The PROPOSAL

Saturday, August 8th....

To understand the entire story, we must start from the very beginning. Saturday was dedicated to my friend Sarah, to celebrate her 20th BIRTHDAY! Even though her actual birthday is on the 10th. Early in the morning, we headed out toward the Salt River to go rappelling! After we did that for a while, we decided to play in the River! Around Lunch time we went to California Pizza Kitchen, and pigged out! Yummy! Once we finished there, Eric informed me that he had some chores to finish at home, and that he would come back over after he was finished(He was actually going home to work on the picnic for his proposal). While Eric was gone, I took a very long nap. AW, I love naps.... While Eric was finishing up, my friend sarah asked me if I would like to take some pictures when Eric returned. I said yes of course, and was positive that Eric would enjoy to take pictures as well. When he came back over, he told me that he had planned a picnic for us at Saguaro Lake. He had also brought his Dad's Jeep, so that we could go Rhomping. The photo shoot ended up lasting longer than he thought, and he started getting very impatient with Sarah, and getting upset. I was oblivious to the fact that the reason he was so upset, was because he wanted to get us to the lake before the sun went down, so he could propose during sunset. I ended up getting frustrated with Eric, and told him that he needed to stop acting like a jerk. He ended up apologizing, but he was still very defensive about the whole situation.

We finally made our way to the lake. By the time we arrived there, the sun was almost gone. We started making our way up this very steep and rocky hill. When we had almost reached the top, THE JEEP BROKE DOWN!!! The clutch was not working, and we couldn't get the Jeep out of gear. To prevent the Jeep from rolling away, we put some huge rocks behind the tires. We decided to have our picnic even though we were pretty much stranded. After we finished eating our homemade pazookies, and drinking our "Jones" soda, we packed everything up. We said a prayer, and started walking. With my sandals on, it made the hike back down very difficult. We eventually made it to the parking lot, where we found this group of guys in a couple of Jeeps. We asked them for some help, and they turned out to know a lot about Jeeps, and were capable of towing us to the parking lot.

Next Eric called his dad to come help us with the Jeep. John told us that he would be on his way in a little bit. While we were waiting, Eric asked me to walk over to the lake with him. We got to the edge of the water, and just as Eric was about to get down on one knee, a skunk surprised us with it's presence. We started moving back very slowly. Once we thought it had left, Eric went over to see if it had really left. As soon as I was about to join him again, another skunk came out, and then another one. Now, we had two skunks between us. One had Eric cornered against the lake, and one was starting to follow me. Luckily they didn't spray us. They finally made enough space for us to get out of there! We then decided to go to the other side of the lake. Just as we were walking over there, I could feel blood filling my underwear. Yes, I had leaked through my tampon! We had been there much longer than planned. Poor Eric, one thing after another. :( We went back to the Jeep so that We could wait for his dad to come, and also bring me a tampon. The only thing keeping my blood from getting everywhere was the kitchen cloth Eric had in the Jeep. I know, GROSS! Finally John arrived, what a relief! He couldn't get the clutch to work, but he could drive it back to Tempe with out using it. It was really dangerous, but it worked. When we got to Eric's house I went inside, and witnessed Eric's Mom having a night terror! The dog was freaking out, and cornered me in the Laundry room. Finally the dog calmed down, and I went outside to tell Eric and his dad what happened... They just laughed, and explained.

Next, Eric told me that he wanted to end this date right, and that I should go hop in the shower, and clean up so that he could take me back out. By this time it was almost midnight. We were talking about how horrible our date had gone so far, and I said "The only thing that could have made this night worse, is if you had been trying to propose to me." How ironic. Eric just laughed it off, and thought that I was rubbing the night in his face, because He thought I had already figured out that he was proposing!

After I got done showering, Eric blind folded me, and drove me to Tempe Town Lake. He had me standing there, and told me to open my eyes. When I did, Eric was on one knee holding a sunflower in one hand, and the ring in his other hand! I said YES of course. Not even two minutes later, the police came and kicked us out of the park! On our way home Eric explained everything to me. Why he was upset about the pictures, and that he thought I knew about the proposal. He thought this because during the day there was multiple times he had left the ring sitting out, and also at our picnic, there was a ring picture on the Jones soda I was drinking that said Mr and Mrs Jones. I don't know how I didn't find out, but I'm very happy it ended up being a surprise.

It might not be the most perfect and romantic story, but it will definatly be remembered! I'm so excited and Happy!