivious to notice it was there walking out? Tammi was hiding in the grass the whole time, and the writer in the sand.

And the taker of some pictures.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and were on a high from our news. The restaurant gave us 2 complimentary glasses as a gift, and our server sat down asking us all the details of our day...little did we know it was the first time of SO very many that we would tell the story of our engagement. And a couple stopped on their way out to say congratulations and that they were celebrating their anniversary.

We get in the car to drive home and Jer tries to hold me off from calling people just yet, and I was practicing being a submissive wife and put my phone away. Then we pulled into the Glen Eden World Mark resort and I had a feeling some of my favorite people would be in the room waiting for me to come in freaking out...

And they were! Amy, Natalie, Alissa, Nate, Kyle and Callie were all there to celebrate

So we smiled...

We toasted...

and we got ready to play games but then like a ton of bricks my complete exhaustion hit me and I went to bed early.

Nate, Alissa, Me and Jer

I was so excited to be kissing my fiance!

And when we got home my momma greeted me with enthusiasm.

The announcement in the church bulletin.

I wouldn't have had it any other way...well maybe a good nights rest would have been nice but really it just makes the story a bit more dramatic. I love that guy, he sure is gifted, and I'm so thankful God gave him to me!