Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine’s Day is always a special day for Austin and I. 3 years ago today, he proposed to me on Valentine’s Day—our lives were changed forever!
Here’s a quick re-cap of our engagement story—on Valentine’s Day 2007.
Austin came home from his mission on January 26th 2007. As most of you know, we’d been “dating” before he left, as well as were best friends throughout High School. When he came back home, however, we really didn’t know the fate of “him and I”. Contrary to what most people might think since things ended up happening so quickly…we really had no clue if we were going to end up married or not. We both knew what we HOPED would happen, but we needed to know for sure.


(Seeing Austin at the airport when he returned from his mission. Since he wasn't "released" yet- we weren't allowed to touch each other ;-) )


(Our 1st hug after he was finally released)

After many weeks of praying and fasting I felt like we were supposed to be married. I felt good about it…I wanted Austin for all eternity. However, Austin needed to have his answer. He felt good about it, but hadn’t yet received that confirmed feeling inside that it was the right decision. He went to the temple many times to pray and reflect about the issue and he assured me that as SOON as he knew for sure and received his “answer” ….he would tell me right away. Well, like a fool, I believed him ;-)
It was 2 weeks after Austin had returned home- Valentine’s Day came and I still had no word from Austin as to if he’d been feeling any different about the whole “marriage” issue. So, naturally I just thought it hadn’t come yet for him. We’d just keep waiting until he felt it was right. All day Austin did romantic things for me…brought me a rose at work, took me out to dinner and a play at the Hale Center Theatre…then took me for a walk around the temple grounds.

(Picture we took while at the Hale Center Theatre-- I had no clue of what was gonna happen next! Austin had the ring in his pocket the whole time!)

Really, nothing seemed out of the ordinary…everything about that day was romantic but I just figured it was all because of Valentine’s Day. As we made our walk around the temple and came back towards the parking lot, I suggested that we go back home because I was getting cold. Austin pushed the issue that we stay out a little bit longer and go sit on a bench that overlooked the beautiful front of the temple all lit up at night. I agreed as long as we were quick ;-) haha. As we sat down we began to talk about how much we loved each other and so on….then Austin got down on his knee and pulled out this ring box that had a light inside! When he opened the box -lit up inside was the exact wedding ring I had showed his mom that I liked a month earlier! AH!! I was in such shock….I really had no idea he even had received his answer that I was the one he should marry! To my surprise, he said he’d known for a few days prior to this event…but chose not to tell me about it so that I could be surprised. It was so cute. I was so shocked that I don’t think I even said “yes” to his question! I just said……. “are you serious? Are you kidding me?!”. I was so excited! We laughed and cried together and soon a few members of Austin’s family came around the corner from behind the bushes! They’d been watching us the whole time! We got the event on video…it was priceless. I was SO happy that finally I get to marry my best friend in the entire world. The most sweet, gentle person I’d ever met….the one that I loved so much.

(Reenactment of the proposal right after it really happened)









After taking a few pictures there at the temple where he proposed, we went back to my house to be greeted with friends and family at the house to surprise us! Rose pedals were all over the floor and there were goodies and sparkling cider for us to enjoy! We stayed up most the night calling all our extended family and friends to share the news.











It was SO magical of a night and I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal from my sweetheart. I just love him to pieces and want him to know how much he means to me—especially on this Valentine’s Day—3 years after our lives changed completely ;-) I’m so grateful to have married such an amazing person, who fits with me just perfectly. I love you Austin—thanks for the amazing proposal and Happy Valentine’s Day!!