Finally!

Last Thursday, March 15th, Mike and I got engaged!! 

Since the weather was perfect, I ditched my last two classes and we headed up to Rock Canyon Park. We hiked through the canyon until we "found" (Mike had been there the day before and made a trail to climb up) a beautiful spot off the trail on the side of the mountain.

It happened to be 2 years and 8 months from the day we went on our first date, which also happened to be hiking. Mike laid down a tarp and a blanket so we could sit on the snow, and we ate lunch: Subway and Teddy grahams, the lunch we had on our first date. 

When I stood up to take a couple pictures, Mike started telling me all those pretty little things every girl hopes to hear when she's about to get engaged. 

After telling me how he felt about me on our first date to now he said, "There's actually a reason I brought you up here today." "There is??" I said and then came the waterworks.

They started as tears in my eyes but by the time he finished saying more pretty little things and was down on his knee, I was in all out sobs.

I never thought I would be a crier, but there I was sobbing on his chest.. so much so that I forgot to say yes! He had to ask, "Does this mean a yes?" 

The rest of the day was spent calling family and friends and experiencing moments of complete bliss and extreme hyper-ness and then moments of exhaustion from an overload of emotion. It was perfect.

Since we spent the afternoon hiking, which is Mike's thing, Mike made dinner reservations at The Roof, so we dressed up all fancy, which is my thing. 

I may or may not have stumbled about 15 times on our hike down the canyon because that shiny thing was distracting me! I love it :) 

As I mentioned above, Mike and I got engaged 2 years and 8 months after our first date. Although it was a long process with lots of bumps along the way, it couldn't have been more perfect for us.

Mike let me grow up.

Mike grew up.

We learned invaluable lessons about each other. 

And now we couldn't be happier. 

As cliche as this may be, I can truly say I am marrying my best friend. Through all of the fun times, the loving times, my many, many freak outs, and the "experiences" I have wanted to have, he has been there for me, even when he probably shouldn't have been. 

We are so excited to finally announce that we are engaged and couldn't be more thrilled to start our lives together. 

The Date: Friday, July 20th in the Newport Beach Temple 

I'm a pretty lucky girl marrying this guy. I am so so so so so happy :) 

Here's a little video we took just after we got engaged. It's stupid and cheesy, but I kind of love it. Mike's not too sure, but he was a gem and let me put it up.