Happy (late) Monday! This post has been requested many, many times in the past month so I figured why not start out this week by telling you all our proposal story!

For those of you that don’t know, Stephen and I started dating four years ago after he had been tutoring me in physics for a couple of months at Virginia Tech. I think we’ll both be the first to say that it was by no means love at first sight. I was a walking example of a hair-dye job gone wrong and was so far from interested in dating that I didn’t look at any guy “in that way”.  We always talk about those first few months of tutoring together and just laugh. At the beginning he was so reluctant to have a conversation with me that lasted more than a few words. Somehow, however, I chipped away at that turtle shell of his and not too long after we went on our first date.

Fast forward exactly four years and one month to May 28, 2016. It was Stephen’s birthday and I was visiting him at pilot training in Mississippi. We decided to explore Tuscaloosa for the day and visit the University of Alabama (ROLLLL TIDE, BABY!) before going to dinner at a restaurant we found called 301 Bistro. If you are in the area, you need to stop at this restaurant. IT WAS SO GOOD! We both walked out saying, “I think that might’ve been the best meal I’ve ever had.” Anyway, before I talk about food for the rest of this post… He had mentioned that there was a river walk in Tuscaloosa so we decided to walk along the river to work off some our meal and then take our annual anniversary picture that we had missed the month before. We started walking along the river looking for a place to set up my camera and passed a gazebo. He said, “How about we take it here?” I said, “Nehhh… I don’t like the lighting there.” He said a little too loudly, “Okay… I guess we’ll continue walking then.” I was thinking, “I don’t know why you’re yelling but okay.” HAHA! So we continued walking and ended up on this dock/path thing of sorts and set up my camera to take our picture.

While we were taking the picture I turned around and saw two guys sitting in the grass behind us with a very big camera. I thought, “They weren’t just taking pictures of us were they?” And then realized and thought, “No.. No that’s not what I think it is. It’s probably just a couple in the park taking pictures of the water or something.” My adrenaline had taken over at that point and I started shaking so I made this stupid excuse that the coffee I had drank a few hours ago was too strong. I tried to play it cool and suggested we start walking again and he asked to hold my bag. I thought, “What? That’s a little unusual…” but started walking because I needed to shake the nerves. I kept thinking to myself, “This probably isn’t happening and you’re going to feel so dumb Jordan…” HAHA! Anyway, I don’t really remember what he said at this point but he said something about me waiting and it made me turn around to see him down on one knee…

I’m pretty sure I blacked out because I don’t really remember what he said or what I said but all I know is there were tears and two questions after I said yes. 1. Did you ask my dad (which he did)? 2. Did you tell Jess (which he didn’t)? He kept it a secret from everyone except for Papa Newk because he was worried that someone would act funny around me and I would get suspicious. My mom didn’t even know so you can probably imagine how special the phone call was when we got into the car.

Shock and cloud nine. That’s all I can really say about how I felt (and still feel). I knew it would happen someday but I didn’t think it would when it did so I was so surprised. Props to you, Stephen John! I didn’t think you’d pull it off as well as you did! Oh and those two guys in the grass… They are Stephen’s classmates that were kind enough to take pictures of our special moment. They were also the reason why he was yelling when I said we shouldn’t take the pictures in the gazebo. Typical of me to ruin that I guess? I still feel bad about it but either way we are engaged (holy moly!!) and so overjoyed to embark on the next adventure together. This is such an exciting time in life and we’re so grateful for all of your love, encouragement, and support!