Our engagement...and the blizzard of 2009

Little did I know that the storm blowing through the East Coast would also be bringing me something more than snow...

On Friday morning we were all hearing weather reports for 6-12 inches of snow in central Virginia. My sister, who was in Orlando visiting a college friend, was trying to get back to our hometown before the storm set in. She decided to take a direct flight to Richmond, which left 10 hours before her original non-direct to our hometown. I picked her up at the airport Friday afternoon excited to spend the weekend snowed in and watching movies. The weekend went flying by and we literally did not leave the house the entire time--totally snowed in. On Sunday Bry got kind of dressed up, which I won't lie seemed a little odd to me, and meanwhile I was ironing and hanging curtains (which had literally been sitting in our den for months!). After he helped me straighten everything out he told me that he had another Christmas present for me in our bedroom---this is when I started freaking out a little. I walked into the room and there was a beautiful stocking over our bed full of old love notes and pictures. After going through the stocking, and not finding anything else--he gave me the ring later once my parents arrived, Bry started talking about us and how we were perfect for each other and asked me then, everything is a blur in my mind trying to remember except that I started crying. So we basically hung out for a while, him talking, me crying, and then decided we would wait to tell my parents who were due to arrive at the apartment to celebrate an early Christmas--since we would be in Utah.

The best part of the whole story is that Bryan was working with my Mom for almost a month! to research and purchase a ring I had found over Thanksgiving break at an Estate jeweler in my hometown. She was actually bringing the ring to Bryan on that Sunday afternoon. My mom, sister, and I had gone together to look at antique rings, my mom's obsession, and I tried on some wedding rings just to get an idea of what I liked. I found, and fell in love with, the ring I have today. I showed pictures of the ring to Bryan when we got back home but after that we didn't really talk about it. We went ring shopping a few other places but I never found anything I liked more than my ring. I also love it because I found it while shopping with my Mom and sister in my hometown.

So after telling my parents and calling friends and some family we decided to wait to tell Bryan's parents until we arrived in Utah on Tuesday morning. They were so surprised and thrilled at the news--so it made for an extra celebration over Christmas.

In the post below is the most accurate picture of my ring I could find online...


*I will say to all who are thinking about rings right now, go try some on! This was great advice given to me by several people. I thought I knew what I liked but after trying on more traditional settings I decided on something totally different.*