The Proposal!!!

Joshua and I planned a trip to the Washington D.C. Temple for Saturday July 21st. We normally visit the temple every other month and it was time to go back again. Friday night I talked to him on the phone to verify our plans. At the end of the conversation he said one little unusual thing, "Dress really nice." I thought that was odd because I always dress nicely and especially for our temple trips. He knows this and has never said anything like that to me before. Then it hit me, could he be proposing? I tried to brush off the thought, but to no avail. I spent the night thinking about it, and then trying to talk myself into not expecting anything, then thinking about it all over again. While I suspected something, I really wasn't sure either way. Just in case I prayed about it and got the feeling that saying yes would be the right choice to make… if he proposed.

The morning came and I wasn't feeling well. My back was hurting. Joshua arrived and as usual I greeted him with a big hug and a kiss. Then I told him how I was feeling. So he took the time give me a blessing and in it he kept saying this is a special temple trip and that a lot of decisions will be made. Once again my suspicions were up, but I was still not sure. Then Joshua gave me a back rub and we just cuddled for a while. When I finally decided to get up and get ready, Joshua was sweet enough to make breakfast (peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwiches).

It turned out to be a good thing we left later than expected. My Mom woke up while I was getting ready to leave. I didn't find this out until later, but Joshua was hoping my Mom would get up so he could ask her for permission to propose. So while I was in the back of the house he talked with my Mom in the kitchen. She told him, "Ofcourse! And you know how Curt feels about it. He said he doesn't worry about you two." I walked in on the end of the conversation and heard Mom talking about Dad's opinion of us. I didn't think anything of it because it's a common subject, especially how Dad has offered to pay for our marriage license, haha.

Since we were dressed nicely for the temple (and because I had a suspicion Joshua could be proposing that day) I asked Mom to take some pictures of us before we left. Joshua was being especially loving towards me, even kissing me right in front of my Mom. Once again… another hint that something was going on.

The trip up was nice. We took Route 17 to D.C., which is the scenic route. It was a beautiful day with blue skies full of white puffy clouds and surprisingly a comfortable 80 degrees even though it was the middle of July. Joshua kept going on and on about how beautiful of day it was for this special temple trip. Every time he'd say that I kept wondering if it was the big day.

We got to the temple and with it being a 3 hour trip I bet you can guess where our first destination was. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw Joshua coming in from outside. I didn't think much of it; I figured he forgot something in the car. I found him talking with Nate and Amy Reams. I joined them and it turns out they were there celebrating their 1 year anniversary of their marriage. We congratulated them and they were off to enjoy their day. Later I found out why Joshua had been outside. As soon as I was out of sight he ran to the car to get flowers out of the trunk and to hide them behind a stump where he had chosen to propose.

Once we were done "freshening up" at the visitor's center, we went for a walk around the temple. We followed the nature trail and came across 3 deer in the woods. Then we found a spot and Joshua laid down his coat on the ground so him and I could kneel in prayer. After praying, Joshua told me he felt really good about everything. While holding me in his arms he looked deeply in my eyes and said, "I love you." I had my hand on his chest and as he said those words his heart LEAPED! I have felt his heart jump before but never like that. Once again, I suspected he could be proposing, but then again I wasn't sure.

We walked back up to the temple and he started laughing a little. It was his, "I'm up to something" laugh. I asked him about it, but he said he was just happy. Since I've heard him laugh like that often, and quite frankly he's always up to something, I started to think maybe he wasn't up to anything too big. He suggested we eat a snack at our spot. For a moment I wasn't sure which place he was referring to. Then a minute later I said, "Oh! Under the dogwood tree next to the parking lot! Yes, let's go." We got to "our spot" and I sat down on the grass. He said, "I've got to get something." He walked to the car and I wondered if he was going to come back and propose. He came back with water and granola bars, haha, but I was ready for a snack so that was fine.

