Well since it has been a while since we last updated our blog, I finally decided on something to post. We have just been so busy that taking pictures has not been a top priority. Furthermore, I thought it would be a good idea to take one day of the week to share a personal story of some sort and hopefully fill people in on our lives prior to meeting and also together. The stories may be in random order but we will do our best to make sure that the time lines are well understood.
So...This is the story of our engagement. Laura and I had been dating for about four months before we started talking about a future together. We had been on trips to see each others families and both knew that we had met the "right" person. So the next step was obviously to get engaged and we set out to find the perfect ring. We spent a lot time on the internet trying to figure out what ring to get and how much to spend. I had already secretly purchased a diamond before we even started looking for a setting. We spent a couple of weeks without luck trying to find the perfect setting. We eventually found a style that we liked from Tacori:
(This is not the exact style because I couldn't find the original picture, but this one is similar. Also there are two band, the engagement band and the wedding band. Both have the same design.)
The ring from Tacori was way out of my price range so I went to the nearest jeweler to see if I could have it made. Luckily, I found one that at one point worked for Tacori and knew how to do all the details. This was encouraging and so Laura and I ordered the ring. On the way out of the ring shop, as sly and anxious as most of you know Laura is, she quizzes the salesman on how long it will take him to make and asks him to call her with any questions or problems and to let her know when its going to be done. Not paying attention to me shaking my head frantically indicating silently to not give out any information because it would ruin any surprise that I could have planned, the idiotic salesperson tells her the exact date and time that we can pick up the ring. I was so mad. Now , I knew I was in trouble because I would either have to lie (for my first time ever...lol) or there would be no cute engagement story and no surprise. For the next two weeks we waited and I obviously chose to lie. I couldn't be the only loser in the world who didn't put any thought into how they were going to ask their soul mate if they wanted to get hitched. So after the guy called to tell us the ring was done, I told Laura they needed a couple of extra days. She didn't believe me...at first. And in fact, she kept checking my pockets, in my car and everywhere to see if I had hidden the ring. She was so anxious to just have it, I don't even think she cared if I did anything cute to surprise her (just so all of you know and especially for those of you who don't know her well, Laura always knows what she is getting for Christmas and her birthday before it comes. She makes it really hard to surprise her). Anyway, we had scheduled to go out to dinner and to Smart Cookie with our friends Garrett and Megan. Before we met up, I was able to pick up some flowers and devise a plan to get Laura out to her sisters house in Springville where I would make the proposal. Since I had led on that I didn't have the ring and she thought that I did, she was disappointed throughout the night when I never popped the question and eventually gave up pestering me about it. While we were at Smart Cookie, Saundra, Laura's sister set up the flowers and ordered cake from PF Changs. She hid the ring on the flowers somewhere (
She forget to tell me that part, so when I went to propose there was no ring in the box):
After setting everything up, Saun called Laura to have her bring something out to the house that she needed that night anyway. So it made it easy to convince Laura, unsuspectingly. So we headed out to Saun's and Laura expressed to me how sad she was that her ring was not done. At that time, I knew she had fell for it and that I would actually get to surprise her.
When we pulled up, Jackson, Saundra's little boy came running outside all excited. I thought that he was for sure going to blurt out the secret. Apparently, Saun gave him a really good lecture because even though he acted like there was a present for "Lulu", he didn't say a word what it was. He kept studdering and fumbling over the words "Lulu, Lulu, come downstairs Lulu. Come see downstairs Lulu!"
It was so cute and actually worked out perfect. Here are some pictures from the rest of that night.
