Proposal on Valentine's Day!

So earlier today, I couldn't hardly wait to share some big news with y'all, and so without much detail or specifics, I made the announcement that I am now engaged!!! But now I've finally gotten all my stuff together, and am going to write out all the fun details from last night :) Prepare yourselves though, because I'm warning you now - there will be lots of pictures (I did at least put most of them into collages), and there will be lots of words!! But I don't want to leave anything out, or run the risk of forgetting anything later, so I'm including as much as possible here!!

So sometime in January, we had mentioned Valentine's Day and talked briefly about needing to make some plans. But we moved on pretty quickly and forgot. Then last Monday night (Feb 4), he texted me to say he wanted to plan it all himself, and I didn't need to worry about anything. I was like, "That's great babe! I love when you make all the fun plans and surprise me!" So he got busy working on stuff  and plans for the last two weeks, and I had no idea what was going on.

The first thing that happened yesterday, was a quick text from him in the morning that said, "Let me know when you got a UPS package." So I freak out and say, "What?! Here at work?!" And he says YEAH! So I'm still freaking out of course, until an hour or so later, and then the most beautiful tulips ever arrive at my office! Seriously, they're amazing. It's a mix of red, pink and white, and I'm in love with them. They're so perfect and gorgeous, and so special. And I liked that they weren't just any 'typical' Valentine's flowers, because these just felt so much more special to me :)

This photo is from yesterday, but since then, they've already started opening up beautifully!!

Then after work, I knew I was going to meet him at his house, and we would be going to dinner, but I didn't know any of the rest of the plan. Well, except that he had worked penguins, pasta and polka dots all into the date night in some way ;) So I get to his house and I give him all of his gifts first. (Which included: a "Big Bang Theory" t-shirt and set of trivia cards, lots of his favorite candies, a stuffed dachshund because he loves those, a little "Why I Love You" notebook, and a banner I made for him.) Then I change into my new dress and put on makeup and some perfume, and we headed to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Harry's. (I had been looking to buy a new dress, and wanted something, red or pink or festive. Somehow though, I ended up with bright green! Who knows how that happened rather than Valentine's festive, but I loved it, and so did Jeff!)

So at the restaurant, he tells me that he's ordering for me, and I'm not even allowed to look at the menu! So he gets us some sort of shrimp appetizer thing (don't remember the name?), and then orders our meals. And of course, he got me pasta! It was amazing. It was a special for the Mardi Gras season, so I think it was just called Pasta Mardi Gras. It was linguine with shrimp and lobster and mushrooms, with some sort of creamy sauce. Sooo good :) And Jeff got Blackened Red Fish with crab on top! And of course his was delicious too. But soo much food, so we both ended up taking home a box with at least half our our meals.

But while we were waiting on our food to arrive, I got to open my present! First though, let me tell you about the card, because he worked hard on it. Ladies - he hand-made the entire thing! And  it was amazing. It's one of the cutest things I've probably ever seen, and definitely the best card I've ever been given. I told him I would have loved it enough already had he ordered it from Etsy or something, but considering that he made the whole stinking thing himself?! Blew me out of the water!! He hand drew a little penguin, and gave it some of his own characteristics like glasses and red hair! SO cute :) He also constructed this super cute little owl on the back with some crafting string of some sort. On the inside was the polka dot paper, and he had cut out hearts on a piece of tissue paper, and laid it over the polka dot paper. Precious :) And of course he had written some extremely sweet words. In fact, they made me all teary-eyed as I read them. It was for real the best and most awesomest and the sweetest card I've ever gotten. I told him that now I'm going to be expecting one of these hand-made cards for every occasion! 

There was more in the bag though than just an extremely awesome and elaborate hand-made card, like a big bag of Hershey's kisses, and a box. So I pulled out a little box with penguins on it, and it was filled with Valentine's candies and sitting on top of the candy, was a little hand-drawn banana, with a message on the back - "Deliver to the monkey." So I had to figure out what that meant... So while we ate, we talked about it a little more, and after he gave me a few more clues, I figured out it meant my friend Lacey's house! (Her house has been nick-named 'Coconuts' so that's where the monkey was.)

So while we were driving from dinner to her house, I'm expecting there to be another clue waiting for me, so I asked how long we were going to stay at her house before moving on. And he was like, "Oh, I don't know, we'll just see how it's going over there..."  So we walk in, and chat with Lacey and Josh for a few minutes, and while I'm talking to them, he disappears, but apparently I didn't even notice it somehow. Then when he comes back, he hands me this cute little pink monkey, with a card around his neck. The front of it says, "Will You Be My Valentine?" and then it says "flip" at the very bottom corner...and the back says "Forever..." 

And I'm thinking "Oh well of course forever, dear!" But then when I look away from the card, I realize he's gotten down on one knee and is holding a tiny box with something very sparkly inside. And I gasp a little bit, of course, and then he says, "Halie, will you marry me?" And so I immediately do a little happy dance and stomp my feet a little bit and squeal a tiny squeal and cover my mouth and I'm just so excited!! So of course I say YES! and he puts the most gorgeous ring on my finger :) Then he stands up and I hug him so tight and am still squealing, and then of course I give him a big ole' smooch. And our friends were taking pictures the whole time with their iPhone luckily, so we have a few shots of the actual moment!!

That biggest, middle picture is when I'm doing my little happy dance :)

After a little bit more hugging and kissing, we made some phone calls to family members, and then of course put it on Facebook and Instagram :) We stayed there a little longer, and then the rest of the 'stops' he had planned were to go visit each of our parents afterwards! His parents' house was on the way to mine, so we stopped there first to visit for a little bit and show off the ring, and then we made our way to my parents after that. Finally, we headed out, and our final stop was at Walmart to pick up some celebratory cupcakes :) We went back to his house to enjoy our dessert, and just couldn't stop talking about it and staring at the ring, and then talking about it all some more. And then of course I made us take some more pictures, just to make sure we had enough, and to make sure that we would never forget this night :)

Side note about the ring: We had gone months ago (maybe in September or October or something?) and looked at about four jewelry stores for rings. I tried on a ton, and liked a lot of them, but we never actually settled on just one specific one. Then he went back on his own to a different store, and picked this one out all on his own. And it's exactly what I wanted. I love the vintage style, with the square, "Princess" cut, and I love all the tiny little diamonds on the sides as well. It's perfect, and he did an excellent job picking just the right one!

It was an incredible night, and he did an amazing job planning everything out! He did so good not to tell me the secrets or give anything away, and I love that I was so surprised! It's still surprising to me actually, and sometimes it still feels a little unreal. I guess it'll take some time to sink and and get used to it, but for now I seem to be on Cloud 9! (As cliche as that sounds...) I just keep staring at the ring (especially while I type!), and remembering that I now have a fiance instead of just a boyfriend. So crazy, and so exciting!!

I know this engagement period will be crazy and fast and probably stressful, but I'm so looking forward to it. More importantly though, I'm looking forward to calling this man my Husband! God has blessed us both so much, by bringing us together. I feel so lucky to be with him, and to now have a sparkly ring on my left hand!! I can't wait to see what our future holds, and all the things that come with it. I love you so so so much baby!!