I said Yes!

I don't even know where to begin with this post, I have SO much to tell and it's difficult to compile! The short and sweet is, we are engaged! I can't even explain the emotion I have been feeling these past few days, I am feeling so happy, loved, thankful, blessed...and so much more. All my friends and family really know how to make a girl feel loved. Being engaged is such a great feeling, I always imagined it would feel good, but really I can't even explain how content and exciting it is! So, let's get to it, here's how it all went down...

This past Saturday our family had planned to have a bonfire at the beach by our home to celebrate my sister's birthday. My family was meeting us down there and Alex and I would ride our beach cruisers, because we take up any chance to ride those bad boys! That was the plan, and it's necessary to mention that on Friday evening Alex came home from work with a telescope, he had mentioned my dad gave it to him thinking we would get good use of it living by the beach. Anyone who knows my dad knows this is something he would totally do, so although most people would think that is weird, I did not in the least bit. Okay, back to Saturday...we woke up and went for a run, did some cleaning because the family would probably come back to our place after the bon fire, went to the store to make some food for the evening, then came back to gather our things and head down to the beach. We packed up our baskets, grabbed our beach chairs and went on our way...everything is still totally normal and no sign of any "surprise" to come. 

We rode down to the beach and once we hit Ocean Blvd. (up on the cliff, overlooking the entire beach and ocean) Alex pulled his bike over. This I thought was a bit odd, but once again he pulled out that telescope and said "I want to see if we can see Newport"...knowing Alex I didn't think this was too out of the ordinary. But then, here's were I started to think something "was up". He told me to hop off my bike (again weird) and to look through the telescope (Huh?). He told me to look through the telescope between two of the palm trees.

     

So I looked through the telescope and saw "Marry"....not  realizing there was more written, tough to see but in the photo above it's where the black/blue sign is...it was much clearer in the telescope! Then I looked over and Alex got down on one knee. The next couple of minutes are pretty blurry because I was immediately overwhelmed with emotion and happiness and trying to grasp it all! But I did catch the last part of his sweet little speech "Will you marry me?" And of course I said "yes!"  Note the telescope in my hand the whole time, ha! As soon as he got down on one knee we hear a bunch of "woo hoo" screams from people down at the beach.

The whole time I was looking around wondering if anyone was taking photos but didn't see anyone. Later I found out my sister was hiding, literally hiding, on the side of the road in between two cars on the ground...didn't she do an amazing job capturing the moment?!

After I said "yes" and we had a few minutes to digest, we got back on our bikes to head down to the beach. At this point I knew my family would be down there and I was so excited to share in this moment with them. I had so many questions for Alex as we started riding, but he just kept pushing me off because little did I know the surprises weren't done! 

 I guess I was shaking after this all went down, so he recommended we get off our bikes and walk the rest of the way...

As we approached the beach, I looked over and saw all my family and friends...he had arranged for everyone to be there to celebrate with us right after this all went down. I was so happy to see that he included all these people who mean so much to us. The next few moments were spent giving hugs, showing off my new bling and recapping what happened at the top of the cliff!

Admiring My Ring!

As if that wasn't enough, there was a set up of fun photos, wedding mags, champagne, yummy food, and the cutest Sprinkles cupcakes that was so thoughtfully all planned out by everyone!

The rest of the time at the beach was spent playing cornhole, talking about how CRAZY it is that we just got engaged, the fact that me and my best friend Katie are engaged together for a week (she gets married Saturday!),  and who knew for how long and how they didn't tell me and all that jazz! 

After the beach we headed back up to the house and had a little bbq out front and continued the celebration!

As you can see, the day was absolutely perfect. My fiance (love calling him that) did an amazing job, and my family and friends were so generous with all their help and thoughtfulness. Thank you everyone for making this one of the best days of my life so far. I am so excited for all the festivities to come and ultimately to spend my life with the one person who makes me feel like like I'm the only girl in the world!

One of my sweet friends, Marysa, made this amazing collage. I love it!