ENGAGEMENT: The real story

Finals were coming up and I was stressin'.

Gil asked if it would be alright if we went on a date on Saturday. I suggested that we go to DI for our date {I thought it could be fun}, but he told me he would plan it so that I could focus on finals. 

Saturday comes along and Gil tells me to "wear something classy, but something that can still trudge the outdoors". OBVIously I wore a dress with a sweater. classy, yet can trudge the outdoor weather...right?  Gil comes to pick me up and gets a little nervous when he sees what I am wearing. He says. "Um....do you maybe want to go put on some hiking boots?"

 Hiking boots with my dress!? 

Oh gil. 

I just went and changed my outfit completely

  As we are getting into the car Gil puts a blindfold around my eyes.

{This is usually the part where everyone asks, "so this is when you knew he was proposing?"

Actually. No. I had not idea he was proposing until about 3 minutes before...mostly because

I didn't think he had talked to my dad yet & we hadn't gone ring shopping yet}

He tells me he is going to take me to a restaurant we have never been to before!

After driving a couple of minutes he parks, gets me out of the car and leads me along.

{I kept tripping because he would forget to tell me where there were stairs/bumps}

Finally we get to where we are supposed to be. 

He unblindfolds me and I see a beautiful gazebo with a cute table sitting in the middle of it.

fancy serve-ware, homemade meal, and flower petals sprinkled all over.

Immedietly I think, "wow! what did I do to deserve this!?"

It was heaven.

After dining, he blindfolds me again and takes me to the dorm he lived in when we met 2.5 years ago.

We go to the piano room and he plays me the song by Josh Groban: You are Loved.

Sings and plays, mind you.  The talent that boy has...

The last place we went to was a hike up Y mountain.

The whole way up Gil kept saying, "We have to hurry or the sun will set!"

While I would just say, "Gil! don't worry! I've hiked this in the dark plenty of times. Just enjoy the journey... " I made him stop at like every turnpike to look at the view.

{Little did I know his little sister was up waiting for us in the freezing cold}

We get to the top of the Y and talk for a little...

Gil looks behind him and says, "look at that little path...can we go on it?"

I say, "sure"

At the beginning of the path there was a balloon.

Gil was about to pop it, but I said, "Gil! don't pop that...it's not for us!"

Gil says, "No...let's pop it"

I kept telling him not to until he pulled out a rose.

LIGHTBULBS going off in SJ's head. THIS is where it hit me that I could very well be

 proposed to tonight.

We popped the balloon and out fell a message that said: August 25, 2010

The first day we met.

Along the path there were 7 balloons total, each with significate dates in our Gil + SJ lives

The very last balloon said: April 20, 2013.

He then knelt down and asked me to marry him :)

After I said yes we continued on the path until we found a nice rock to sit on as he filled me in on 

all the details of the proposal.

I am so so so lucky to be marrying this boy.

He is everything I have hoped my future husband would be and more.

He makes me laugh more than I ever have before

I know our lives will be far from perfect and we will have many ups and downs,
and I know we are both young,

but I'm glad we at least have each other to get one another through it.
We're just two best friends in love

Gil + SJ

July 2, 2013