9/23/11

About a month ago, Dusty and I went on a little trip to Stillwater, MN for some ice cream and decided to drive around. If you've never been to Stillwater, you are seriously missing out. It's been one of my favorite MN destinations since I was a little kid... I love the river walk and the cute little shops and just the quaint-ness of it all! Well, if you know Stillwater, then you surely know it's Wisconsin counterpart, Hudson, just across the river by way of the Stillwater Lift bridge. Hudson was a popular Sunday afternoon family trip that we Millers would take growing up.. mainly because it's one of my dad's favorite places to fly fish and my mom and sister and I loved the shops downtown. The whole area of MN-WI small towns right on the border= amazing!!

Well back to our trip, I tried to convince Dusty that we should just spontaneously head over to Wisconsin (it was at about 9 p.m.) just for a random adventure. Dust wasn't really having it and just wanted to go home. I was kind of bummed but I told him that eventually, someday, we had to do a Wisconsin trip... just random and out of the blue! He reluctantly agreed.

Fast forward to last weekend- Dusty had his cousins, Kevin and Lindsey in town from Iowa to celebrate the first birthday of their beautiful little daughter, Ayehush. There was a big huge party at the Wahl house with tons of family from Dusty's side and at the end of the night, Dust and I, Callie and Andy, and Kevin and Lindsey hung out in the living room for a couple hours just chatting when Dusty started to crack jokes about getting engaged. Now, keep in mind, I am kind of an emotional basket case when it comes to talking marriage because I will admit that I'd been wanting it for awhile. I was trying very hard to be patient but sometimes (okay, majority of the time) I would get really sick of waiting and put a little a lot of pressure on Dust to just finally ask. Dusty, being the unique and equally stubborn as I am person that he is, told me that I simply would have to wait and that everything, when it happened, would be a complete surprise. Not what I wanted to hear, but whatever. Anyway, that night, Dust was started to hysterically laugh talking about how I better not hold my breath thinking anything's coming soon... he actually once said that he could use the money in his engagement ring fund to buy "two McDoubles" (direct quote) to which the entire room CRACKED up... except for me. My blood was BOILING!! I was so upset and angry with him that I wanted to slap him across the face!! I couldn't believe he'd be so inconsiderate that he'd joke like that in front of his family... and on the other hand, I couldn't believe that his family thought this was so funny!

Little did I know that earlier that day, Dusty had actually PURCHASED my engagement ring, told all four family members, and was throwing in jokes (still not sold on whether I think this is actually funny or just plain cruel!) to throw me off. Literally, after that conversation, I was convinced that I was dating the guy with forever cold feet.. and I was pretty mad at him. Later in the night he apologized to me for being a good sport, and I scolded him for a long time (overnight, in fact) for being inconsiderate and mean about something that I take very seriously. Looking back on it now, I actually feel bad- considering that he had let in his family on what was going to take place, and the ring was purchased.... wow!!!

So earlier this week, Dust asked me if I was busy Friday night and I had no plans. He wanted to take me on a date because we hadn't been out together for a nice date in a long time. I was all for it considering I had worked four days in a row from 6 am til 2. Friday came and I got off work and asked Dust what I should wear, for any inkling of what might be taking place that night. I literally had NO idea what was in store for the evening.

Then that afternoon about 3 p.m., I got a call from the high school I student taught at... offering me a job teaching history classes for a teacher who will soon be gone on maternity leave!! Literally a shock-- and so amazing!! I accepted their offer and KNEW that since Dust was surprising me with our date plans, I had to surprise him with this awesome news. I also called everyone I knew close to me, parents, siblings, Dusty's mom, his sister... To tell them the great news- I got a job! However, their reactions were weird... When they answered the phone, they acted like they knew I had something BIG to tell them. I didn't think much of it, and headed over to Dusty's house for the first part of our date- Lion King in 3D!!

