third time's the charm

on may 18, we spread the news to families and friends--
WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!
(p.s. in 32 days)

on may 24, i officially got my engagement ring... after foiling a good proposal attempt.

i love watching airplanes take off and land. we live near one of the busiest airports in the world, so there are plenty of planes to see. when our friend josh visited, todd tried to ask him where he thought the best place to watch the planes land would be (josh is a pilot). josh showed us a diagram of the runways so we could get a better idea.

the next day, todd took me to dinner and casually suggest that we find a good place to watch the planes land. i complained about being tired or cold or some such nonsense and told him i didn't feel like doing it, so we went home. when we got home, i whined to todd about needing my ring to go wedding dress shopping (the salespeople won't give you the time of day without a ring), and todd blurted out that he had intended to propose that very night.

we debated whether he should think of a new way to propose and try to surprise me. you should know that this is a tough job--i am very scheduled and aware, so surprising me is quite difficult. however, the airplane proposal would have been a surprise and todd's first proposal in disneyland was a surprise. so his surprise-proposal track record is excellent. i therefore decided he needed to propose again officially and without my prior knowledge of the specific time or place. (i am sooo nice!)

so on sunday (may 24) todd took me for a walk in a park nearby that we had always meant to visit. the park is at the end of an unpaved road and has a small grassy area with a large, open prairieland forest preserve behind. we wandered through some tall grass and across a big meadow, then todd proposed under a birch tree as the wind blew the leaves so they shimmered. stopping at this particular spot was purposeful-- todd knows i love the sound of birch/aspen leaves blowing in the wind. the proposal was simple and sincere-- perhaps not a surprise, but todd gets a lot of credit anyway.

after all, the poor guy had to endure four years and three proposal attempts before i said yes.

i look annoyed/sleepy in all pictures.