engaged.

so about a month ago, I got engaged. Wanna hear the story? Here it is. 

In June, Ethan and I traveled to New York to celebrate my brother's graduation from high school. We spent a week visiting with family and friends, and celebrating the fact that my little brother was finally done with high school. It was a wonderful week, and I had so much fun showing Ethan around town, all the places I used to hang out. On the last day there with my family, we headed to Niagara Falls, because it would be a shame for someone to visit Buffalo and not see the falls. 

So, we planned a picnic to enjoy on the bank of the Niagara River. My family came with us, but since everyone in the world was in on the surprise but me, my family left Ethan and me alone to picnic. They went off and enjoyed their own picnic. It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy. 

Here's a picture of me eating an egg salad sandwich, unaware of what was about to happen. 

So after we finished eating and feeding Swedish Fish to seagulls, my family had made their way to a hiding spot in some bushes. I suggested we start to pack up and find my family so that we could start making our way down the river to the falls. Ethan said there was one thing he had to do first. 

At which point he reached for the ring and got up from where he was sitting to be on one knee. I wasn't really sure if I should stay sitting or stand up. I stood up. 

My family of course was in the bushes, poised with cameras and phones in hand.

So then he gave a little speech, which I've now forgotten (is this normal? I feel like people are so nervous they don't remember what is said). And then he asked me to marry him. 

And my first response was not yes. Seriously. I was surprised and in such disbelief that I didn't say yes at first. All I could Say was, "Wait. For real? Like for real for real?"

After he nodded to reassure me that he was in fact serious, I said yes (of course) and he put the most beautiful ring on my finger. 

He did so good, didn't he? I love it! 

This is a picture captured by my sister from the bushes. Cool cars in the background. 

This is us right after my family came out. They made us stand there by the river and take pictures. 

But we still hadn't made it to the falls! So we packed up and headed down the river to the falls. We got on the Maid of the Mist, which is a ferry boat that takes you right up to the falls from the bottom. It's a pretty spectacular sight. 

Now, remember when I said it was breezy? It was. And by breezy, I mean that when we got on the boat, it was a full fledged wind. We were trying to be all cute like, "hey, we just got engaged. Look how cute we are!" But the wind wasn't having it. The wind was all, "Nahhhh."

So we ended up with about fifty pictures looking like this:

So cute. 

Well, there's the story. Thanks for reading this whole thing. Now to plan a wedding!