I forgot how much I loved this movie from my childhood as I looked to my right and saw a little girl snuggled in her dad's lap (my dad took me to this movie when it first came out almost 18 years ago) and listening to the music made me feel like a little kid again. Dusty was silent and kind of on edge the entire movie.  We have terrible luck in that every time we go out to the movies, those sitting close to us feel the need to verbally express every emotion and thought with every passing minute- didn't change with Lion King. The girl behind us was pretty distracting (not to mention about 20 years old) and Dust was getting pretty annoyed. I actually thought it was kind of funny and was curious as to why he was so upset about it, but I shook it off and the movie ended. We got in the car and I asked what the next phase of the date was, even though I knew that we were headed to Wisconsin :)

Sure enough, that was the plan. Dusty explained that we could go to dinner, or go do something he had planned that would only take "20 minutes or so." I didn't really care but at this point I was pretty hungry, but Dust decided that our little "activity" would be best to do first. So.. off we drove across the Stillwater bridge into Hudson, Wisconsin. I KNEW IT! I was pretty pumped up, but really curious as to what we'd be doing. I'd assumed we'd just kinda drive around and then head back into MN. Dust explained that we would be doing something illegal and dangerous, and also mentioned that we could get into huge trouble. Okay-- by this point I was really confused. I had no clue what those descriptions meant, but knew that if Dust had planned it out, it had to be interesting.

So by this point, we pulled up to a house for sale along the St. Croix river... a vacant home with nobody living in it. It was a pretty cool house with an awesome view, and I was pretty intrigued when we first got there. I still thought nothing of it as I was on my phone, tweeting, and looking across the street as Dusty told me to stay put while he set some things up. Again, no clue in my mind as to what was about to happen. He came and got me from the car and brought me to the roof of the abandoned home- you can actually climb on top of it!! When we got on top of the roof, I saw a set up blanket and a lantern, nicely planted by Dust minutes before. I asked if we should sit down, and he said no. We started to talk -- First, he explained that he was excited to be there with me because he knew how much I wanted to visit Wisconsin and he was happy to be able to do something like that for me on our date. Dust then apologized for the previous weekend, making fun of getting engaged/married and said that he had been a huge jerk (Ya think!!!) He went on that he took engagement very seriously and didn't want to joke about it any longer- he also explained that he WANTED to marry me, and knew that he loved me (I was still unaware at this point- I am somewhat oblivious don't ya think?!) I nodded and just kind of went along with what he was saying- until he started to mumble and kind of mix up his words... That was when I started to think that something was up. He then got down on one knee, pulled the ring box out from under the blanket, and said those four words....

"Will you marry me??"

Me: ...... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

I honestly could NOT believe it. I was totally shocked. When Dusty finally made it clear that this was in fact for real, I screamed YES! Jumped into his arms and hugged him for about 2 full minutes, laughing, crying, giggling, tearing up again, jumping up and down, and repeating WE'RE ENGAGED about a million times. It was literally completely perfect. I was wearing a gorgeous diamond ring on my finger, completely alone with the most amazing guy on the planet, just reveling in the fact that he asked me to marry him, and so thankful. We looked out on the river at the most beautiful sunset, and it was then that I realized how amazing God's timing and plan is. I had a job and a fiance within a matter of hours, after weeks of uncertainty toward what life held in store for me. Pretty sweet how this all panned out :)

Not only that- but I now realized how everything had been working out the week before- Dusty's attempt to throw me off by joking with his family the previous weekend, my family's reactions to me telling them about the job... it was crazy. I still can not believe it. I am totally shocked and excited and just unbelievably happy to be marrying the man of my dreams, my best friend, and my absolute favorite person. I know how cheesy that probably sounds but I can't think of any other way to describe the man that I've found in Dusty. He is perfect for me and I feel so lucky to be the one he wants to marry. Not only that, but I'm getting a pretty sweet deal in his family as well. I am absolutely thrilled to officially be a part of the Wahl clan. My family (as you can imagine) is so incredibly excited as well. Dusty asked for my dad's permission earlier last week and since then, my mom described that she feels like her and dad won the lottery. That makes me so happy to know my parents love Dusty so much. What a blessing!!

So that, in a nutshell, is the story of how the love of my life asked me to marry him. I wanted to write it out so that friends and family who aren't here to hear all the details can get the story... and let's be serious, I wanted to brag about how great this was :) I was totally shocked. It literally could not have been more of a surprise. I am so blessed. THANK YOU GOD!!!

Oh and I will add details as they come- for now we are just enjoying this time together and so excited about what has happened this weekend. It's been quite the celebration and I have felt so much love from so many- friends, family, and even a few strangers! Life is pretty great and I will never forget this day. It was perfect in so many ways. I love you Dust! You made me the happiest person alive for pulling off that surprise-- even if you had to do a few things to throw me off. Good job! I wouldn't have changed a thing!!

Right after he asked-- Happy couple!

The most perfect engagement ring- I had no say in any of it, he did it all himself! Not bad, don't you think??

Against the rooftop of the abandoned house- WE ARE ENGAGED!!

Mr and Mrs- soon to be anyway :)