we're engaged!!!

So... JR and I are engaged! He proposed in the most amazing and romantic way. I've written a little something up about it for a wedding website I'm putting together, but it's in the third person. Rather than leave the news off the site for another second, I decided to just publish it as is.



The day before Valentine's Day, John whisked Ashley off on a surprise trip. He told her he'd arranged the time off with her boss, and they were headed to Southern California, so "pack for warm weather." Once they reached LAX (Los Angeles International), he surprised her again by telling her this wasn't their final destination. He then walked her to a boarding area with 5 gates, and asked her, "Where do you want to go?" The choices were New York City, St. Louis, Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii. "No way! We're going to Hawaii?!?!" After much hugging and jumping, they boarded the flight to Kona, Hawaii - The Big Island.

They arrived late at night, and luckily John had rented a car months ago, because the island had NO rental cars left. What did they end up with? A Ridiculously Red Hummer H3. They drove to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, checked into their incredible room ("Wow! They must've upgraded us... I read in the reviews that they do that sometimes." It was no upgrade - it was all a part of his carefully orchestrated plan.

When they got up the next morning, they did some shopping, ate a fabulous breakfast (coconut syrup is heaven!), then went for a walk on the beach. They stopped at a spot overlooking magnificent waves crashing onto lava rocks below, arms around each other, talking about being in the most beautiful place in the world, together, on Valentine's Day. John then stepped back and said, "This isn't the only reason I brought you here..." He got down on one knee, pulled a box from his pocket, and opened it to show her the ring. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" They put the ring on her finger (they were both shaking a little), and then there was much hugging and kissing and happy tears and laughing, marveling at being so lucky to have found the other. Startled all of a sudden, Ashley asked, "I said yes, right?" John laughed and confirmed that she had, in fact, said yes.

A few minutes later, two couples trekking along the shoreline came by. When they said "Good morning!" Ashley blurted out, "We just got engaged!" The women shouted, "We thought so! We could see from down the beach, and we cheered! But we wanted to give you two some time alone before we came by." They were kind enough to take some great pictures to remember the moment by. John had heard them cheer, but Ashley didn't hear the cheering at all. The world had focused down to just John at that moment.

They called their immediate families to share the news, and then, being the technophiles they are, they took a pic of their hands with the engagement ring and the blue ocean in the background, and twittered the pic and the happy announcement to all their friends.



So that's the story of Ashley and John's engagement on Valentine's Day, 2009. They haven't set the date yet, but you will hear from them once they do.