So, as I'm sure you all know by now, J and I are engaged! (The Engagement Story - pulled from Facebook - is at the bottom of this post.) We had quite the 4 day, 3 night extended weekend at a romantic getaway called "Seluded Grove" Basically, we rented a cabin with 3 beds, 3 levels including the loft, 2 bathrooms, a washer & dryer, fully stocked (as far as utensils & dishes) kitchen, and a hot tub on the back porch. And it was about the same price as 2 nights in Duluth.
The original plan for the trip was to go snowshoeing and sledding and enjoy the great outdoors. Then nature, even though it was in the middle of February, decided to have 40-50 degree weather, plus rain, the week before our trip. Pretty much disintegrated any plans for snow fun. So we canceled the snowshoe rental (Hoigaards is WAY cheaper than renting from REI).
That doesn't mean our trip was ruined, though. Excluding the way exciting engagement, we didn't really do much of anything and just had a blast being with ourselves. On Valentine's Day, however, we decided to follow through with our plan to go for a hike and have a picnic. It was one thing to snowshoe and picnic in the snow when we're wearing snowpants...but quite another to picnic on soggy ground. So we brought a tarp (you'll see it in the pics below) plus towels. Oh yeah, and we brought a bottle of some nice Reisling :)
Well, the hike didn't go quite as planned. Though the snow was basically gone in most places, it was still deceptively deep in the woods. Case in point, I fell in a drift up to my waist. Not good! J and I made it about 100 yards through the woods to a road. Decided that was all the farther we should go, and navigated the roads back to the cabin. And then had the picnic on the front lawn! It was still fun, though.
What's this? A picnic in some field on our hike?
Oh wait. No. That's the cabin behind me :)
This really doesn't have anything to do with anything (our beer froze in the water in the cooler overnight), but it's actually one of our best close-ups of the ring.
And now the engagement story! For all of you FBookers, I really didn't see the need to write this twice, so I literally copied it straight from my note on there. Peace Out.
Several of you have been asking Jessica and me about how we got engaged. I guess it’s up to me to tell the story, especially since I did most of the work :)
The story begins Sunday, February 8th when Jessica and I had a rather serious, sobering, and lengthy conversation about when this supposed engagement was to occur. She had absolutely set her heart upon getting engaged on Valentine’s weekend. I, on the other hand, was thinking more like May-ish. Unfortunately, I had inadvertently laid down some heavy hints that I was going to buy a ring that weekend. I, being an ignorant guy, thought I was just joking around. (Guys, a little advice, joking about buying a ring isn’t a very good idea). Jessica, being a woman in love, took my jokes to heart.
Confusion spawned conflict, instigating Sunday’s talk. The outcome got us both on the same page as to when I was ready to propose. May. Or sometime around May.
But then I started thinking. When would I ever have another chance when Jessica would be utterly surprised? There was no way she was going to allow herself to think Valentine’s Day was a possibility, since she didn’t want another disappointment. Hmmm….it all started coming together.
Monday, I told Jessica that I was meeting a college friend down in Burnsville for BW3 and some beers. Instead, I drove up to Maple Grove to Jared’s where we had already picked out a ring. Tuesday, I drove up to Maple Grove a second time to pickup the ring, didn’t like the way it looked, made them switch-out the diamond for a different one, then continued to Ramsey where I asked Jessica’s parents for their blessing ( and got it). Wednesday, I drove up to Maple Grove for the THIRD time, and picked up the ring. This time it was perfect.
All I had to do was last the rest of the night. And Thursday. And Friday. Crap.
I made it through Wednesday and Thursday, though, and on Friday we packed up Jessica’s car for a 4 day, 3 night romantic getaway to the middle of no-where Wisconsin. Here’s the link to the place we stayed: http://www.secluded-grove.com/ It was pretty much amazing.
We had already decided to get up early on Saturday so that we could sit out on the back porch and watch the sunrise. I privately had decided that was when the proposal would happen…pending good weather. Friday night, while Jessica was getting ready for bed, I transferred the ring from my suitcase to the inside pocket of my coat. I really didn’t want to be fumbling with it in the morning.
