the engagement story

Okay so it's about time I posted the story of how Tyler and I got engaged. This story actually begins two and a half years ago at the end of September, 2006....

At this point, I had known Tyler less than two months. We were casual hang out and make out friends... we definitely liked each other but we were definitely not in any sort of committed relationship at this point. If you know Tyler at all, you know that he is super creative with any down time that he has. He is always planning fun activities and dates for us. So on this particular evening, he called me up and told me to come over because he had something fun planned for us. So I drove up to his house and he told me that he couldn't wait till Christmas so we were going to pretend that it was already Christmas! So we picked a branch off a pine tree outside and stuck it in a Gatorade bottle, sang Christmas carols and made little ornaments out of trash and stuff. Then he had the idea that we should scavenge around the house and find random stuff, wrap it up in newspaper and give it to each other as "presents." So I found him a Hot Wheels VHS videotape under the couch, a pair of old socks and something else that I can't remember... and he gave me a cardboard picture frame with a very embarrassing photo of me that he quickly printed off from facebook and an Albertson's preferred card.. then his last present to me was a great big ball of white yarn. "Sweet!" I said, "I'll knit you a big Christmas sweater with this yarn!" Then he said, "Yeah, but there's something else in the yarn..." So I felt around and sure enough there was something small and hard inside the yard... and out fell a GORGEOUS diamond ring (his roommate was engaged at the time and it was his fiancee's ring. I had no idea of this at the time though)!! Then Tyler got on his knee and said I would make him the happiest man in the world if I would marry him. "Are you serious?" was my first reaction. He assured me that he was... "You're kidding, Ty, get up. Seriously, stop it." He would not let up. I was so freaked out and I actually started believing that he was serious because he was so straight faced... I mean, the ring was totally real and totally amazing! Then I started to panic. I thought I knew him pretty well and I didn't think he was the type of guy to rush into something like those scary BYU stories you hear, but maybe I didn't know him well enough! Then I got down to business... "Nope, sorry." I said. "I don't know if you're being serious or not, but either way my answer is no." Well, it turns out that he was totally joking. Of course. I still tease him about how awful it would have been if I had said yes hahaha....

Anyway...

Fast forward to March 2009.

It was a Thursday night and I had gone 80's dancnig in Salt Lake and gone to bed at 3:20 am. At 4:15 am I felt something weird... a tugging at my wrist? No, I'm just dreaming. Wait, what was that? I opened my eyes enough to see that there was a piece of white yarn tied to my wrist. I got out of bed and saw that the yarn and a trail of candles went out my door, down the stairs and into my living room. And there was Tyler in the middle of a hundred candles lighting up the room! I stumbled down the stairs to see him (I was so tired!) and I honestly still didn't think that he was going to propose. First, I didn't think he had the ring yet and also we hadn't seen much of each other the days before because of how busy we were and he said something about how he wanted to see me so badly even if it meant kidnapping me or something and I just thought he was being his adorable spontaneous self and planning a late-night rendezvous. Then he told me that he had a present for me and handed me a package wrapped in newspaper... it was then that I noticed a little pine tree branch in the middle of a sea of candles stuck in a Gatorade bottle... I sat on the couch and opened the package and it was the same ball of yarn from all those years ago.... he had saved it all that time! At this point I kinda knew what was coming, but I still couldn't even believe that it was actually happening! He leaned in and whispered that there was something else in the yarn... and sure enough my little ring fell right out into my hands. Then Tyler got down on his knee and asked me to marry him (for reals this time)... "Will you say yes this time?" he asked. And guess what. I said yes.