Proposing

From very early on in our relationship I have been ready to marry her. As I pondered and prayed as to whether I should be with her I felt that I received a witness that she and I could be happy together, from that point forward it has been about how she felt.

Ryann has had the idea that she would know her husband when she saw him. She never saw a beam of light shine down on me or anything like that and though she knew I was good and that I love her, she didn't know if there was someone else out there.

I had been feeling like she she was overcoming her fears and concerns recently and during the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference she gave me a note that said she wanted me to take her ring shopping. Okay I think things are ready to go forward.

Before the note I had taken my great grandmother's wedding ring into a jewelry shop to get cleaned and repaired. When I had gotten home after picking it up father saw me walking around with it and I told him I didn't know what to do with it. He suggested I put it in his safe. What a great idea. But everytime mom knew I was going to be with Ryann she would ask "do I need to go get something from the safe for you" when she asked on Sunday I said "no, but probably tomorrow"

On Sunday I also asked Ryann if she wanted to go kayaking on monday since we did not get to go on our t-shirt date.

Monday after school I went to parents and worked with dad in the goat pen while waiting for Ryann to come around, and after she arrived I got cleaned up while she worked with justin on homework.

Mom invited us to stay for dinner but we wanted to eat on the lake, so we declined. She then went and got the ring out for me and gave it to me. David and Denise asked how I was doing and gave me a bit of a hard time but Ryann did not even notice.

We grabbed Subway for dinner since we hadn't gotten a more romantic picnic packed and went to the lake. We checked out a canoe from the aquatic center and found out we only had 45 minutes before the aquatic center closed. We paddeled out on the lake and went into on of the coves for a while, and then returned the boat. We drove over to the overlook on the bluffs and went over to our picnic spot.
We sat on our picnic blanket and ate then I asked if we could do some questions from our Questions for LDS Couples book. She agreed, so we went through about six questions and watched to see the temple lights come on. During this whole time I had been playing with the ring behind her back even rubbing it on her shoulder, she didn't notice.

I suggested we have a prayer and she offered it. When she reached to hold my hand for prayer I got nervous since I was holding the ring, I slipped it on my finger and took her hand, she didn't notice. After prayer, as she started to pack up, I said "there is an important question that isn't in the book" she said "yeah there are a lot of things that could be in there." I got on one knee, she noticed. I said "Ryann Bowns, will you marry me?" Her eyes got big then she got a serious look on her face, then she said "yes."

She put the ring on. There was a hug and a kiss and then we went home to tell the good news to our family.

creative date

Institute is sponsoring a creative date contest right now, and Ryann and I decided to participate. We borrowed part of our date idea from her sister, who decorated t-shirts with her boyfriend about a month ago. I figured we would decorated shirts then wear them on a picnic to the lake (kayaking of course). The plan was for me to arrive at 9:00 and then we would go to the craft store and buy shirts and supplys, we would then have 1-2 hours to make the shirts and 2 hours for kayaking and eating.

The first problem was that I got going late and needed gas, so I did not get to Ryann's until 9:30. We then went to Michael's and got shirts (hers is pink mine is teal), fabric markers, stencils, and paint. We then returned to Ryann's and got set up. She had decided to do everything with paint and stencil and I was doing everything freehand with markers except a hearts shadow. Mine would say "My (heart shaped shadow) is missing" and then on the back "Ryann stole it!" hers would read "my boyfriend knows how to disney kiss." Once we had started we realized two things. It takes longer to decorated shirts than we had thought, and the paint is supposed to dry 24 hour and then be ironed before you wear it.

We decided we would go just a little longer than the original plan and then go to the lake in "regular" clothes. I was able to finish my shirt, but Ryann could only do one side of hers because it had to dry some before she could flip it over. We cleaned up most of our mess (we left some things out because Ryann wanted to work on her shirt after lunch), and then Ryann changed for the lake.

By the time we were in the car it was about 12:40. I told Ryann that time was a little tight for kayaking since loading and everything else could take a while, so we agreed we would kayak another day and just do a picnic on the bluffs. It is a very pretty spot with a good view of the lake and temple. I had made bread and a sundried tomato shmear and packed some salami and smoked provolone. I had also made a sweet apricot orange bread. Everything tasted good but the "sandwich bread" was a bit dry, and the cheese very soft. Ryann commented that she wonders if we got married if she would ever get to cook, since I almost always cook when we eat together. We did one of the questions from her "questions for couples" book about how many kids and when. This is something we had talked about before and I had said that I felt these choices were really hers since she had to carry the baby for nine months and would have more responsibility for a baby. She told me she wanted to know what I wanted in an ideal world and so I told her. I want at least two kids with no real upward limit, I think it is good and important to have them sooner rather than later and that the closer together they could be the better. She told me that these were all things she felt as well. We then talked about baby names we liked, and after a while we packed up.

I took Ryann home and kissed her good bye, and then I left.