Thursday, January 12, 2012
She Said Yes!!!
Reesa and I would like to announce that we are engaged to be wed!
We are both very excited about this decision. I'm sure you'd like to know how it occurred so we will forthwith provide the story (with visual aids).
The events described occurred on Saturday, December 3, 2011:
With Reesa being home for the fall semester, we decided it would be wise for her make a visit to Provo in order to acquire housing and a job. Before she came, I told her I was preparing a "To Do" list for her visit. The list contained activities such as visiting the lights on Temple Square, going caroling, watching a few Christmas flicks, etc.. Another item was to go visit/check on our swing:
Reesa and I built a swing over the summer along the Provo River. It was on our summer 'To Do" list. (We like to make lists of things to do together).We were both very excited about all the fun Christmas activities that we could do together. Reesa flew in the day before on Friday. Saturday was full of many errands, most of which were acquiring supplies for my art lessons. We had discussed the night before our tentative plans for the day. Amongst all the errands I needed to run, I brought up that I had a neat place for us to go to dinner. I also mentioned that "if we had time" we should go check on our swing to see if it was still there. We were hoping it hadn't broke or been cut down or something. So after we ran all the errands, we decided to go check on the swing. It was just getting dark as we were on our way. As we got out of the car upon arrival, we realized how FREEZING it was. We trudged on, clinging to each other for warmth. (It's a few minutes walk to the swing from the car). As we approached the location of the swing we noticed that there were some lights around the swing and that there was music playing. Reesa stopped, not sure if we were interrupting someone else's evening. I encouraged us on. The scene looked like this:
You can see the cold river, swing and a few lights. There was also something on the swing:
Flowers, made by the one and only Sarah Cornwall who just completed a Floral Arrangement class at BYU. They were beautiful. (Thanks Sarah). Reesa spotted these, picked them up and gave them a good sniff. Since music was playing (and since it was cold) we began to dance. After dancing a bit, I invited Reesa to test out our 'ol swing. Still working just fine. (I had full confidence). Reesa slowed down. I stood in front of her to stop her. Then I kneeled down
in the mud. I told Reesa that I loved her along with other heartfelt sentiments. I pulled a little box out of my sock (advice from my brother-in-law Dallin so that the girl doesn't notice a ring box shape in clothing). I then asked Reesa Tirrell to marry me. She said "YES, Of Course!" I slipped the ring on her finger and it fit! We embraced, smooched, and danced some more/kept each other warm. It was SO cold, but we still hugged and danced for a while longer. Finally we headed back to the car. It was rather dark when I asked and put the ring on Reesa's finger so she was VERY anxious to look at the ring via the interior car lights.
From there, we headed up Provo Canyon to Sundance for dinner. On the way we called both our folks to give the official news. We couldn't help but laugh and smile as we drove up the canyon. It was rather romantic up there.
We ate at the Foundry Grill. It was very delicious. They put us in a cozy spot right in front of the fireplace. It was very fitting for the occasion. We were hoping to see Robert Redford, but no luck.
This is the ring that I personally designed for Reesa. I wanted the ring to be a complete surprise. So without any ring shopping or assistance from Reesa, I had to rely on my knowledge of her and on my artistic skills to design a ring that she would love. I did a lot of research online looking at various styles. Based on the ones I liked, I did some drawings for a design of the ring. Having never been in a ring shop yet, I took my drawings into a custom ring design shop hoping I had enough knowledge and information to communicate what I wanted. They were very friendly and accommodating. I showed them my drawings and they helped me to specify the dimensions and shape. They took my drawing and made a wax model to be able to handle and look at roughly what it would look like. I chose a stone and gave them the go ahead for fabrication. When I went to pick it up, the ring was just as I had designed it. It was a veryfitting operation for a picky, picky artist. Here are Reesa's words concerning the ring: "It's SOO pretty! I love it!" Another tricky part was the size. I did trace one of her rings while I was at her home in Washington, but that isn't always a reliable source. Fortunately, the folks at the ring shop are very knowledgeable and help me choose a size. We went bigger knowing that it's better to be big and loose than to not go on at all. The size ended up being a quarter of a size too big from her actual size (a size that needs to be adjusted anyways).
So everything worked out really well. We are still not sure on an official date, but we'll let you know as soon as we do. It will probably be in early June after I am done with my first year of teaching.
