How We Met
Kyle and I actually went to middle school together, but we rarely crossed paths until years later! I remember helping take down chairs at my church my senior year of high school when I caught a glimpse at a group of guys in the lobby. I did a double take when I realized one of the boys was Kyle- the short, goofy middle schooler I knew grew up to be a tall, handsome guy! After reconnecting, Kyle invited me and my friends over to watch a movie with some of his friends.
My girlfriends and I got all dressed up to go, expecting to hang out with some cool new guys from a different school, but we were surprised to see they brought Little Caesar’s pizza and had Disney’s “Monster’s University” ready to play! As soon as I saw how down to earth Kyle and his friends were, I knew that this was a guy I was going to have to keep around for a while. We ended up going to the same college, Grand Canyon University, and the rest is history.
how they asked
During a crazy busy semester in college, Kyle and I planned on celebrating our four year anniversary in our hometown of Tucson while we were visiting for Thanksgiving. On the Monday before Thanksgiving, my mother made a big deal about taking me to the other side of town to find fancy Christmas tinsel at a specialty store. We spent the whole day shopping and running around, and I had to remind her that I had a date that night at Kyle’s and my favorite restaurant to celebrate our anniversary and needed to get ready. We decided that I wouldn’t have time to go home and change, so I changed in a dressing room into a new outfit and she dropped me off at the restaurant to meet Kyle. After a delicious meal, our server came over to ask if we wanted dessert (my favorite part!) and I was a little bummed when Kyle said that he had dessert planned somewhere else.
We got into his car where he blindfolded me, making me guess where we were going for dessert the entire car ride. Once I felt the familiar bumps of my family’s driveway, I was confused and told Kyle “there’s definitely no good dessert here!”. He laughed and walked me, still blindfolded, out of the car and around to the backyard. I took off my blindfold to see hundreds of photos hanging off of spectacular lights strung across the entire yard, alongside dozens of candles and a campfire blazing around the corner. As we walked around reminiscing about every photo we’ve taken over our relationship, we ended up at a table with gorgeous flowers and four picture frames laying face-down, which he told me to turn over.
Each photo frame I turned over was empty, to which he explained that we’ve had four amazing years together but that he wanted to create new memories for many, many more years. He got down on one knee with a (light up!) ring box and proposed, to which I said yes (after 10 entire seconds of crying). Kyle shouted “she said yes!” and to my surprise, all of our friends and family jumped out of the door to hug and congratulate us with champagne and cake. Even my grandparents in Dallas, future sister-in-law in San Diego, and best friends in Japan and Toronto were all on FaceTime to celebrate with us! In the end, I got a gorgeous ring, a handsome fiancé, and a delicious cake from my favorite bakery.
Looking back, I can’t believe how clueless I was about this whole plan! Kyle is a very romantic and thoughtful person, so at first glance of my gorgeous backyard, I was not surprised to see that he create a big spectacle to surprise me, especially for our anniversary. As we walked past more and more photos and candles, however, I couldn’t believe how much work he had done just for our anniversary! Proposing to me was definitely the biggest surprise of all, and having our friends and family there was just the icing on the cake.