It began on the morning of Saturday, July 26th, 2014. My whole family, my fiance (then boyfriend), his parents and I were enjoying our first full day of vacation in Twain Harte, CA. Although I did think it was a little odd at first that Jordan’s parents wanted to come to my family’s annual reunion/vacation, I just figured that they wanted to go on a vacation too, and perhaps get to know my family a little better.
The boys (my dad, brother, fiance, and some cousins) wanted to go up to Pinecrest Lake, but the girls (My sister-in-law, some cousins, mom, grandma, fiance’s mom, and I) and to go to the Twain Harte craft fair. Eventually we came to an agreement that the boys would go to Pinecrest, and the girls would go the craft fair, and then meet the boys in Pinecrest after the craft fair. While at the craft fair, a few things happened that didn’t make sense at the time, but of course looking back, it all makes sense now! First, my fiance’s mom wanted to come to Pinecrest with us after the craft fair because “she was meeting some friends” which seemed a little odd to me. After the craft fair, it was later in the afternoon, and I was hot, tired, and hungry, and suggested that the boys just come back to Twain Harte and we could go to Pinecrest again another day. My sister-in-law was very persistent however, and eventually changed my mind. Again I thought it was odd, but then I just figured that she wanted to hang out with her husband (my brother) whom she hadn’t seen all day.
When the girls finally arrived at Pinecrest Lake, I was told that my fiance’s dad was going to meet us there, which of course I assumed was because he was going to meet friends there with his wife as well. My fiance came to meet us in the parking lot, and when he grabbed my hand, I immediately noticed his hand was really sweaty, but it was hot out, so that makes sense, right? So I didn’t say anything. Through out the first few hours of being at the lake, my fiance mentioned quite a few times that my brother, who is a photographer, wanted to do some hiking and take some pictures. I just thought, “OK, whatever”, but eventually I started to kind of wonder why my fiance cared so much about my brother wanting to take pictures.
By this time, my fiance’s parents had said that they couldn’t find their friends, so they just hung out with my family and us. After a little swimming and eating, my brother, sister-in-law, dad, and cousins finally decided to hike a little bit with my brother so he could take his pictures. About fifteen minutes into the hike, we found a little cliff that looked over the lake. My brother stopped and started taking some pictures, and then asked if my fiance Jordan and I wanted to have our picture taken. This was not out of the ordinary for me, because my brother (as a photographer would) is always taking pictures.
As he snapped a few photos, I felt Jordan pull away from me.
When I looked over to see what he was doing, he was down on his knee with a ring. Before he could even say anything I immediately burst into tears. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS WAS HAPPENING! He said, “Amanda Rose Austin, will you marry me?” and through sobbing tears I said “Yes!” It was so surreal that Jordan was actually proposing… the moment I had thought about my whole life was actually happening! I remember I kept asking, “Are you sure? Is this for real?” and crying. Lots of crying (happy tears of course!) The best part about this proposal is that my dad got to be there for it. It meant so much to me to have my family witness one of the most amazing times in my life. And it was great that my brother was taking pictures the whole time!
After a few more pictures, we hiked back down where Jordan’s parents were waiting with smiles…and I knew exactly why they wanted to come to Pinecrest now…. and I also knew why Jordan’s hands were so sweaty when we had first arrived at the lake..