There's going to be a wedding!

It started off like any other day traveling home from California. Up at the crack of dawn, stripping down going through security, eating nasty fast food at 6am for breakfast and then the first leg of the flight. Stuffed into a small airplane seat for 2 hours where the person in front of you has no concern for the fact that you're like six feet tall and may not appreciate them leaning their chair back into your lap so you can stare at their forehead while they comfortably snooze on the plane. haha We were wondering if our flight would even leave on time because they were calling for all kinds of snow in Dallas, but we left on time and got into Dallas early.

Brian and I have Blackberry messenger so I keep him up to date ALL day on what I'm doing, even from the air! He calls me a rebel for sending text messages while were landing, but I know that whole "you can't use your cell phone until the plane is safely on the ground" is a bunch of bunk because I've never heard on the news that a plane crashed due to an impatient passenger not being able to wait to update their Facebook status throwing off the plane's radio signals! haha So I just try to see how high in the air I can be where it will actually work. It's tricky though because those flight attendants like to come by ALL the time to constantly check that your tray table is up. Heaven forbid my window shade is partly down before we land! haha

So we got into Dallas fine and there wasn't an ounce of snow on the ground. In Dallas we had over an hour to kill, time to eat more airport junk and then hit our last leg home. We took a tram in Dallas from one terminal to another. When I fly with Whit and Kait, they have a tendency to just rely on me to get them around, hence no one setting their alarm that morning just expecting me to come and be their morning wake up call. :-) So we hop on the tram and neither of them seemed to notice when I missed our stop and we had to ride the tram for an extra 20 minutes as we made the loop again. haha

So the leg from Dallas to Bloomington was uneventful and since I was bored out of my mind, I spent the entire flight home making up the most detailed to do list for Whit's wedding. I got even more bored, so I thought what the heck? I'll make one for mine as well! haha I sat there dreaming how fun it would be to start planning my own and how excited I'll be once we got engaged. Little did I know how soon that was actually going to be.

We got off the plane and headed down to baggage claim. I let Brian know we had landed and he said he was heading to the chiropractor after to work because his neck was bothering so I just told him I'd see him later. As we casually walked to baggage claim I see some guy literally jogging up to us and about knocking Whitney over. All three of us were a little taken back because it was startling how fast he was coming up on us. I was just about to say to Whit, geesh, it's just Bloomington. No one needs their bags that quickly, thinking it was just a pushy passenger trying to get to their bags that much sooner than all the rest of us! About that time, this "pushy passenger" did an about face and was standing directly in front of me, scaring me half to death to the point I jumped back and kind of screamed a little! :-) It was Brian standing in front of me to which I had to do a little bit of a double take because I was not expecting him to be there in front of me when it was still work hours. He was standing there with a big grin on his face and a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory bag in his hands. Since I had been in California for two weeks it was such a nice surprise to have him greet me at the airport. If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE to come home from a trip and have someone waiting for me at the airport, so I was shocked and delighted to see him. The last time Brian flew home from a work trip, I had done the same thing and had surprised him with a carmel apple so I just assumed he was doing the same thing. Whit and Kait were acting very odd as I opened the box to find chocolate truffles inside. I offered them each one and they acted as if I had offered them mice poisoning, and both said "no they're your truffles, you should eat them." These two don't turn down chocolate very often so I couldn't figure out why they were acting so weird.



A few minutes later, we walk out to our cars and Whit and Kait say, "Man we thought we were going to witness your engagement!" "We thought there was going to be a ring in those truffles." "Next time there better be a ring in the box!" And the trash talking kept going till we got to Brian's car in the short term parking. haha I asked him if he'd drive me to my car and he said that'd be fine but when I asked him about taking Whit and Kait as well he said no. I figured he was kidding but then said he didn't think he'd have room. I said, "we fit it all in my mom's this morning." Whit and Kait hadn't heard any of our discussion and just headed to their car, so we hopped in his and headed out to mine.

As we pulled up to mine I commented on my horrendous parking job. Not only was I crooked but I was parked over two spots. When I left Christmas Day it was snowy and you couldn't see the lines. I walked around my car to the passenger's side and put my laptop bag on the seat. As I did I noticed a manilla folder under my windshield. Brian and I were chatting about what I'll never know because that is a blur now and I grabbed the manilla folder and started opening it.

I was hoping that the Bloomington-Normal airport authority hadn't decided to become the "big time" and start ticketing to make a little extra cash. When I realized it was too big to be a ticket, I started looking around at other cars to see if it was an advertisement, but no other vehicles had anything on them and the folder wasn't wet from snow. So perplexed, I pulled out this letter and started reading very tensely. At the bottom I could see out of my peripheral that there was a bunch of punctuation instead of letters. "Could this really be what I think it is?" "Nah, he's just being sweet and surprising me at the airport. Just keep reading the letter." As I read his sweet note about his journey over the last two years and praying for God to bring someone into his life, I started to cry. The more I read the more I cried and he kept slloooooowwwwllllly inching his way over to me. I'm a horribly slow reader so I'm sure that walk from the driver's side to the passenger's side felt like it was taking 10 minutes! haha He went on talk say how much I meant to him and all the things he loved about me and excited about starting our life together and then there it was!!!!! What I had just been dreaming and wondering about on the plane. Did my eyes really see it correctly??? It said, "So I have a simple question to ask you, WILL YOU MARRY ME????????? And then P.S. Don't worry about your dad. I already talk to him and he said that it would be an honor to have me in the family.

As I balling, I found him down on one knee, and he officially said those precious four little words, "will you marry me?" Through tears I said, "yes I will"

He put this on my finger and told me that it was a temporary ring and he had another surprise for me in the car. He then told me that it was the reason he didn't want Whit and Kait riding with us because he was afraid it would ruin the surprise.

We got in and he handed me this bag with all of these heart shaped candies in it and a chocolate red rose. I noticed there was another manilla envelope inside. I opened it to find directions to the jeweler in Chicago where he bought the ring, plans for a trip up there this weekend to get the ring and a picture of the jeweler itself. He then told me that the ring wasn't actually ready till Thursday but he knew that if he didn't surprise me at the airport I would have totally suspected any other gesture he made to take me out, which he was right.

I immediately called my dad and he text me right back saying he'd call in a minute. In the meantime, I text Whit and Kait and told them I was engaged. Right as I was sending the text dad called in, so Whit and Kait were just blowing up my phone with texts and phone calls trying to find out the scoop and so annoyed that I wasn't answering. haha

This was our first picture as an engaged couple. I had showered and got re-ready because I smelled like plane. haha So if you look real close, you'll notice that I was so excited I put my vest back on inside out! haha We decided to celebrate and go to Rosie's for our engagement dinner but got all the way downtown to find out they're closed on Mondays and so is Central Station, so we spent our engagement dinner at Luca Grill. Not super romantic but we love the food! haha Wasn't exactly a night of tons of conversation. Our phones were blowing up all night answering back to people. :-)

It was truly an amazing day. I couldn't have asked for a better surprise. I was totally shocked and so caught off guard but it was perfect in every way!