About a month ago, Mark said he wanted to go to the beach. We looked ahead in our calendar and picked the weekend of July 21st. Last weekend, my parents went down to the beach house to clean it for our out of town family. On the drive home, my mom called to tell us that the beach house was clean and closed to any more visits. Mark began to sweat. As I was talking on the phone with my mom, he was yelling from the other room, "Tell her we really want to go!" And then, the strangest thing happened. My mom said we could use the beach house one more time before the out of town family arrives. (I found out after all was said and done, that my dad may have urged my mom to change her mind).
We drove down bright and early Saturday morning. We decided to hike Cascade Head, which is a beautiful hike just north of my parents beach house. I had done this hike a million times when I was younger, but never as an adult.
Mark was soooo excited and SUPER chatty. He was driving the small talk, which is a first in our relationship! Usually I'm the talker of the two of us.
We started trekking through forest.
We took corny pictures.
The scenery was breath-taking!
Our favorite part were the bridges along the way.
Why are walking bridges so freakin cool?! I just love them!
Finally we emerge from the forest and are rewarded with a spectacular view.
The Salmon River.
The Pacific Ocean
More corny pictures ;)
Me and my boyfriend.
What I'm pretending to think: Wow, what a gorgeous view. This is spectacular
What I'm actually thinking: OH MY GOD! Could this be it?! What's going to happen when I turn around. Play it cool. Play it cool.
Well, I turned around, and we proceeded to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the grass. There was some more small talk. Then he asked me to stand up. Okay. More talking, some hugging. Then he said, let's sit back down. Oooo-kay. More talking. He kept commenting on how many people were on the hiking trail. Then he said, let's stand back up. Ooooo-kkkkaaayyy.
Then, he began to tell me how much he loved. Sooo much, in fact, that he would climb to the top of a mountain and shout it to everyone who could hear. He dropped to one knee, and my vision started to blur. I'm pretty sure he said "Will you marry me?" and I'm pretty sure I was frozen. So frozen that he had to ask me a second time! "Oh yes! Of course yes!" He then asked if he could put the ring on my finger. My blurry vision then somehow was able to focus on the ring. It was PERFECT! I dropped to my knees, frantically took off the claddagh, and slipped on a one-of-a-kind 1940's engagement ring!
Isn't it beautiful!?
Me and my future husband!
Engaged!
I couldn't focus on the hike back down! Thank goodness we took pictures along the way!
My fiance, a glass of champagne and my gorgeous engagement ring. I couldn't be happier!
