I'm Engaged!! (Hallelujah!)

The time has finally come!

I am officially engaged to Matthew Gress. Praise the heavens above!

Okay, so here's what happened: 

First off, for the last couple of months I have been just looking around for engagement rings, and telling Matt anytime I saw one I liked. I have a very very unique style when it comes to what I want in an engagement ring, so I was more than happy to assist Matt in the process, should he ever want to pop the question. Plus I got my finger sized for fun before we were even too serious over the summer, so he already knew most of the details. Anyway, after searching and searching I had found many rings that were close to what I wanted, but none that were perfect.

Then... last Friday, everything changed. My good friend who is also dating someone got the OK to look at rings from her boyfriend, so I just thought it would be fun to stop into this place I've driven by a million times: Sierra West Jewelers. Within two minutes of being in there, and with a little help from jeweler Steve, I had found the setting of my dreams! The center stone wasn't in it, but the setting was everything I've dreamed of! Anyway, that night I told Matt about the ring and Sierra West, and he seemed to kind of... shrug it off. Of course in my head I was thinking "hmph!" but I couldn't really blame him because I've found "the ring" so many times.  But it really REALLY was the ring this time! And alas, he didn't really care.

So I thought.

I decided to get Matt the details and item number and such of the ring so that I could make it easy as pie for him to snatch it. Well, it turns out that on the following VERY SNOWY Monday afternoon when I went back into Sierra West, the. ring. was. gone. GONE! Steve was there again, and as we searched for the ring, it was nowhere to be found. In fact, we had absolutely no way of even ordering another because it was apparently one of a kind. I was in the depths of despair. 10 minutes later when I finally came to terms with the fact that the ring of my dreams was gone... I put my chin up, turned and walked toward the door without looking back. I got in my car and somehow ended up back home. Just then I got a phone call:

K:"Hey."

M: "Hey Honey, how are you?"

K: "Alright."

M: "Yeah? What's up?"

K: "I've got some bad news today."

M: "Oh yeah, what's that?"

K:  "That ring that I liked so much is gone!"

M: "Yeah, well, I'll be home from work soon."

K: (YO. I'M REALLY UPSET! TALK TO ME!) "Where are you?"

M: "I'm on I-15 getting home from work."

K: "Okay, can I come over?"

M: "I'll come get you in a while. I'm going to go to Ross."

K: (Why doesn't he care about this ring thing?) "Can I meet you?"

M: "No, it's okay. I'll see you later."

K: (Jerk.)"Alright."

The next couple of days were fine, and I just had to come to terms with the fact that engagement wasn't coming for a while. I told Matt we couldn't use the word "engagement" anymore since it just made me sad. 

Well this brings us to yesterday, which started out as a bad day for me. Just everything went wrong! Plus Matt and I were fasting for our little niece Josephine, and when I am hungry, I am CRANKY. Matt called me up around 4ish:

M: "Hey Honey, so can I take you to dinner tonight?"

K: "Oh, alright I'll let you take me to dinner! ;)"

M: "Great, so it's a date then."

K:"Our very first one. I hope it goes somewhere!"

M: "Yeah, so do I."

Well, he picked me up at 7, and we went to Carrabbas for dinner, which happens to be where we went on our very first date! I enjoyed the Chicken Bryan, and we had a lovely time.  When we got back in the car, Matt got super weird because I had put his jacket over my purse in the car because I didn't want to take it into the restaurant. Weird, right? Then he put the jacket on and turned the heat on full blast. I was DYING of heat stroke and I asked Matt if he was okay, and why he was so cold, but he insisted that he was freezing, and that he wanted to keep his puffy jacket on. Whatever. 

After that, Matt started driving West toward Utah Lake, instead of East toward home. When I asked him where we were going he just said "You will see." 

On our first date (in May), Matt took me to West Mountain, where we off roaded in the Xterra to the top of the mountain where we had a little fire and just talked for a while about our hopes and dreams. Then we danced to "our song" in the rain. It was the best date of my life.

So far.

Well on this date on January 26th 2012, we did the same thing, though circumstances were a little different. This time the mountain was pretty covered in ice, and I was just praying the entire time that I would live. "Heavenly Father, I know I'm a brat sometimes, but I would really appreciate it if I could live to be engaged." I kept telling Matt that we could turn around, and that it was just fine if we didn't make it up. He was DETERMINED to make it. 

Well, somehow, we did. Matt got out of the car and opened my door for me. Suddenly I was FREEZING, so he put my jacket on me, and then put his jacket on me. We stood out and looked at the view, which is amazing from there. You feel like you're on top of the world, because there is nothing higher than you are. We watched the city lights flicker on the lake, and I thought to myself, "too bad he doesn't have the ring, because this is always where I wished the proposal would happen. " Then he opened the car doors and blasted "In Your Atmosphere" by John Mayer, which is our favorite song. I almost asked him to turn it off, because every time I hear that  song, it makes me cry. Well, as it turns out, like on our first date, we danced in rain/snow. This time though, we only danced for a few seconds before Matt let go of my right hand, and put his hand in his pocket. I was so wrapped up in the song and the beauty around me, I wasn't paying attention, and suddenly Matt said "Katie, I love you." and then got down on one knee. Obviously, I freaked out. I was stunned! I just gasped and threw my hands over my mouth. Then he said "Katie, will you be my forever?" and pulled out a ring.

I just threw my arms around him and said "Of course!" We hugged for a while and then he put the ring on me. In the dark, it looked like a solitaire for a moment, but when he took me over to the headlights of the Xterra, it was my ring! MY RING FROM SIERRA WEST! 

Of course I cried the whole way down the mountain (partially because I was so happy, and partially because I was scared that my deal with God to let me live until I was engaged was officially over, and I was terrified of the icy road.) After I gained self control, Matt let me in on some details:

1.  Apparently the ring had been in the puffy jacket, and he thought I had found it. (Hence the weirdness, and me watching him sweat for 20 minutes in a 90 degree car with a snow jacket on.)

2. He planned to propose a few days later, but apparently the way I brought up the first date on the phone made it perfect for him to do it that night. (yay me!)

3. On Monday when I went into Sierra West to look at the ring, Matt was actually in the back room purchasing it at the time. I swore I would kill whoever bought that ring if I ever found out, and behold... it was my fiance. 

 

So folks, it turns out that I am the luckiest girl in the world. I got the proposal of my dreams, the most beautiful ring in the world, and of course, I am fortunate enough to be marrying Matthew Gress, the greatest man I know, on May 12th, 2012 in the Salt Lake Temple. I am so grateful for the experiences we have both had in our lives to make us into the kind of people that make for a perfect pair! I am so blessed to have him in my life. Matt accepts me all the time. Even when we've been camping and I haven't showered in days, and when he visited Seattle and saw me in the morning for the first time. Even when I'm in total brat mode, Matt always has the patience and love to help me through my moments. No matter what, the kid still loves me, and I love him. I cannot tell you how fortunate I feel. He is my everything and now it's forever.

Wonka: "Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted." Charlie: "What happened?" Willy Wonka: "He lived happily ever after."