Saturday morning came and the sun had already risen when we woke up! Dangit! (Dangit was actually the first word I said on the day we got engaged. How romantic!) Thankfully, though, there were clouds on the horizon and the sun hadn’t yet cleared the clouds, which was good enough for me to keep going through with the plan.
We grabbed some juice and went out onto the porch. While we were waiting, I started talking about Valentine’s Day, and the phrase “Be My Valentine.” I asked her what she thought that phrase meant, because I really didn’t know. She said she didn’t know either.
“Well,” I said, “I don’t really want you to be my valentine anyway!”
“What?!?!” She said, snapping her head towards me.
“Nope, I’d rather –” I replied while simultaneously reaching into the outer pocket of my coat, only to realize I put the ring into the inner pocket, then fumbled with a couple of zippers before I was able to grab the ring box and pull it out to show her, “—I’d rather have you be my wife!”
Jessica immediately started crying and slapped my arm, yelling “ARE YOU SERIOUS??!?”
Then I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. And she said yes!
Several of you have been asking Jessica and me about how we got engaged. I guess it’s up to me to tell the story, especially since I did most of the work :)
The story begins Sunday, February 8th when Jessica and I had a rather serious, sobering, and lengthy conversation about when this supposed engagement was to occur. She had absolutely set her heart upon getting engaged on Valentine’s weekend. I, on the other hand, was thinking more like May-ish. Unfortunately, I had inadvertently laid down some heavy hints that I was going to buy a ring that weekend. I, being an ignorant guy, thought I was just joking around. (Guys, a little advice, joking about buying a ring isn’t a very good idea). Jessica, being a woman in love, took my jokes to heart.
Confusion spawned conflict, instigating Sunday’s talk. The outcome got us both on the same page as to when I was ready to propose. May. Or sometime around May.
But then I started thinking. When would I ever have another chance when Jessica would be utterly surprised? There was no way she was going to allow herself to think Valentine’s Day was a possibility, since she didn’t want another disappointment. Hmmm….it all started coming together.
Monday, I told Jessica that I was meeting a college friend down in Burnsville for BW3 and some beers. Instead, I drove up to Maple Grove to Jared’s where we had already picked out a ring. Tuesday, I drove up to Maple Grove a second time to pickup the ring, didn’t like the way it looked, made them switch-out the diamond for a different one, then continued to Ramsey where I asked Jessica’s parents for their blessing ( and got it). Wednesday, I drove up to Maple Grove for the THIRD time, and picked up the ring. This time it was perfect.
All I had to do was last the rest of the night. And Thursday. And Friday. Crap.
I made it through Wednesday and Thursday, though, and on Friday we packed up Jessica’s car for a 4 day, 3 night romantic getaway to the middle of no-where Wisconsin. Here’s the link to the place we stayed: http://www.secluded-grove.
We had already decided to get up early on Saturday so that we could sit out on the back porch and watch the sunrise. I privately had decided that was when the proposal would happen…pending good weather. Friday night, while Jessica was getting ready for bed, I transferred the ring from my suitcase to the inside pocket of my coat. I really didn’t want to be fumbling with it in the morning.
Saturday morning came and the sun had already risen when we woke up! Dangit! (Dangit was actually the first word I said on the day we got engaged. How romantic!) Thankfully, though, there were clouds on the horizon and the sun hadn’t yet cleared the clouds, which was good enough for me to keep going through with the plan.
We grabbed some juice and went out onto the porch. While we were waiting, I started talking about Valentine’s Day, and the phrase “Be My Valentine.” I asked her what she thought that phrase meant, because I really didn’t know. She said she didn’t know either.
“Well,” I said, “I don’t really want you to be my valentine anyway!”
“What?!?!” She said, snapping her head towards me.
“Nope, I’d rather –” I replied while simultaneously reaching into the outer pocket of my coat, only to realize I put the ring into the inner pocket, then fumbled with a couple of zippers before I was able to grab the ring box and pull it out to show her, “—I’d rather have you be my wife!”
Jessica immediately started crying and slapped my arm, yelling “ARE YOU SERIOUS??!?”
Then I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. And she said yes!
