Our Engagement Story

Ricky and I got engaged a year ago from yesterday (Halloween), so I thought it would be fitting to share the story of how we got engaged.

When we got engaged, we had been dating just over a year. I had graduated in April and had to move out of my apartment complex in Provo that was only for students. I was living with my family in Sandy and had been commuting to Provo for work. I always hung out with Ricky on weekdays after work. Since we lived so far apart, we usually didn’t do anything on the weekends. But on Halloween, which was a Saturday, Ricky wanted to meet halfway at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi for a date. I was pretty sure this would be the night Ricky proposed to me. We had been talking about marriage for awhile and had designed my ring together. We even had the date picked out, December 19th, which was coming up fast! So when I left the house that night, I remember telling my mom I would probably be engaged that night and would call her with the news!

Ricky and I met at the frontrunner station where his friend Reid dropped him off (which I was not supposed to know - he said he would be taking the frontrunner but there was literally nobody else at the station or in the parking lot, so I obviously saw him get dropped off) I drove up to him and he hopped in the car. He had some nice cologne on and had a fresh, new haircut! We drove over to Thanksgiving Point and went to a nice restaurant called Harvest for dinner. During dinner, Ricky slid a small black box across the table to me. I was confused/disappointed because I thought it might be the ring and didn’t think he should propose in the restaurant and without getting on his knee. I opened up the box and it was a pair of diamond earrings. This was supposed to be like what happens in the movie Leap Year, one of my favorite movies at the time, when Anna is expecting a ring and gets earrings from her boyfriend. Ricky thought it would be funny, but I didn’t connect the experience with the movie until later when he explained he did that because I loved the movie Leap Year.

After dinner, Ricky and I sat on the bench outside the restaurant for a few minutes (he was texting Reid to get in place to take pictures of the proposal). We then walked around some of the Thanksgiving Point grounds near the restaurant. Ricky was asking me if I was disappointed with earrings and if I was expecting something else. I didn’t want to say I was expecting a ring! He stopped in a spot that was not the prettiest and I thought he was going to propose there, so I tried to keep walking to get to a prettier spot. (He was trying to stall to make sure Reid was in place for pictures.) We then continued our walk. When we got to a very pretty area with green grass, some rosebushes, and a small waterfall, Ricky hugged me and then got on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes! After putting the ring on my finger, he asked if I smiled for the camera. I was like “what?” and then I saw Reid and Larissa taking pictures. Although I was suspicious as to why Ricky was dropped off instead of taking the frontrunner like he said he would, and why we sat on the bench by the restaurant while he discreetly texted someone, I did not know anyone would be taking pictures of the proposal! I’m glad they did though! They also had flowers for me that Ricky picked out himself!

It was a really great day and we were so happy! We drove to Ricky’s apartment in Provo to call family members with the news and let it sink in that we were engaged!

We were both wearing the same clothes we wore on our first date!