The Engagement

The night we got engaged was absolutely perfect. It was October 2, 2009, which marked exactly one year since Eric and I had met. We went out for the first time three days later, the second time the next week and a third time that weekend, and after that we were hooked. We hung out almost every day after that throughout the next year.

Eric said he was going to plan a surprise date to celebrate this momentous occasion, and all he told me was to wear and nice dress and to bring a change of warm clothes, and that he would be there to pick me up at 6:00. I was so excited that he was going to plan this nice date and could think of nothing else that entire day. I made sure that I looked extra pretty and even curled my hair. I just knew it was going to be a special night.

He picked me up and took me downtown to the beautiful Roof restaurant on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Building. We had the best table in the house, with a gorgeous view of the Salt Lake Temple as the sun was setting. It was absolutely perfect. We had such a great dinner, talking about life and love.

After dinner we changed and went to Starbucks where he ran in a got some hot chocolate in a thermos. We started driving around after that, kind of going in circles... but we were having a fun time and good conversations, so I didn't really think anything of it. Finally we pulled over on the side of a random road in the Avenues sort of by a first station. I kept asking him what we were doing there, but he just told me to start walking and I'd see. We walked down this dirt road by the fire station and into this wooded area, and by then I was really wondering what the heck we were doing!

Just then, the trees opened up and we walked out into this clearing that looked over the whole Salt Lake valley. We were on a baseball field, and there were hundreds of little candles all across the field. My heart was racing at this point as we began to walk across the field and through the sea of candles.

On the other side of the field, we walked up to a table with lit tiki torches all around it. Eric had gone to the TGI Fridays where we had met and asked them to borrow the table where we had been sitting the very first time we met exactly a year ago. There was romantic music playing in the background as we sat down at the table with our hot chocolate, and that's when he did it.

Eric got down on one knee and told me how amazing he thought I was. He told me how incredible his life had been since he met me a year ago, and how he always wanted me in his life. Then he told me that the first time we had been sitting at that table he hadn't had the nerve to say what was truly in his heart because he's been to afraid to ask for my number, but that he didn't want that to happen again.

Then he asked me to marry him.

Tears were streaming down my eyes, Tears were streaming down his eyes. And I just hugged him. It was the longest most amazing hug in the world. At that moment I was feeling the height of every positive emotion I had in my body. I was so exhilarated and happy that I forgot to say yes. Eric said, "so... is that a yes?" And then of course I said yes and we just hugged and cried and laughed and cried some more.

It was truly the happiest moment of my life.