he went to jared's

Is it possible that 2 years have passed and I still haven't shared my engagement story? What's up with that? Today, only in 2010, Matt proposed. And it was the most exciting and happy day I'd had in my life...up until that point, anyway.

CAUTION/WARNING: If your cup o' tea isn't cheesy-mooshy-love-goo, then just go ahead and skip this post. It's for my own personal memories sake.

Jumping back... Matt had been asking me to marry him for months and even though we did everything together and spent every second together, I really wanted to make sure that he was the right one for me. So in January Matt went to California to give me some time to figure things out. But I ended up needing a lot less time than I thought I would. The day after he left I was driving home from work and it really hit me how much I missed him. How he was the highlight of my day. The first person I wanted to see and talk to in the morning, and every other time of day. I thought about how much we'd grown together in the last year and how far we'd come together and suddenly for the first time I got an answer to my prayer. I wanted to marry him!

I called him right away and just remember bawling and telling him how much I loved him and how I was ready to give up everything for him. He cried too and we knew we had to see each other. That night I flew out to California and we began the steps of getting engaged. We prayed together about whether we were ready and it was right. My second answer came immediately. This was it! We were getting married! The ring shopping began the next day.

A few weeks of ring shopping and I felt so discouraged. I didn't like anything I was finding. None of it felt like me. I told Matt to tie a twig to my finger and that was all I needed, but he ensured me we'd find it, we just had to look more. Well my man is wise, soon after we found the ring, my ring. When I put it on I looked at it for a while and said,

Me: "I think I like it..."

Matt: *Looking at me intently* "You think?"

Me: "Yeah. I think I like it...I think I really like it...I love it!"

Waiting the next couple weeks for them to set the diamond and size the ring was torture. I didn't know when it would be finished, so I didn't know when he'd propose. Every once in a while he'd say things like, "I can't wait anymore! I just want to do it!" And then he'd think for a second and say, "No...I have to wait." Little did I know he had something amazing planned and it was worth the wait.

So back to today, but in 2010, it was my day off and Matt called around 9 and said "Get ready! I'm picking you up at 10 and we're going on an adventure!" He said to dress warm and that was the only hint he'd given me. At first I didn't suspect anything. Who proposes at 10AM on a Wednesday? It wasn't until we got to Aspen Grove, up Provo Canyon, and the only other car up there was Zack's (Matt's brother) that I became suspicious. I teasingly said, "Oh, it's Zack's car! What's he doing here? Where's he hiding?" Matt laughed and said, "No, no. That's not Zack's car."

Because it was February the ground and trees were covered with fresh white snow. There was a perfectly clear, blue sky and it just made the snow sparkle. It was breath taking and a shame that the only pictures we have are from Zack's iPhone (which is better than nothing, so thank you Zack!) The second thing I noticed, after the gorgeous scenery, was a trail of rose petals leading into some trees. Matt pointed at them and said, "Oh huh, look at that? What's that?" I couldn't help but laugh and reply, "Oh weird..." Even though, by this point, I knew exactly what was going on.

As we followed the trail of roses we just talked and laughed. I remember asking if Zack was going to pop out and scare us. But Matt had something much more romantic in mind. As we entered the small cluster of trees I noticed a present up ahead. When we got closer Matt picked it up and told me to open it.

Before this moment, I always thought the last thing I'd do is cry when Matt proposed. I wasn't one of those girls that fanned her face as her eyes shimmered with tears. It just wasn't me...

Until Matt handed me the present (which was wrapped in a deep maroon fabric) and my heart started racing. It was a beautiful glass plaque with the beginning of a love note etched on it that Matt wrote himself.

Yes, I cried...and that wasn't even the proposal part yet! After we hugged and kissed, I couldn't imagine anything more sweet after something like that, Matt put the plaque back down and said, "Let's keep going..."

I honestly don't remember what we talked about after that. All I could focus on was watching him, looking at him and how handsome he was. And he loved me! He wanted to marry me and wanted me to be his wife. And I wanted him to be my husband.

Soon we came to another present that continued the love letter, and then another and another.

Each one made my heart race more and more but we kept following this beautiful snowy trail sprinkled with roses. Finally we came out of the trees and into a clearing where there was a huge circle of rose petals on the ground and in the middle was the last present.

It was perfect. The moment was perfect.

I couldn't have planned a better "adventure" (as Matt put it) myself. When I unwrapped the last present, Matt got down on one knee, pulled out the most gorgeous ring I'd ever seen, and asked me to marry him. We had a special moment, I never wanted it to end...but then I remembered Zack's car. He was somewhere hiding during all of this!

Now Matt and Zack have a brothers-bird-call that they do. It's like a signal for the other. So Matt gave Zack the signal and he and his girlfriend-then/wife-now came running out of the trees where they'd been hiding the whole time. Zack shouted, "Victory!!" And Matt shouted back, "She said yes!!!"

And then we all went to PF Changs to celebrate! The next day Jim and Karen flew out and we continued the celebration all week. It was seriously better than I ever imagined it would be. And the best part was that I knew I'd get to be with my best friend for the rest of eternity.