The proposal story

Ok so I should probably start at the very beginning, when we started going ring shopping in December 2011.  We decided to go to every ring store we could think of and try every style there. Umm I was a little overwhelmed, at first I thought I wanted an emerald cut, then I was sure I wanted a princess cut. Jim patiently let me try on every style I wanted to. 

It was very important to me that we buy a ring from somewhere that was trusted, and preferably local. Our last stop on the ring shopping train was Kruger's, a local company in downtown Austin. The salesman there was very patient and dealt with my indecisiveness as well as Jim did. I must have tried on every ring there. When I was done exhausting and confusing myself, Jim asked that I try on a round cut in a simple setting. It's amazing that the person you love could know exactly what you want before you even know you want it. All along I was convinced that I wanted something unique and uncommon, but as soon as I tried on the simple ring with a single round diamond, I knew. We both knew.

'Is there anything in my teeth?' Preparing to take a pic the day after we got engaged at Jim's dad's 4th of July party.

 About a month later my mom took me to lunch and told me that she had inherited a diamond ring from my grandmother when she passed away, and knew she wouldn't have much use for it. She told me that if I wanted, I could use this ring's center stone and put it in a new setting for my engagement ring when the time came.

The thought of wearing a family heirloom that had been passed down for so many generations made my heart swell. It had to be fate that Jim and I fell in love with a round cut diamond engagement ring, and the family ring that was just given to me had a round center stone. 

My mom gave us the ring and it stayed at our house until June 2012. By then, we had decided that we wanted to buy a setting from Kruger's, but still weren't sure about which setting to put the family diamond into. When we went back to Kruger's, we had the same salesman that we did in December, who made me forget I was ring shopping and made me feel at home. I picked the same setting I had originally picked back in December, and so we knew this was the setting for our ring. 

At Jim's dad's 4th of July party, the day after we got engaged.

 We were ready, so Jim gave the family ring to the salesman and they took my ring size for the new setting we picked out. I overheard the salesman tell Jim 'It will be ready to pick up on Friday'.

The week that the ring was being made was pretty surreal, we'd been talking about this ring for so long and now it was here. That Friday when Jim came home from work he said, "Lexi, I am just going to say that the ring is spectacular.".......thanks for reminding me....The next week and a half was the longest ever, I kept wondering when the heck Jim was going to propose!

It's all about the ring! ;)

 Every time we went out to eat I kept wondering if this was going to be it! I could have been more patient, but I had waited for so long already and it was killing me knowing that the ring was somewhere in the house! I finally sat Jim down and told him I was dying.. he was killing me making me wait....I said, "You know how you can burn an image on a tv screen if you leave the dvd menu on for too long? Well I have an image of this ring burned into my mind and all I can see is the ring! You're driving me crazy making me wait!". He told me to just wait....not what I wanted to hear.

Jim, my dad, and his dad.

After that second weekend came and went I figured I had to wait yet another week for the ring. I came home from work on Tuesday and Jim was already home, which is unusual. We were chit chatting for a little bit and then I started a load of laundry, I heard him go into the backyard so I followed him out there. He was sitting on the swing in our backyard and I was walking around playing with Rocco. After a few minutes I sat down next to him and we were just swinging for a few minutes.

Jim started telling me how much he loved me, and how much we've grown with each other and changed since we've known each other, and other sweet things. He got down on one knee and I immediately started sobbing, I was totally shocked. He asked me to marry him and I said yes.

My Great Great Aunt Hazel's diamond in the setting Jim and I picked out.

 The way he proposed was so perfect, at the home that we built for ourselves, under the tree in our backyard. 

Celebrating at The Grove, a restaurant in Austin.

Afterwards Jim told me how much he had been stressing about proposing, at least he was going just as crazy as I was. He said he was thinking of going on a helicopter ride over the city and doing it there...uhhh I'm glad he decided against that because I don't want to die in a fiery helicopter crash and wouldn't have gotten in that death trap. He said he had eventually decided to do it at the Zilker Clubhouse, a place in Austin that has an awesome view of downtown. The morning before he was planning on proposing he decided to do a trial run and drive to the clubhouse, but was met with chains and signs saying 'no trespassing'. So he had to scrap that idea and was now back to square one. He told me that when I came home from work that Tuesday, he just knew he had to propose that night, so he did. 

Anyway, that's the super long proposal story, and we couldn't be happier. In the 4 days I've been engaged I already feel such a bigger commitment to Jim.

Lexi