I am engaged!

Holy crap no really I'm engaged and I am still having a hard time wrapping my head around it! I've been single for so long, wanting to get married, and the fact that I am actually going to do it now, instead of just wishing for it, but trying not to want it too much for fear of serious depression, is kind of mind boggling.

But I think that many of you out there will be confused so here is the full story.

Yes, Ryan and I broke up in June. This was mainly because despite 2 years of dating, a serious commitment didn't seem to be on the horizon. There was lots of debate and prayer but that's really what it boils down to. So I was single. Again.

But I was pretty happy, as you might be able to tell from the last blog. I have a fantastic job, great friends, school is so much fun, and in general life was pretty rosy, if I ignored the ever-present something important is missing feeling. Things went on like that for about 3 months or so.

And so I'm strolling through life and one day Ryan wants to talk. We go on a walk and he tells me he's been thinking and he wants to date me again, he wants to get married now. He's been stupid and he's grown a lot, etc. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to think. Lots of times guys only want something once they can't have it, right? So I told him I would pray about it. If the Lord tells me I can be happy with you, then I'll believe Him and we can get together again. But I wasn't going to make a decision until I could go to the temple and the temple was closed for another 3 weeks.

So the poor guy was just waiting for me to make a decision for weeks. I feel bad about this, but he used the time wisely. :-) We went on nice dates and spent time together and talked about what could happen in the future. I think maybe I needed that time to start convincing me that things really might be different this time.

And then last Wednesday, I went to the temple and prayed a lot and finally decided that this was a good thing. I told him that and things kinda snowballed from there. Wednesday we changed our facebook status to dating, Thursday he bought the ring, and Friday was the proposal!

Ryan made reservations at the Capital Grille. We had the best steak ever and took a tour of the kitchens and got the hugest piece of chocolate hazelnut cake I've ever had. It was by far the nicest dining experience I've ever had. Then we rushed off to the Hyatt in Scottsdale to take a gondola ride. We got there right as they were closing but they took us out anyways. And there by the lake right before we got on the boat, Ryan got down on one knee and said, "Crissy, I know I've made you wait a long time, but will you marry me?" And of course I said yes! Here's a couple pics of the ring.

So we got in the gondola and snuggled under a blanket and looked at the lights in the garden and the stars while a gondolier named Marcus poled us around and sang us some beautiful Italian songs. Actually Marcus was the gondolier that took us on our first gondola ride, over two years ago! We were there for our 5 month anniversary and when he found out how long Ryan had been home from the mission and how long we'd been dating, he straight up asked, why aren't you engaged yet? Haha! And there we were getting engaged right in front of him 2 years later. Funny world.

So the date is set for January 2nd, the week after Christmas! It's 10 weeks from yesterday. It's maybe a little less time than I'd like to plan everything but it's when I'm off work and we're both out of school and it seems like it should be the easiest for all our family to be there. Besides, what better way to start the year off right?

We do have so much to do and possibly the most daunting task is gathering addresses for invitations. In hopes of making this a little easier, I've made a form for getting everyone's information. If you'd like an invitation, or even just an email announcement, click here

http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=tKPHUo6VI3kA4yLFnuhDiQg

and fill out your name etc. It puts the information right into a spreadsheet that I can work with! I can't wait to see you all at our wedding!