You can see the cold river, swing and a few lights. There was also something on the swing:
Flowers, made by the one and only Sarah Cornwall who just completed a Floral Arrangement class at BYU. They were beautiful. (Thanks Sarah). Reesa spotted these, picked them up and gave them a good sniff. Since music was playing (and since it was cold) we began to dance. After dancing a bit, I invited Reesa to test out our 'ol swing. Still working just fine. (I had full confidence). Reesa slowed down. I stood in front of her to stop her. Then I kneeled down
in the mud. I told Reesa that I loved her along with other heartfelt sentiments. I pulled a little box out of my sock (advice from my brother-in-law Dallin so that the girl doesn't notice a ring box shape in clothing). I then asked Reesa Tirrell to marry me. She said "YES, Of Course!" I slipped the ring on her finger and it fit! We embraced, smooched, and danced some more/kept each other warm. It was SO cold, but we still hugged and danced for a while longer. Finally we headed back to the car. It was rather dark when I asked and put the ring on Reesa's finger so she was VERY anxious to look at the ring via the interior car lights.From there, we headed up Provo Canyon to Sundance for dinner. On the way we called both our folks to give the official news. We couldn't help but laugh and smile as we drove up the canyon. It was rather romantic up there.
We ate at the Foundry Grill. It was very delicious. They put us in a cozy spot right in front of the fireplace. It was very fitting for the occasion. We were hoping to see Robert Redford, but no luck.
This is the ring that I personally designed for Reesa. I wanted the ring to be a complete surprise. So without any ring shopping or assistance from Reesa, I had to rely on my knowledge of her and on my artistic skills to design a ring that she would love. I did a lot of research online looking at various styles. Based on the ones I liked, I did some drawings for a design of the ring. Having never been in a ring shop yet, I took my drawings into a custom ring design shop hoping I had enough knowledge and information to communicate what I wanted. They were very friendly and accommodating. I showed them my drawings and they helped me to specify the dimensions and shape. They took my drawing and made a wax model to be able to handle and look at roughly what it would look like. I chose a stone and gave them the go ahead for fabrication. When I went to pick it up, the ring was just as I had designed it. It was a veryfitting operation for a picky, picky artist. Here are Reesa's words concerning the ring: "It's SOO pretty! I love it!" Another tricky part was the size. I did trace one of her rings while I was at her home in Washington, but that isn't always a reliable source. Fortunately, the folks at the ring shop are very knowledgeable and help me choose a size. We went bigger knowing that it's better to be big and loose than to not go on at all. The size ended up being a quarter of a size too big from her actual size (a size that needs to be adjusted anyways).
So everything worked out really well. We are still not sure on an official date, but we'll let you know as soon as we do. It will probably be in early June after I am done with my first year of teaching.A special thanks to Sarah Cornwall, Sarah Kron, Jared Whipple, and Spencer Twelmeyer for their assistance with the swing "set." You guys are diamo.....I mean gems. Thanks.
Reesa Re-Posted this on her blog and added this to the end:
*From Reesa: I had no idea Jeff would propose during this trip. We hadn't gone ring shopping, so he got me good with this one. Which is exactly how I wanted it to be. I love surprises and this is by far the best one yet/ever. For context, Jeff is always scheming and planning lovely surprises for the two of us...finding a bit of fantasy in a real world. I was looking forward to the special dinner plans Jeff had planned for that evening and didn't even think twice that the trip to the swing was part of a more elaborate plan. He played it so cool the entire day that I had no reason to be suspicious. I was just looking forward to finding out if our swing was still there or not. Once we go there, I was so excited to see that our swing was still intact (which indeed it was as Jeff well knew beforehand). It's true that I thought we might be interrupting someone else's romantic evening but quickly realized that Jeff was responsible for the setting. Of course it was him. After he invited me to try out the swing I couldn't stop thinking about how surreal the evening felt. Being on our home-made swing over the river looking up at the moon felt more like a dream than reality. After a few minutes of swinging I started to slow down and Jeff was right there to stop me. It took a moment to realize what was happening after he got down on one knee. It was all very surreal and after a few sweet moments Jeff asked if I would marry him and of course I said "Yes!". It felt like a dream and the feeling has yet to fade. Despite the cold I didn't feel ready to leave the scene of the proposal for quite some time; I was waiting for the realization of what had just transpired to set in. Never happened. The rest of the evening was spent in euphoria.
Washington
These are a handful of the shots I took while visiting The Tirrell Family in Washington. I went out for my school's Fall Break. I flew out Wednesday evening and returned Sunday evening. It was a lovely weekend. I had a wonderful time with Reesa and her family.
Artsy shots of Beautiful Washington:
Reesa and me out and about:
$1700, 20lb. bike I rented for a day. It was awesome.
I'm showing how light the bike is/How buff I am.
Hearthfire - A restaurant right on the bay.
The whole thing is made of windows.
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