Four years ago today, I proposed to Amy...and I still think it was the correct decision. :) I started to write a post about it when I found our versions of the stories from back then. I thought those would be even better.
Amy’s Version of the Engagement Story
Jason and I met several years ago at a singles Bible Study at Grace Covenant in Austin. I thought he was a cutie from the moment I saw him! We never really had the opportunity to talk to until we had a game night one Wednesday evening. He was playing Boggle with some mutual friends, so I took the opportunity to sit down and play so I could talk to him. I’d never played Boggle before then, and I was so bad, I haven’t played since, but it was the start of a few great friendships.
After a year of getting to know each other, Jason asked me out in January of 2005. We’ve been dating ever since.
Fast forward to last weekend…….
On Friday morning, I got an e-mail from Jason telling me he wanted to go on a “date night” that evening. I love date nights, so I was excited, but not really suspicious since we do this on a regular basis. I rushed home from work and got ready for the evening. Date night normally means he’s taking me for Mexican food (I love it, he doesn’t), but Friday night, he suggested that we go to Houstons….yummy! We went to dinner Friday night and had a great time! After dinner, we just went to my house and hung out for a while, and then made plans to meet up for breakfast the next morning.
Every Saturday morning, I call Jason to wake him up. I’m an early riser, and he’ll sleep till noon (or 9:30, whatever) if I let him. When I called at 8:30 that morning, he didn’t answer. Again, not out of the ordinary, so I just went about my day, mowing my yard, weeding, etc. When Jason finally called me at 9:15, I was just starting to clean up and start thinking about breakfast. I thought we would be making waffles or pancakes at my house, but it turns out, Jason had other plans. He suggested that we go out to one of my favorite brunch places, Chez Zee. I never turn down Chez Zee, so I got ready and we headed there. We had a great brunch and when we were leaving, Jason mentioned that he wanted to stop by Mount Bonnell.
Mount Bonnell is a great scenic overlook over Lake Austin --- magnificent views and great scenery. We stayed at Mount Bonnell for a while taking pictures, talking, laughing and enjoying the views. Then, Jason suggested that we head back to my place.
At this point in the day, I was just thinking how much I loved him and that I loved my special date weekend……I had no idea what was coming!
We got back to my house shortly after noon on Saturday. I walked in (I’ll let Jason tell you how he almost clipped me with his car in the driveway) and there was a path of roses that started at the back door and eventually led to a huge bouquet of red roses accompanied by a white bag with red tissue paper. At this point, my heart started beating soooo fast. I actually asked if the present was for me….duh!! He said yes, that I should open the present. So, after tearing through a bunch of red tissue paper, I saw the game Boggle at the bottom of the bag. I opened the box and inside was a beautiful diamond engagement ring and the Boggle cube with the words “Will you marry me”. I started crying before I read the sentence and turned around to see Jason on his knees asking if I would be his wife…..I said YES!!
Jason's Long Version of the Engagement StoryOkay, so you want to know the long version of the story. Here are all the details I can think of. I even put some footnotes to fill out the story. :)
On Friday night, I took Amy to a nice restaurant called Houston’s. They have really good steak and this pork chop that I love. Afterwards, we just hung out. I was just trying to make sure it was a good weekend.
On Saturday mornings, we always have breakfast together. Before heading over, I needed to get a few things done.[1] When I got to Amy’s house, she asked what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to go out for breakfast.[2]
I took her to this nice place that she really likes called Chez Zee. The have really fancy breakfast things such as crème brulee french toast. It is so good but it tastes like you are having dessert.
When we were finished with our breakfast/brunch, I told her I was going to take her to Mount Bonnell. That’s a place in Austin on top of a mountain that looks out over Lake Austin. There is a really nice view. We walked around, took a few pictures, talked, etc. It was a really nice day in Austin. Eventually, I asked if she was ready to head home and she said yes. We left and headed back to her place.
When we go back to her house, she got out of the car as I pulled in the garage.[3] She opened the door and there was a large bouquet of red roses on the kitchen counter. There were also some roses on the floor leading up to the kitchen. Next to the rose bouquet, there was a white gift bag with red crate paper. Amy asked if the present was for her and I told her of course. She then asked if she could open it and I said of course.
When Amy opened the gift bag, there was the word game Boggle inside.[4] I told her to go ahead and open the Boggle box. Inside, I had the ring in an open jewelry box tied down so it would stay in place. The Boggle letters spelled out “WILL YOU MARY ME.” She tried to pull the ring box out of the Boggle box but it was tied down. I took the ring out, got down on my knee, asked her to marry me, and put it on her finger. She said yes.
About ten minutes later, Amy asked if we could go register. :) And that was that. So that was the long version of the story. Hope that was enough details for ya.
[1] I went to the grocery store to get some flowers. Amy called when I was on my way there but I decided to not answer to make her think I was still sleeping or I was in the shower. When I got to HEB, I bought all of the red roses they had other than this one dozen that looked like crap. It ended up being four dozen roses. I also bought a vase for the flowers and some green fern leave things for a bouquet. I had a friend of mine (Jack) who is engaged to a friend of Amy’s (Jenny) ready to help that day. Jack didn’t tell his fiancée they were helping until after 11:00pm the night before. He had planned to wait until the morning of to tell her but she kept asking what they were going to do the next morning. After leaving HEB, I took the roses over to Jenny’s house and gave them Amy’s key. They would then head over to Amy’s when we left, put the flower bouquet together, and set up the place. They did a great job. They stuffed as many roses in the vase as they possibly could.
[2] Before leaving for breakfast, I quickly called Jack from the bathroom so he would know we were leaving. I didn’t want Amy to know I was making a call so I did it as quietly as possible.
[3] Amy has a two car garage and I park on the right. There is not enough room for me to pull in and then for her to get out so I always let her out first. She then walks in front of my car and goes in the house. This time, I did not want her walking in without me. She had already announced that she really needed to pee so she was going to bolt inside. That gave me very little time so I pulled a little further forward than normal and a lot more to the right. I made it impossible for her to get out and walk in front of my car. I then wanted to pull in quickly so she wouldn’t beat me into the house by too much. Being a little overzealous, I bumped some boxes in her garage. :) Whoops! She laughed at me and was still waiting outside. Now, she wouldn’t pass me to go in. I wanted her to go in first but she just wouldn’t do it. I pretended like I was checking to make sure I fit my car in her garage. Eventually, I got her to pass me and I followed her in. Later, she realized that I pinned her out of the garage on purpose.
[4] Amy and I met over a game of Boggle at a Bible study a few years ago during a game night.
Mommy and baby bee...this time with a hat (but still no wings).
Caroline was dressed as a little lady bug. Or as some of the mommy's said at the party, Caroline was a sexy lady bug. :)
Caroline and her friend Hanna. Hanna is showing off her new sitting ability.
Hannah sporting her Halloween gear.
Caris had the cutest flower costume. The massive head piece did not phase her in the slightest. Caris was still running all around having a ton of fun. She just didn't have much in the peripheral vision. :)
Lynnae and her doggy, Caleb.
Braden was a giraffe.
Jon was a turtle. The funny thing about that is Jon doesn't do anything slow. He is a little speed demon when it comes to getting around.
Of course, we wanted to get a group shot of the kids. Well, that is easier said than done. Here is the right half of the couch...
...and the left half of the couch. Caden had already had enough and wanted to go do something else. :)
This is the closest I got to a full group picture. I'm not sure what happened to the flower girl and five seconds from now, we were also missing a bee.
Caden might not like his hat, but Caroline sure liked playing with it.
I think this might be my favorite picture from the night.
