Wednesday, February 11, 2015

the story of getting engaged to levi.




Levi and I have been married for like eight months now and this story took place just over a year ago, so it's possible that it would no longer be of interest to anyone. But you know, I must do it for posterity's sake. Also because I want to.

Levi came home with me to California during Christmas break 2013. Once we came back to Utah, I knew it was time to get a move on with the whole marriage thing. We were basically engaged to be engaged since about November and madly in love for months before that, so the time had come. And so, just a day or two after we got back to Provo we went ring shopping. I would just like to point out that I am super proud of myself for how well the ring shopping situation went. I thought I would be super overwhelmed by all the choices but it turns out I really just like the simple solitaire ones. I looked at all the different kinds but I kept coming back to the same one. Which was really super nice because oh my word if you could see me trying to make any other decision in my life...it doesn't go nearly as well.

Anyway, getting engaged. Once I had picked out the ring, I just waited. And waited. And waited. I knew it wasn't going to take weeks and weeks or anything, or at least I hoped it wouldn't. And so you know how that goes. I knew it was coming, but I didn't know when...and so I had to be prepared at all times. Which by the way, is difficult. This meant that I had to do my hair every day and I had to look moderately cute every day and I couldn't just jump into sweats the minute I got home from work every day. The worst was the fact that I would come home from the gym and then do my hair again, just to be safe. I just super didn't want to looking like a slob that day we got engaged, you know?

After doing my hair for what felt like a million days in a row, I thought maybe it was never going to happen. But then one day Levi came over and after dinner he was like, "Hey want to go to Provo Beach Resort?" And I was like, hey I've been wanting to go there for a while now and I've hinted about going there so this must be it! It's like a fun date and then he'll propose after! I'm so smart. So I hurried and changed into a cute outfit and then did my hair and we were off. The first thing we did there was bowl and I was like, oh my gosh, this is what we did on our first date, we're tottttttally getting engaged. I remember being at Provo Beach Resort and being like, oh man, he totally can't fool me. I'm onto this guy. He thinks he's soooooo tricky, but he's not.

Actually he was. Because we didn't get engaged that night. We bowled and we played croquet and had a stellar time and I looked super cute, but no, we did not get engaged. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I thought for sure that might still be a chance and maybe he would turn left and we would go up the canyon, but no. We turned right and we came straight home.

Then another day that week was the time that we went to dinner. And I was like, ahhh here it is. Going to dinner in the middle of the week? Too obvious. A fancy little dinner and then he'll pop the question. Thank goodness I did my hair, amiright? But no. No engagement. Just a stomach full of delicious food and no ring on my finger. I couldn't figure the guy out.

Another day that week he was like, let's go to the dinosaur museum! Of course I was like, oh yeah! I had been wanting to go there for years! Of course, it wasn't exactly the most romantic place in the world, but I could still go with it as an engagement location. Maybe there would be like one of those archaeology dig things where you have to sweep away the sand and stuff and then there would be my ring! Yes, that had to be it. But no, of course not. Just a lot of dinosaur bones and no ring for me (though I actually really liked going there because dinosaur bones are cool! And big!).

By this point I was like, this has clearly just been a week of fun dates. We were always doing fun stuff like that, so maybe all this wasn't out of the ordinary.

On Friday, when I was at work, Levi texted me saying he was going to walk me home from work as he often did. He came and picked me up (I worked on BYU campus) and then we walked home together. On the way home, he was like, "Do you think Utah Lake is frozen right now?" (It was January). I told him I figured it was, and he said something like, "I've always wanted to go walk out on the frozen lake. Have you ever done that?" I of course said no, because something like that would terrify me. He was like, "We should go see. It'll be fun!" I was extremely hesitant, but agreed. Maybe that would be kind of fun in a weird and dangerous way.

So we drove out to the lake. We parked and then we headed down the rocks to the lake. I was seriously freaked out. I thought for sure I was going to fall through. I had barely walked onto the frozen lake part and Levi was like ten feet out jumping down on the ice, essentially giving me a heart attack. I think he was trying to reassure me that I wouldn't fall in, but mostly I just thought that he was going to fall in now. So as we slowly walked further and further out, I constantly kept my eyes on the ice for fear that there would be a giant crack somewhere and that we would all die.

After we had trekked a considerable distance, I was like, "Okay. Let's go to that rock out there and then I think that will be far enough, don't you think?" Levi agreed and so we kept going. As we got closer, Levi was like, "I don't think that's a rock. What do you think it is?" We were close enough now that I could tell it was actually a blanket covering something and I was like OH MY GOSH. It's a dead dog. Somebody's dog died or they killed it or something and they dumped the dog out here. Oh my gosh, or maybe it's a person?! A dead person? Oh, crap. I was like, Levi don't touch it. Seriously, I bet it's a dead dog and that is so gross. But of course, Levi did touch it.

And when he pulled the blanket off, it was not a dead dog. It was a basket. Full of flowers and candy and E.L. Fudge cookies and donuts (yes, donuts!) and glitter gold! and much more and then it clicked. Because those are all of my favorite things! They must be mine! I was super stunned and then I turned to Levi and I knew what was about to happen. He said some wonderful things and then he dropped down on one knee (and did not fall through into the lake) and asked me to marry him. And I said yes! It was marvelous and magical and all things wonderful and perfect and I couldn't stop smiling and I was so incredibly happy. It was just the best day.

After we had called both my parents and then stopped at Levi's parents house to tell them, we went to Carraba's for dinner. I remember we sat at the bar and we watched the employees who were in charge of making salads while we enjoyed our meal and talked about our future and how happy we were. I also remember that after that we drove around town for a while and then before headed home, we got the car washed haha. It was such a great day though and I couldn't have asked for a better surprise. I love Levi.

*side note: In preparation for this event, one day after church when I told Levi my home teachers were coming over, he sped over to Utah Lake, hopped out of his car and onto the ice, and then tried jumping up and down over and over to make sure it really was safe. I just love imagining that story.

*second side note: Quite a few of Levi's rugby teammates had classes in the building that I worked in. On that Friday when Levi came to pick me up from work, he got stopped by a few of those teammates downstairs. They started getting on his case (loudly) about how he needed to propose and when was he going to do it and so on and so forth. Levi was freaking out because he knew that sound traveled well in that building because there had been a number of times when he had come to wait for me in that exact downstairs room and had been able to hear my voice while I was still working upstairs. He was like, crap she's going to be able to hear us and it'll tip her off! Anyway, I never did hear them, but the next week all of those boys stopped by my office and told me all about how they had been talking to him about proposing and he was already planning to do it that very day! They thought it was hilarious. And to be fair, it was. Good times.

Also, pictures.






2 comments:

Rachel said...

I love this post! I got such a kick out of it! Such a tricky guy, that one. Also, I love the pics

Kathy said...

That is sooooooo sweet! Thanks for sharing!