The Story

If you want to hear how awesome and romantic Sam is

or if you're just bored so you clicked my facebook link

of if you're a sucker for sappy love stories

or if you're me and love telling the story to anyone and everyone who asks.....

Here it is. The story of how Sam engaged me.

Picture this:

Friday, April 1, 2011. The weather was nice. It was a good day to get engaged. {we're pretending that it wasn't April Fools Day, because this definitely wasn't a joke.}

Picture this:

Sam has a plan for proposing to me on Sunday. But when he gets the ring on Friday, he says to himself {and I quote} "I cannot wait a single day. It's happening tonight." So he makes a few phone calls. Commence new plan.

4:00 PM - Sam gives me five small roses on my way out of class. He had been giving me one rose a day {read about that here}, but today there were five. And they were beautiful.

7:30 PM - my final Women's Chorus concert. It was the last concert of the year and my last concert in Women's Chorus ever. My whole family came, and Sam even showed off my ring to my aunt and uncle before the show started. And nobody said a word about it to little unsuspecting me.

9:30 PM - We went to ice cream with my family after the concert. Sam was a little quieter than usual, but I thought he was just tired.

10:30 - Sam and I go back to my apartment. We were just going to watch a movie or relax that night {remember how I thought he was tired because he was quiet?}. I go to change into sweatpants and he says "Oh, I think I'm just going to stay in these clothes."

10:31 - I stare at him. What? Sam never stays in semi-formal clothes. Why on earth wouldn't he want to wear sweatpants for watching a movie? This was clue number one. My heart starts beating a little faster.

11:00 - We drive off. We make small talk. We end up at the pathway that leads to the gazebo. Our gazebo. Clue number two.

11:11 - I look at the car clock. It says 11:11. I tell him to make a wish like we always do at 11:11. Making a wish honestly stumped me. I had spent my whole life wishing for something that was actually happening to me. Finally. {He tells me later that his was a frantic wish that I would say yes}

11:15 - We're strolling on the pathway. Provo River on our left, quiet sloping lawns on our right, curving pathway in front of us.

We round the corner, and I see our gazebo.

It's all lit up with a million tea lights. They were all along the gazebo railing, and on the table. Our gazebo is glowing.

I start bawling. Just losing it {I'm really good at crying}. High pitched "Sammy!"s issuing from my mouth and everything.

After a few seconds, in his ever gentle way, he says "come on honey. Let's keep walking." One hand on the small of my back.

We get to the gazebo. {all time is irrelevant now}.

There are 24 beautiful red roses on the small table, glowing in the candlelight.

Sam tells me how much he loves me. I won't post what he said for two reasons.

1. It was so gushy and romantic and perfect it would make the average reader vomit.

2. I can't for the life of me remember what he said. It's all one happy blur.

He gets down on one knee and pulls out the ring. My ring. Our ring.

It's so beautiful. And a perfect fit.

I say yes a million times.

We spend the next hour and a half crying, and laughing, and twirling around, and kissing, and admiring the ring, and saying how much we love each other, and laughing some more. We didn't stop until almost all the tea lights had burned out.

It was simple. And romantic.

And perfect. It was so perfect.

I love him. That's all there is to it.

So watch out readers: this blog is about to become wedding friendly, and gushy remarks friendly, and future Mrs. Emery friendly.

The roses:

The ring: {more about the ring later}

The best night of my life:

:)