The Engagement Story...

Brighton has been houndin me about updating my blog for the past couple months so because i love her so much i decided to update it ... finally. Here goes ...

Right before christmas break i had the great opportunity to drive down to Vegas to visit my beautiful girlfriend (at the time, now fiance.) I was a little nervice because i was going to be meeting her family for the first time and that always fun especially after hearing how crazy they were from her and her sister. I was pretty excited at the same time because i wanted to finally get to know them so i could see what my future family was going to be like (I say that now because we're engaged but back then i was just nervice haha). I made it to Vegas in one piece and finally got to see Brighton after not seeing her for like a week! which was toooo long. Well the first one in her family that i met was her mother. She was super nice to me and relieved some of my nerves and i started to get more comfortable. Well apparently i looked a little different than she thought because later that day she was talking to Brighton's dad about me and mentioned that i looked different. Well that sparked the wonderful question from him, "what is he black?" then came the pause and the very cleverly placed answer of ... ".... yeah actually, how did you know?" which in turn brought back my nervousness because now i was not just the new boyfriend but the new black boy visiting for the weekend. Which is totally fine with me ha.

Anyway i met the rest of the kids later that night and it was perfect! It was almost like i was already a part of the family and we have gotten along ever since. Well i go to sleep that night excited to wake up in the morning to meet Brighton's Dad. That came pretty quick because i slept on the couch and when i woke up the whole family was in the room doing whatever it was they were doing while i could barely see and was stinky + all the other symptoms that come with early morning wake ups, i.e. bad breath, nappy hair, and occasionally the grumpy attitude. So that is how i first met her dad! wooo hooo, it was ok though because he is the man and we got along really well. He is a funnnny guy. The whole family was amazing and it had to have been the best weekend i have had in a very very long time. I missed the craziness the second i left for home.

I think i had the most amazing talks i have ever had with anyone when i was with Brighton. We talked about everything! Even the M-A-R-R-I-A-G-E word which i hadn't really planned on. She is the most amazing girl. I really really did not want to be away from her until New Years! another week! AHHHHHH! once again, to long.

Ok moving on.

That week went by like an eternity but fast at the same time. hmmm. Well my mind was spurred to think a little be harder about when i would actually ask her to marry me. Mike was the reason for that actually, so the day before new years eve i made up my mind and told my parents that i wanted to go look for a ring and if all goes according to plan i would buy it that night so that when she got to Boise New Years Eve that i would propose to her in some dashingly romantic way and ride off into the sunset. Well i went and looked around for a ring and the whole time was telling Brighton that i was super poor and it would take a really long time for me to get enough money to pay for one that she would like and not some fake thing that i would not want to look at everytime i saw it. So i kept her in the dark whilst i was purchasing the ring and making plans to propose. My first plan was to take her to the temple and put some roses into the flower beds where there were no flowers so that when i took her up there to check the temple out there would be some flowers there with a conveniently placed ring box right next to it. Well that plan didn't end up happening because, frankly, it was just to much work along with everything else i had to do. sorry.

So i decided on something else. So here is the set up. I had called her Dad earlier in the day while she was driving to Boise because i was just so pumped up to talk to him.. at least that is what i told her. I wanted to sound like if i didn't do it then i would never be able to do it again or something to that effect. Well that was an interesting story in itself. Long-ish story short, he said yes i could marry is little girl. Oh i did have to say that i was the black kid that came to visit a couple weeks earlier because when i said my name he didn't recognize me haha good times. Well Brighton had slowed down to 75 mph so that she didn't show up when i was talking to her Dad which ended up taking forever because she was still a ways away and i didn't talk to her Dad for very long.

So she makes it to Boise and everything is amazing again and i got to give her a big hug and kiss to calm her nerves before she met my parents! Lucky for her i'm an only child and our house is a little less hectic. Well they hit it off amazingly and then the big day began!

I thought that i still had her in the dark the whole time and that she would have no idea whatsoever that i was going to propose. I'll tell you a few of the mistakes i made thinking that! First of all i had the ring in my pocket all day because i just didn't know where else to put it and i was kinda attached to it because it was the first ring i have ever bought. Well throughout the day i kept thinking that she noticed it or that she brushed up against it from time to time. Well i just kinda brushed that thought aside and moved on. I also made the mistake of being to persistant about wanting to call her dad. The last one is that i told her i needed to ask her mom a question, which by the way, she guessed what i wanted to ask her and said, "my ring size is 5 if you were wondering!" So all of those things didn't register until later that night. Anyway....

We me a bunch of people in my ward and went to a few new years eve parties and hungout with my buddies and finally when the time came i told her that we were gonna go watch the fireworks.... wooooops back up. We had exchanged christmas gifts when she arrived in Boise and part of mine to her was a frame with pictures of us. So i strategically told her that i had to get another part of it from a guy i worked with later that night so i was sorry i didn't have the whole thing. Ok, continuing on ... I took her up to an old train depot in downtown Boise where there are gardens and waterfalls, etc. to watch the "fireworks". We got up there and walked around for a bit and then sat on a bench overlooking Boise. Well the time was ticking down to midnight and i was feelin preeeeeeety good about asking, definately a lot better than asking her father for permission, thats just a scary thing no matter who you are! Well the time hit 12:00 p.m. and i kissed her and said happy new year then said, "soooo, do you remember the other part of my present for you?" She said, "yeah...". Then i got up and took the ring out of my pocket and got on one knee and said, "Brighton, will you marry me?". She said, "YES!" and tackled about tackled me into a pond! After about a minute or two-long hug i finally got out a, "do you even want to see it?" Ha she laughed and finally looked at the ring and loved it.

So now we are engaged and are going to be married on April 18th in the Las Vegas temple! She is the love of my life and i am the luckiest man to have her forever. I love you Brighton Nicole Noorda.