His Surprise

I can't even believe I'm sitting here writing this. 

So much excitement is still going on in my stomach and I struggle to wrap my head around the fact that come March, I'll be his forever.

I'm getting ahead of myself. 

For a solid week, Jake had me convinced that the weekend of October 29th we were to go camping up at Big Lake, AZ. One of my favorite places in Arizona to relax, fish, and not worry about doing my hair nor makeup (hah!) I was excited to get away and spend time in the mountains. 

The night before we were to leave, Jake came over to help me pack. I was throwing flannels and old jeans in my bag, ya know, the essentials for camping. Not to mention I may or may not have thrown in a few hygiene containers that definitely exceeded 3.4 fl oz...and I think that's when J knew he had to tell me the ACTUAL truth to where we would be traveling, or at least HOW we were planning on getting there. Then I got this text while he was sitting right next to me:

Stinkin' boy had me convinced we were going camping! I repacked and quickly replaced my 3.4 fl oz liquids with smaller containers because airport security, duh. 

4 am rolled around, we loaded up the truck and headed to the airport, still clueless as to where the heck we were headed.

"Stockton Metropolitan Airport." 

I had no idea where that was...

Turns out Stockton is in Northern California, 30 minutes outside of a small town called Oakdale where we would be staying with his aunt Janet. 

The whole time, Jake had me convinced that his aunt had invited us to stay at their home to enjoy a little time away from home. He had me thinking the whole time he hadn't "had time" to plan the proposal. I had zero expectations and was ready to enjoy a little time away with Jake and his cousins. 

It rained all through the night on Thursday so naturally on Friday, we had to explore and take advantage of the 60 degree weather. 

J was proud of the locations he found and insisted we take photos. I taught him well (hehe.)

Then the most important day. 

Saturday, October 29th.

Jake woke me up and told me Janet wanted to be our tour guide for the day. We quickly got ready and headed out the door by 8am. From Oakdale, we drove an hour to the most stunning place I've ever seen, Yosemite National Park. 

Random side-note: It's not pronounced yo-si-mite. It rhymes with Gethsemane. So basically, "Yothsemane." Hah, I was made fun of a few times for pronouncing it wrong!

Anyways, we drove 30 minutes to the falls and made numerous stops off the side of the road to snap a few pictures. I still can't believe how beautiful the trees were. How often do we see seasons in Arizona?!

 (J thinks this picture should be on an Iphone commercial. ha!)

After finding a place to park and venturing through the park up to the falls, we found this stunning, quiet spot next to a creek with a breathtaking view of the falls. As I was minding my own business not even paying attention to Jake or the crowd behind me, I turned around to see that everyone had vanished and heard J asking me, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me?" I realized then what this whole trip was about! Janet was standing to my right tucked somewhat behind a tree with a camera facing us. Then he made the move and dropped down on one knee...from then on I was on cloud nine.

WE ARE ENGAGED.
the ring is perfect. he is perfect. the whole trip was perfect.

When we returned home, we were welcomed with hugs and a congratulatory cake. It was delicious and we are just so grateful for our hosts, Janet and Lisa. 

 And obviously, these cute kiddos. We had a blast playing with them all weekend.

Jake couldn't have pulled it off without them! Thank you a million times over and over, Janet and Lisa! We love you guys.

Basically, it was the best weekend of my life to date and I can't wait to be dressed in white next to the love of my life. This all seems like a dream.