The Proposal

So some of you may have read this post when it happened.  For others, this will be the beginning of the next chapter of Danny's and my life together...the chapter called "Engagement."

Danny had planned on us hiking Smith Rock.  However, we also got invited to a very cute little girl's Star Wars 4th birthday party.  So before we went to hike, we went to her party.  Then we headed to the park.

We parked across the street from Smith Rock.  Here's where we were headed:

Danny really misses rock climbing and bouldering, so he climbs any chance he gets...yup, even the little rock walls on playgrounds.

We are undecided what kind of bird this is, but it was sitting all alone in the middle of the river, watching a bunch of ducks actually.

We took the Burma Road trail.  It had the coolest pine trees with the branches draped all the way to the ground.  So we dipped inside and took a few pics.

At the top, Danny decided he wanted to explore the rocks.  I decided to sit in a little hidey hole out of the wind and watch him.

And then I noticed my camera battery was getting low, so I put it away.  Danny finished exploring and lured my out of my hidey hole to a spot that overlooked everywhere we had just been.  We could see all the way to my car.  It was too pretty not to use some camera battery.

And then we sat on the rock talking...well, he talked and told me I couldn't. Then he had me close my eyes and he gave me a present. When I opened my eyes he was on his knees in front of me. He told me to open the box, he took out the ring box, opened it, and asked me to marry him.

And I said...

YES!

This is from the bottom, looking up to where we had come from. I will say that it took a lot longer to get up there than to get back down. I think it's because coming down I was floating on air!

I called my mom from the top.  Her response, "Finally!"  Everyone else at home's response, "I get her room!"  Danny's parents were a little trickier to get ahold of because they were in Mexico and he couldn't make international calls from his phone.  He called his brothers and asked them to have his parents call him if any of them heard from them.  We wanted parents and immediate family to know first.  Then our special friends.  We definitely didn't want anyone to find out on Facebook (sorry about that Leslee!).

We went to Mi Cielo for dinner.  If you haven't been there, they are in Redmond.  You need to go.  It's owned by the sweetest family, and you will be hearing more about them later in the next chapter!  :)  One of the owners helped us as Danny called his parents because the answering machine was in Spanish and he wasn't sure if he had the right number.  Funny story, Alma is Filipino, not Mexican, but luckily she speaks Spanish too!  And then a friend of mine came into the restaurant and I had to do my best to not show off my beautiful new ring.  It was tricky as we sat talking while she waited for her to go order.

Danny drove me home and I got to show off my ring there though.  We still couldn't tell lots of people, but friends found out before all of our family because we had church the next day.  I was still floating so people couldn't help but notice!  My friends were so excited and the wedding planning began (ummm, continued?...ummm, could "officially" begin?)...but that's another story.