17 November 2011 - Thursday

As Told By Eric:

The day that changed my life forever! I started having my alarm go off at 7:30am and finally got out a bed close to 8:30am. I left the house and headed off in search of her temporary engagement ring. The plan was and remains to meet with my uncle and we will get her the actual ring that she has selected (and it is a beautiful ring). Looking around I found one that I felt was beautiful and represented my love and commitment for her. I also picked up 18 roses to surprise her with after the proposal and hid them in the back of my vehicle.

I drove up towards Cedar Hills and called her and wished her a good morning. She said she was doing her makeup and I knew she wouldn’t answer her house phone. So after our conversation I called her home with a Google number I had with an 801 area code. I knew if they saw 406 they may figure out what was going on. Her mom picked up and I asked for Bro. Yearsley. He is a member of the ward bishopric and I thought I could make it seem like I was just a member in the ward trying to reach him. Her mom said that he wasn’t home but should be between 10:30-11am and also gave me his cell number. I tried that but no luck. I still had a ways to drive and it was only a quarter after 10 so I figured everything would work out and he would be home by the time I got close.

Our plan (or what she thought we were going to do) for the day was that I would pick her up after her appointment and then do lunch. Following that she was going to cut my hair and then we had the rest of the day for fun-tivities. I was about a block away when she left her house. I took the back way so we wouldn’t cross paths. After a couple minutes, knowing she was headed to work, I called her dad’s cell phone once again. He picked up and I asked if I could come over and chat (of course the topic would be no surprise, but this was a huge step). He said I could come over and the walk from my car to their door was the most nervous, shaky-feeble knees I had ever experienced. Her dad greeted me and we headed to his office. He said I should make myself comfortable and we joked that we could go to the living room or downstairs and I replied that I think I was as comfortable as I could be.

We had a good chat. I expressed my love that I had for his daughter and both of us said kind words about her and our relationship. Having gotten to know her dad a little bit I said, “I was going to ask you if I could have your daughter’s hand in marriage, but I figured you may ask ‘What about the rest of her?’” We both chuckled at that and then expressing the situation and my desire to move forward I asked if I could have his permission to marry his daughter?…He said yes! We talked a bit more about the wonderful levels of honesty and communication that Megan and I share and it was such a good experience. It really makes you grow, and pretty quickly at that, to have such a conversation with the father of the girl you love. She has a wonderful family and I am so grateful for the open arms they have extended to me even from the beginning. I later found out that Megan’s mom who was home at the time had offered a prayer that we would not be nervous and have a good conversation one with another. I’m grateful for that as well because it was such a good experience I have to look back on.

Leaving the Yearsley’s I got in touch with my mom and said, “Her dad said yes, let’s hope she does as well!”

I got to the salon and she was still finishing up the appointment. I came in ring in my pocket and all and sat casually til she finished. It was a hard appointment for her as the client was going to the viewing of her late husband…no pressure, right? Well she didn’t have a lot of hair to work with and it was just hard to style. After she finished I told it was okay and she’ll feel a lot better soon. We headed to my car and I mentioned that I knew we were going to do lunch but that I saw there was a geocache up near Battle Creek Falls picnic area and that I wanted to try that first then we could do lunch. She was on board for that but just to help confirm it more I said I saw there were some geocoins there and explained what those were. We chatted a bit more about things and pulled up and I had said it was by the picnic area (yeah I have no idea if there is one there or not). We crossed a small bridge and I said I think it is by the flag pole. And that is as far as my planning had gone!

Do I drop down now, look around…how do I do this? So we walked near the flagpole I never even had my phone or GPS out at all. She begins to look around a tree for it...Do I drop down now and she will come back around and see me…Still all this time I am trying to figure out how this all works.

A give up on the geocache, bummer I say. We just held each other for a moment. I began with telling her how much I loved her and how I wanted to move forward with her…AND THEN I DROP DOWN TO ONE KNEE.

She totally did not believe me at first. I could see this as something I would jokingly do at first but I stayed down there. I reached in my pocket and pulled out the small box and she started to believe me but she still asked me, ”Are you joking?”

“No, I’m serious.”

I open the lid to the box and said, “Megan Yearsley will you marry me?”

She cups her mouth and starts jumping up and down. Now I was assuming this meant yes but was still down there waiting for some declaration of affirmation. Sensing this was the case a resilient “YES!!” was expressed and I got up and we hugged.

I took her completely off guard…COMPLETELY. She had thought I was going to do it either in Montana on Thanksgiving break or shortly after. I told her about the temporary engagement ring and placed it on her finger. Even though it will be replaced she loves her ring and I am so happy to have her in my life. I love her so much and when I tell her thank you for saying yes she always replies, “Thank you for asking!”

She is so amazing.

We headed back to the car and I surprised her with the 18 roses and we called our parents. Her mom was working so we planned to tell her later, but she knew it was going to happen. My mom made sure to tell me that she was the first person I was to call afterwards and she was.

We headed up to Salt Lake City and could not stop smiling. Even when we tried it was not possible. We had a wonderful lunch at Cheesecake Factory and later we passed by the school and said hello to her mom.

We took it easy for a bit and then called a few, texted more, and facebooked all. We had such a wonderful day. It was so wonderful. It is so great to call her my fiancé and to blend it into calling her my “FANCY.”

I love her and I am so grateful that we get to move forward and prepare to have a home, family, and future together. She comes to Montana this next week as my fiancé and I am so excited for that. Plans have been made and others are in the works. We will be getting married at the end of January in the Mount Timpanogos Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know through this all Heavenly Father has had his hand in this and I am so grateful that we can have that confidence as we move forward.

More Adventures to Follow!