engagement

2 years ago today, I had the most wonderful man, put one knee to the ground and ask me the most important question...

 

Here is the story: Brian and I are a part of a non-profit fundraiser event Wild Canyon Games. We went out to Washington Family Ranch (formerly known as Wild Horse Canyon) on occasion for working meetings. The Ranch is a really special place for both of us. As a sophomore in high school Brian met the Lord and began a relationship with Him at Wild Horse. I spent time on work crew and summer staff at the Ranch. It is a wonderful place filled with Jesus. Young Life is also important to Brian and I as we met through it in high school and both led in college and now both lead together at Sunset.

All day Saturday Brian started asking me if I wanted to hike Communication Hill to watch the sunrise Sunday morning. I told him "no thanks..." over and over all day. I've hiked it a million times and while the view is incredible, the hike is pretty brutal... and after a long weekend working hard, waking up early on Sunday and pushing my legs on up there wasn't my frist choice.

he continued to ask and be persistent

{now... i'm not going to lie, I was getting pretty antsy about getting engaged. everyone around me was and i knew it was going to happen soon... but going into this weekend I had NO idea it was about to happen. we drove out by ourselves which was a fun 4 hour drive where Brian fell asleep and I almost hit a deer going 60mph in "downtown" antelope at midnight. No one acted weird before I left... no one was acting werid on our trip... except---}

Saturday night when other people started asking if we were going hiking in the morning and how fun it will be. This started my suspicion... as I fell asleep in my large king sized bed alone that night, I kept thinking that tomorrow, I could be getting engaged!

Sunday morning we woke up early to hike to see the sunrise, i felt like I didn't sleep one minute the night before, so excited but not nervous at all. we had a great 45 minute hike up to the top. The view is incredible the whole way and it's a super great work out. It was one of my favorite Oregon Fall days where there was a crisp feel in the air but the sun still so warm

When we arrived at the top, Brian's guitar case was there.... with his guitar in it, along with some coffee in mugs and a little mini breakfast set up. Brian sat me down and sang a song that him and I had started writing together a year before hand but never finished it. He changed some of the lyrics and the ending to fit with asking me to marry him, and talked about our special day. After he was through, we talked for a bit about our relationship and about how much he loved me-- somewhere between my tears, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

 

it turned out that Brian had 2 of our great friends hike up before us and set everything up, they hid on the other side of the hill and we brought them out after the tears and smiles slowed down. They snapped a few pictures of us and then headed down the hill to leave us with some more time alone. It was amazing to be served like that that day, at our place of refuge at the Ranch, a place so spiritually and emotionally special to us. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

After we walked down, we showered and had breakfast with everyone from our implementation team. They were so happy and excited for us, I remember being so energized and joyful. We packed our stuff and headed back to Portland. We had a wonderful 4 hour drive to talk about our life and our plans and our wedding. it was the best.

We showed up to Brian's moms house to a HUGE party with all of our family and friends. It was amazing... a perfect end to the day! Brian told the story with lots of funny details and we drank champagne and had a blast.

bri telling the story

mom and sis

janice :)

ALSO: my mom had taken me the week before to get a manicure with her... but i had NO idea her intentions behind it. I love this picture of me and jill celebrating the night she got a job. you can see my "100 degrees in the shade" beautiful nail polish a few days before the engagement... she knew why, but I didnt  :) soo sneaky mom... so sneaky.