We ate and talked, then calmly he said, "Close your eyes." I played along and closed my eyes. I heard him get up and wander to my right. I heard a tree branch break. I asked him, "What did you break?" He responded, "Oh, nothing. Just keep your eyes closed." So I sat there on the grass, my eyes closed, swatting bugs off of myself. Then I heard him walk past me and to my left, rustling through the trees. After a few minutes I heard him near me. Then it sounded like he was crumpling paper and placing it on either side of me. I kept my eyes closed. Then I heard him behind me and it sounded like he was taking a poster out of tube. I was wondering, what in the world is he doing?! Then he sat down in front of me and said, "Open your eyes." I opened my eyes and saw that he had surrounded me with potted Gerbera Daisies (my favorite). He said, "I wanted to give you these for our 1 year and 2 month anniversary Thursday," then he handed me a bouquet of Gerbera Daisies. I was in awe of his sweetness, though still wondering if he was proposing or being romantic just because. To explain the funny noises, that crumpling paper sound was the rough leaves of the daisies rustling as he placed them and the tubular sound was him taking the floral tubes off of the bouquet. He later admitted the reason I heard him wandering around was because he couldn't find the flowers. Fortunately, he located the stump, retrieved the flowers, and I behaved and kept my eyes closed through it all.

Joshua was sitting on the grass across from me then said, "I have something I want to give you." I thought, oh my, this is it! Then he pulled a letter out of his coat pocket and handed it to me. But I wasn't disappointed because a love letter is very sweet. I eagerly opened the letter and read the title, "Declaration of my Love." He asked me to read it out loud then said, "There will be some directions at the end but I'll explain when you get there." Once again, my suspicions arose. I began to read the letter and got choked up by the first line. I slowed down and made it through it. The letter was all about his love for me, our relationship, and our future. He ended it with, "We must look to the horizon. That is our destiny." As I read that line he said, "Now look to the horizon, the temple." I turn around and I gazed upon the temple just soaking in the moment. Then he said, "Keep looking." Saying that I realized he must be proposing. A moment later he said, "Now turn around." I took a deep breath and turned around. He was on one knee, holding a box with the exact engagement ring I had picked out in November. Then he asked, "Sarah, will you marry me?" I exclaimed, "YES!" Then I hugged him and we held each other close. We were both crying and laughing at this point. After a minute or so, I pulled back a little, looked at the ring, and asked him, "Will you put it on me?" He then placed the ring on my finger. We spent a good two hours just the two of us enjoying the moment before we called anyone or even left our spot. It was the perfect proposal!!! It was unbelievably romantic. I love that Joshua made sure to make me truly feel like the center of his universe.

About the engagement ring; Joshua and I have been talking about marriage since we were about 2 months into dating. On our 4 month anniversary we went and looked at rings. I knew which wedding band I wanted but wasn't sure about the engagement ring. Around our 6 month anniversary we went back to the store and looked at rings again. They got in a new ring. It was two flowers cuddling. It was perfect! I looked at it and it reminded me of Joshua and I, how we're always so cuddly with each other. I explained that to Joshua and he thought it was incredibly sweet. For his future reference I told him my ring size 4 and made it clear, "This is the ring I want." What I didn't know is that only a couple of weeks later he went back and bought that very ring. Since I'm a special order size he was told that it would take 8-10 weeks for the ring to be ready. He had just gotten his first post-college job and top priority was buying an engagement ring. So that's exactly what he did. It ended up only taking 2 weeks to size it and he picked it up on our 7 month anniversary, December 19th. I didn't know ANY OF THIS until after he proposed. He admitted that he was tempted to propose the day he picked up the ring, but decided against it. He then spent 8 months praying for the right time to propose. He wanted to, but wasn't getting the feeling that it was time. Of course he also knew that I wasn't ready to say yes. As much as I would've wanted to, he wasn't ready for marriage and I couldn't say yes until he truly was. But when everyone was making predictions that he'd propose for Christmas, or New Year's, or Valentine's Day, or my birthday, or our 1 year anniversary, he had the engagement ring all along. So when I'd get upset about people being on my case about when we're getting engaged it was killing him to know that as much as he wanted to propose and even had the ring, it just wasn't time. And as much as he wanted to tell me he already had the ring, he didn't want to ruin the surprise. And boy did he surprise me! Even when I was suspecting he was going to propose he kept me guessing. And on top of that I kept wondering, "With what ring?" I was under the impression he hadn't bought the ring and with there being a supposed 8-10 week wait, I figured I wasn't getting the ring I wanted. Even after dating for over a year, after being friends for over two years, after pretty much having our wedding already planned and much of our married life discussed and planned, and even re-planned as life has changed things, he still managed to surprise me when he proposed.