I said YES!

Even though it has been over a month, I wanted to share our engagement story with you so that you could be up-to-date on the most exciting day of my life!

(Warning: Long Post)
First off, the past 8 months have been some of the roughest times for Kyle and I, but also some of the best times. The love/hate relationship of his new job all started on January 18, 2010 when he began working for American Airlines. It was very tough at first because not only was he moving four hours away, but I still had 1 1/2 years of school left in the great town of Stillwater, OK. Let me tell you there were many times when I would call him crying because I just needed to give him a hug or wanted him to be here so bad that I couldn't stand it (I'm getting better by the way). The long distance relationship the past 8 months has definitely made us stronger and I look forward to the weekends every week when I get to see him. So that was the hate part of the job, now on to the LOVE part of his new job......

Have I mentioned that I LOVE his job?? I DO because it has given me the opportunity to go to NYC, California, Florida, Chicago, Ohio (multiple times), Texas (multiple times) all in 8 months! We will get to the other trips eventually, but today is about the engagement.

It all started July 11 when I flew to Florida to spend time with my Uncle Jim, Aunt Kim, and Cousin Courtney in Destin. It was very relaxing and great to be able to spend time with them for a few days. On Wednesday, July 14th I flew out of Ft. Walton Beach and headed to Dallas to meet up with Kyle and Nancy (Kyle's mom) because we were heading to Napa Valley, California for a few days to visit wineries and eat good food (that was on my agenda at least). Little did I know what was actually planned for this trip....Because we fly standby we have to be very patient and flexible with flights because they could change at any given moment and that day they did. We were in the Dallas airport for a few hours waiting to see which flight we would get on and where we would be heading. It's a big game and Kyle absolutely loves it which I'm happy he does because it can be very overwhelming. We finally made the flight to Fresno and arrived at 9:30 pm (Pacific Time), but we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us which would put us at the hotel 2:30 am (central time). It was a very long night, but we made it safely and went straight to bed!

After a great night sleep for me (sorry Nancy for hogging the bed) we got up and had breakfast and started getting ready for our big day. I still had no idea at this point that it was such a big day...ah! As we were getting ready we blew a fuse in our hotel room and it knocked out all of the electricity in our room. I literally had just said 5 minutes prior to it going out that "I am going to have such a good hair day because there is NO HUMIDITY here!" Well, that sure as heck didn't happen because I ended up in the lobby bathroom trying to finish straightening my hair in time for our first appointment. The end result = ponytail. Did I mention the maintenance crew fixing our electricity didn't speak English??

Ok, now on to the good stuff....we were heading to our first stop and Nancy had her video camera so I immediately became a little suspicious, but it didn't last very long because I remembered that Kenny (Kyle's dad) pretty much filmed their whole drive to Colorado when Kyle was two. Our first winery went well and we had another appointment lined up at Cliff Lede Winery. Once we arrived there I was in my own world because I could've sworn up and down that this was the winery that Nick and Jessica went to on Newlyweds. I immediately got out of the car and text my sister and was telling her all about it (we were really big Newlywed fans). Lame, but I still wish they were together. Anyway, this whole time I was looking at my phone Nancy and Kyle were slowly making there way out of the car and up to where I was. He will tell his version in another post because it will be completely different and not so clueless.

I had told Kyle at the previous winery that I want to try and take as many pictures as we can together because it was so pretty there. If you know Kyle at all he is not one to want to take pictures all the time, but he asked when we got into the garden area of this winery if I wanted to take a picture in front of these two red heart statues. I said "Sure, I have to finish this text to my sister because don't you know that this is the winery Nick and Jessica were at??" That was my priority at the moment and not the picture...I finally put the phone back in my purse and he immediately grabbed my hands and asked "If I was ready for him to ask me something serious?" I knew right off what was about to happen and tried so hard to listen to every word he was saying to me. It was the sweetest thing to hear "Lauren, will you marry me" come out of his mouth. I was so happy his mom was there to video and take pictures of that special day! To see the video visit www.youtube.com and search Kyle and Lauren Proposal! (Or just click the link)



I am so excited to marry my best friend and spend the rest of my life with him. I am so blessed to have a guy that loves me for who I am and is not only in love with me, but also in love with the Lord. I look forward to our lives together....