I Said YES!

The secrets out! I, McKenzie Elizabeth am getting married to the man of my dreams on September 27th of this year! Here's the story....

On the morning of February 14th I woke up to a beautiful sunrise and the sounds of children stirring downstairs as they prepared for the day. I glanced at my calendar as I sat up in my bed to try and plan out my day. I saw that I had an appointment in town right after lunch and decided I would visit some friends at the assisted living home afterwards. As I slipped out from under my warm sheets I glanced up at my memo board above my bed and smiled back at a picture of the handsome guy pinned there. As I stood there gazing at the photo I came to the realization that I was going to be Valentineless yet again. My man was over three hours away at college and that was that.
I tried to not think about how much I missed him and went on about my day.

As I got ready to walk out the door my mom asked me to try and hurry home after my appointment because she and dad were going on a date that evening.

When I got home my siblings were all sitting around the table opening their Valentine gifts from mom and dad. Mom handed me my bag filled with chocolate goodness, Bath and Body Works shower gel, and my favorite lipstick. Talk about a mood booster;)
I slipped upstairs to change clothes so I could bake cookies with the little guys. When I opened my door I immediately noticed that the bed that I had left unmade (confession) was neatly made with a gift wrapped in burlap and pink ribbon sitting on top of it.
I walked across the room and as soon as I pulled the bright red envelope out from under the pink ribbon my mom ran in with a camera and started snapping pictures. I started laughing and asking my sisters if they knew who it was from. Madeline and Mariah ignored my question and just laughed at me and my look of bewilderment. :) Mom then shooed them out and told me to open the card.

 

I freaked out when I saw that it was from Daniel. He was coming home after all and I couldn't have been happier. In the card he wrote that the burlap package contained something that might help me get ready for our date. I opened it and found a new outfit from American Eagle! #happiness ☺

My mom told me that since it was Valentine's Day, daddy had given Daniel permission to take me out for the evening withOUT a chaperone. Yep, I was pretty stoked. ☺☺

 

5:45 finally came and D arrived in an awesome Jeep covered in mud! This country girl couldn't have been happier! In fact I was so excited that I didn't even notice that my normally calm and laid back man was a ball of nerves. ☺

 He's cute.

 Ain't that thang sweet!?!

When we got inside the Jeep he handed me a picnic basket and headed down a country road.  I didn't know where we were headed so I just settled back into my seat and began chatting about my day. We drove a couple of miles and he turned off onto a dirt path that ran down the edge of a cow pasture. It was very muddy in some places and Daniel spun tires like a real redneck. After he finished playing in the mud he drove across a large rye field. It was so gorgeous! As we rolled across the field to our picnic spot I watched the calves frolic on the sea of green.

 

When we stopped Daniel jumped out and came around to help me get out of what was now a VERY muddy Jeep. He took the picnic basket from me and set it down on a table he had constructed out of hay bales.He then proceeded to make a "staircase" out of hay so that we could get on top of a round bale. I hadn't really noticed anything peculiar about his behavior up to that point. As I stood next to him soaking up the glorious sunset in front of us I realized that he seemed very anxious about something. He kept saying things under his breath and his breathing was a little labored. The next thing I knew two musicians pop out from behind another round bale and they began playing one of my favorite songs while Daniel's sister Lisa popped out with a camera! I then turn back around to see Daniel getting down on one knee!!!!! To say that I was surprised would be a major understatement!☺

Stay tuned for more pictures!!! ☺