Engaged

My title says it all..

I am engaged!! There is a story behind all engagements. So here is mine.



Ryan and I had made a friendly bet, oh probably 2 months prior to our engagement. The loser treated winner to dinner at Centro. (For those who have never been, Centro is a classy, Italian restaurant that serves delicious food in an Italy style atmosphere that is located in downtown Des Moines.) Of course...I lost the bet. Which meant I had to treat Ryan to dinner. The dinner kept getting postponed per say, but we finally planned it and followed through. Dinner was planned for Saturday evening, July 9th. Even though I lost... I still got to choose 'how' we dressed...like casual, dressy..etc. I chose casual dress. I sported: a cute brown and white sun dress. He sported: khaki shorts and a black and white striped polo. (one of my faves on him) I'd say we looked like a pretty classy and good lookin' couple.

So, we hop in the truck and head downtown. As we get close, Ryan suggests walking around Sculpture Park before dinner. (Oh, back-up, back-up...I forgot a little tid-bit). The day of dinner, I was supposed to call and make reservations for 7:30. Well, I called and the next reservation wasn't until 8:30 or 9 ( I don't remember now). I asked what the chances are of two people just walking in and getting a table. She said they had a section for walk-ins, we just might have the wait time. (Okay, back to before the 'back-up') We got downtown around 6:30. I thought it was maybe a little weird that he wanted to do that, but then again, we got down there earlier than originally planned and I thought it sounded fun.

We park, and walk a couple blocks to Sculpture park. We started the trek around the park, stopping at the different sculptures, reading the informative signs on each sculpture and then making comments. As we're about half way around, there's this sculpture that Ryan seemed rather interested in and took more time looking at it. We walk around to the back side of it, next thing I know he is facing me and telling me all these really sweet things (sorry, but I am not going to share all he said :). I then told him I looked forward to starting a family with him someday and he replied with 'why don't we start now.' He kisses me and as he is doing that he is pulling the ring box out of his pocket. He stops kissing me, I open my eyes, realize he has a ring box in his hand, he gets down on one knee and he says 'Rachel, will you marry me?' - and of course, I said YES!

In the end, I didn't have to pay for dinner (I forgot my money anyway) and ended up with a fiance! How cool is that! Wouldn't trade that night for anything! It was wonderful and a night I will never forget.

A FAQ's to newly engaged couples:
Q. Did you know he was going to ask you?
A. Yes, I knew he was going to ask me, but I didn't know when. I thought soon, but I didn't know how soon.

Q. Did he surprise you?
A. Yes, I did not expect him to propose that night. In fact just a few days before that he told me the ring was going to take a couple of weeks to get in. The ring got in the day of the engagement. In fact he had just picked it up before picking me up.

Q. Did you pick the ring or did he pick the ring?
A. He picked out the ring, but had me come look at it to make sure I liked it. I thought it was very pretty, but not having looked at rings much prior, I wanted to see what else was out there. After each one I kept going back to the original one Ryan chose for me. From there, I left it up to him.

Q. Do you have a wedding date set?
A. No, we didn't have one set before getting engaged, but yes, we set one a couple weeks after. It is tentatively set for November 26, 2011. We need to make sure the church and officiant are available that day.

Hope you enjoyed our engagement story.
**sorry it took so long to write**