The Engagement Story

So, you may or may not have caught my teaser on my last post.... but Landon and I are engaged!  He came west to visit me 2 weekends ago (March 9th).  We went hiking in Yosemite National Park and he proposed at Nevada Falls.  That is, of course, the short-and-sweet version.  But most people want all the juicy details, so I shall share those, photos included :)

Landon caught me totally by surprise.  We have had "the marriage talk" several times in the past, so I knew that we were both on the same page with where our relationship was headed, but I thought for sure that I would know when he purchased the ring.  He gets very excited about big purchases (heck, whenever this kid buys a new gun I hear about it for like 14 consecutive days...), and I felt sure that he would let something slip and I would know that he bought a ring.

Here is where I profusely apologize to my fiance and promise to never doubt his secret-keeping/sneakiness again.

He bought the ring in December.  As in, 3 months before he proposed.  Because this kid is a planner.  He wanted to use the time on our cruise with my family to talk with my parents in person and ask my dad for my hand (*insert romantic "awwwwww" here).  Which he successfully did without any indication on my part about what was going on.  His parents came to visit in January and he showed them the ring and asked their blessing.  In the meantime, he also talked to Hales ("Lauren" to some of you) to confirm the kind of rings that I like when we went ring-shopping together like a year ago.  So, the people who knew about this before I did were my parents, my brothers (who walked "in" on Landon and daddy during "the talk"), his parents, several of his friends, and Hales.

In the meantime, he suggested that the next time he came for a visit we should go hiking in Yosemite: 1.  because he has never been there, 2. because he knows how much I love that park, 3. because it could be my last "hurrah" before my surgery and no hiking for a few months, and 4. because we love doing these things together.  He also suggested that we go by ourselves (not with our other camping buddies) because we were going to be doing winter hiking and he didn't want to listen to them whine/slow us down on the harder trails (translation: I'm setting up the perfect proposal situation).

Its a super good thing that I'm not very astute and/or good at picking up on small details like this.

I swear that I was completely oblivious to all of this planning.

So he arrived on Thursday and we went out to Yosemite on Friday.  It was still pretty snowy, but the weather was BEAUTIFUL!  It was only down to 30 at night (which is very tolerable if you are prepared for winter camping) and was beautiful, sunny, clear and 45-50 during the day.  Aside from a little snow the first night that actually froze our tent into a sheet of ice, it was perfect weather.

Enough words.  Time for pictures.

We started off on Saturday for Nevada Falls via the John Muir Trail.

After lots of beautiful scenery and clear hiking at the base, we hit lots of snow.  So much snow that they closed off our trail.  Being the law-abiding citizens that we are, we decided to try the trail anyway.  Besides, according to this picture, if there is an avalanche/rock slide, just use your spear!

It turned out to be a great choice.  The trail was beautiful with fresh fallen snow and we had it all to ourselves.  It seriously felt like we were in Narnia.

At this point, we were starting to tread on some dangerous territory.  There was about 7 feet of snow/ice underneath us and we had about a 5 foot ledge from the rock wall to a couple thousand foot drop, so we decided to hedge our bet and turn back once we hit a giant ice wall.

 We stopped for lunch with a beautiful view.  After we ate, Landon and I were enjoying a "moment" looking at the beauty around us.  I was leaning up against him and had my back to him.  He spun me around and took my hands and I thought he was going to be really romantic and kiss me.  Instead he dropped down to one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket.  I honestly can't tell you what I did/said because I was so shocked.  Landon said that my eyes got huge and my jaw dropped and that I immediately said yes (and them promptly asked him if he had asked my daddy's permission).  This was, of course, followed by lots of hugging, jumping up and down, and ridiculous "Alaina excitement" type activities.

 The following pictures were taken once we hiked back down a few miles and found people again.

 I am so, so happy that he caught me by surprise.  It was such a wonderful weekend.  It was absolutely fantastic to be able to celebrate with each other and just enjoy the weekend by hiking another beautiful trail on Sunday and enjoying God's amazing creation and the blessings that He has given us in each other.  I spent all of Saturday in shock, and it really sunk in on Sunday when I woke up with a ring on my finger.

The thing that I did not expect was how amazingly overwhelmed (in a good way!) we felt by the love pouring out from our family and friends over the next few days (Landon was able to stay in SLO until Tuesday, so we spent Monday and Tuesday calling people and celebrating with the folks in CA).  We are so blessed to have such supportive, amazing friends and family who are ready to support us in this adventure together.  Thank you all for your love!!!!!!!  You have made us feel so special!

I am excited beyond words to spend my life with this man.  He truly is my better half.  He challenges me to strengthen my relationship with God, to fix weak areas of my character, and to love with all that I can give.  He shows me that I am special, that I am talented, and that I am loved.  I never knew that you could love a person so much, and I can't wait to get married to my best friend this fall :)

Also, Yosemite is now my favorite national park (it was #4 on the list before).

Oh, yeah, and here is my kick-ass ring!  I wish the picture could show how sparkly this diamond is!

love,
the future mrs. landon cross