Our Engagement Story

For Memorial Day weekend, Mike and I drove for 11 hours and 45 minutes to get to San Diego to spend the weekend with his parents. We decided that it would be better for me to get to know his mom (whom I hadn't met yet) without the kids, even if it was just for a couple of days.

We left Salt Lake around 2:30 pm and drove and drove and drove, only stopping three times (twice for gas and once more for a potty break). We traded off driving and had a great time just talking and listening to music all the way down. We're big into politics and current events, so we traded the news stories we'd been reading and discussed the future of America!

We arrived in Lakeside (just outside of SD) around 1:15am and to our surprise, Mike's sister and mom were still up and as soon as we got in the door, Dad popped out. I was exhausted so they set me up in the guest room and sent me off to bed.

In the morning, Mike, his parents, and I had a great breakfast at a  little diner in the town and then got the grand tour of Lakeside (which mostly consisted of seeing horse ranches and the main street of the town). After that, we hung out at the house for a while, until Mike decided that we were going out for the rest of the day.

We drove to Old Town, San Diego where we toured the Mormon Battalion historical site (we got to pan for gold!)

the really awful mariachi band

We wandered around Old Town for a while and then had dinner at the Fiesta de Reyes (or something) outdoor restaurant. Funny story about being here-- I hate birds. Seriously, hate birds. So, we're sitting at our table, and birds are walking around, flying here and there, not bothering anyone, and suddenly, I'm hit on the shoulder by a bird flying by. Mike started laughing and I almost freaked out! AGH! I hate being touched by birds and yet they always find me!

After dinner, we drove over to Coronado Island to walk on the beach. It was perfect weather-- sunny, slightly breezy--  and dare I say it, very romantic! We walked along the shore for awhile and then we sat on the blanket I keep in my car trunk and watched the water and sea gulls. As we sat there, all I could think about was what an awesome day it was and how lucky I was to be sitting next to my best friend on such a beautiful day.

 When we noticed the sun was starting to set, Mike announced that we'd watch it set in La Jolla-- just a few miles north of Coronado Island.

getting off the freeway and heading to the beach

 We got to La Jolla and all the parking along the beach was taken. We found a family that was leaving so we waited, blinker on, for the spot. Just as they pulled out enough for us to pull in,  a little red sports car with two college age guys swooped around and stole it. Then, the driver had the nerve to stick his tongue out at us. The sun was getting really close to the water by this point so we kept driving and miraculously found a spot and pulled in, practically jumped out and ran across the street to see this:

sunset on La Jolla Beach -- near seal cove

 After the sun disappeared over the horizon, Mike decided we should walk down the cliffs to get closer to the water. The sea gulls were loving the breeze.

 A little bit away from us, a seal came on shore. The wind was pretty chilly, so Mike pulled me into him and kept me warm. After a few minutes, he started telling me how grateful he is to have me in his life and how great he thinks I am, etc, etc (it was really beautiful, actually, but I'll keep his exact words to myself!). He paused and I thought he was done-- it's not uncommon for him to tell me how awesome he thinks I am-- so I started to pull away to walk towards the shore. I mentioned that his sister was going to make s'mores and they would be fun to eat. He pulled back and looked at me funny, grabbed me closer and said, "We're not done yet, Adrienne." Oh, ok, I let him pull me back into his shoulder, when suddenly, he took a deep breath and dropped to one knee, as he pulled a ring out of his pocket.

He held the ring out in his fingers and asked me the most important question anyone has ever asked me, "Adrienne, will you marry me?"

It only took me a split second to register what was actually happening and I said, "Yes! Yes! I will marry you."

He stood up, put the ring on my finger and pulled me in for a kiss!

Suddenly, I wan't quite so cold nor as quite ready to go get s'mores!  We hugged there on the cliffs for a while, took the obligatory pictures and walked back up to the sidewalk-- grinning and holding hands all the way!

That's where the story technically ends. But, we needed to tell my dad, right? We're driving through Saturday evening traffic in La Jolla and have my dad on speaker phone, I'm literally beginning the sentence, "Mike and I just... " when BAM! someone hits us from behind. Mike yells "D****" and gets out of the car. Some girls was talking on her cell phone and wasn't paying attention that we'd stopped at a red light.

We took care of that situation, now in some weird emotional state, and call my dad back. As I'm telling him we got engaged and that I feel like this is the right thing to do and that getting married in the Draper Temple is something I've known would happen since I went to the open house, I start crying. Thankfully, we ended the conversation, because I just start bawling. I realized that the only person in the world I really wanted to know about me getting married wasn't sitting next to my dad to hear the wonderful news. Mike notices that I'm now a sobbing, mascara running mess, and gets really concerned. He pats my knee and asks, "Are you having a mom moment, or should I be worried?"

Once reassured this was just a "mom moment" he keeps his hand on my knee as I cry it all out. Then, I realize I'm also crying because all the waiting for this moment is finally over and we're actually going to get married! What a relief! When we pulled into the driveway of his parent's house, I'm barely getting my crying to stop but the idea of walking in to his family (including another sister and her kids) is a bit more than I could handle, so he pulls out of the driveway again and we drove around for another few minutes until I'm calm.

We walked in the house and decided that we'd wait to see how long it took for anyone to notice the ring (little did we know they'd been waiting all day for us to come home because the knew this was going to happen!). Mike's dad came into the living room behind us from the hall, noticed the ring first thing and did a little hop as he yelled, "Yahoo!!" Then, his mom literally pushed her grown daughters out of the way to get to us and give us big hugs! There was lots of hugging and pushing and laughing for quite a while!

For the rest of the weekend, we were just blissfully happy. We drove home Monday and talked the whole time, frequently grinning and saying "We're getting married!!!" The long drive home gave us plenty of time to talk and plan and make our to-do lists and think about how fun it will be to be married to each other!!