Our engagement pictures are in! Yipee! I got the links today while I was at work, and it made it really hard to concentrate! I just wanted to look at them and pick out my favorites and have fun!
Here's the slideshow - http://www.fidelisstudio.com/client_slideshow/GarretandLeslie - my fave from that is definitely the last one. I looove that chimney by the snakehouse on our farm. And of course I love it when Garret makes me laugh, which is a lot :)
Also, here's the whole gallery of photos, where there are lots more good ones! The password is leslieandgarret: http://www.kmdfoto.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=60. Some of the kissymushy pictures are awkward, but on the whole I really like how they all turned out. That was such a fun day! Which ones are your faves? I'll give you time to form your opinions... okay - some of my faves are: 14, 3, 29, 38, 39, 5, 7 and 9.
Now, our wedding to-do list for the next month or two is: design save the dates, finalize the guest list & round up everyone's addresses, decide where we want to register and maybe start, find bridesmaid dresses, pick florist & caterer. Yeah... that's all I can think of. Planning really has been pretty chill so far. I really want to plan a wedding that is Christ-centered, but also plan it in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Confession: I have very little idea of how to do this. You've probably heard this idea from me before, but I think I'm going to start a blog about planning a wedding and preparing for marriage from a Gospel-minded perspective. See, I wanted to read this blog originally, but I can't find such a thing, so I think I should just write about my journey. I've actually already started it, but I want to get a good amount of content in it before I show it to anyone. So... yeah, please share with me any thoughts you have on that, and I'll have more to share soon!
So, I'm pretty sure anyone who reads my blog already knows this, but yes, Garret and I are engaged! Praise Jesus! I'm veryveryveryvery thankful to have completed the awkward in-between-time b/w commitment and engagement! It's finally sinking in that we really are engaged and really are going to get married in less than a year!!! We're working on a wedding website, and I'll post it here when it's done. For now, here's the proposal story, via some tag-team story telling, and a few photos. More to come later! (This photo where he's on one knee was a reenactment, the day after - just fyi!)
Our Engagement Story
Leslie: The weekend of July 24, I had planned on going home for my Dad’s birthday, but Garret asked if we could stay in town Friday night so that we could have a date night. At first I was a little stubborn about it, but I finally changed my mind, and we planned on going out to eat and then taking a walk around campus. I thought it was just a normal, fun, relaxed date night – I had no idea what he had up his sleeve!
Garret: First, a little back story. For the two weeks previous to the 24th, I had been driving all over the place, sneaking out of town to have the official, “Can I marry your daughter talk” with her dad, buying the ring and taking care of all sorts of other things. I had to figure out a way to get her to stay in town, and it was really stressing me out. Finally, with the help of our close friends she agreed to stay for a supposed date night. Friday night came up and I was so excited. I had never been more confident and nervous about something in my life. We went out to dinner after work and had some good Mexican food and an ice cold Shiner. After dinner we took a walk along our favorite areas of campus, and we ended up at Rudder Tower on our favorite balcony. We sat there for a few minutes before I said, “I need to ask you something.” I pointed to her True Love Waits rings, and said “I’m going to need those.” I hit one knee and said “Will you marry me?” and she said…
Leslie: “SHUT UP! REALLY!?!” – and then “YES!!!!” I was COMPLETELY SURPRISED! I knew it was for real, and I was SO excited! But also, I was totally in shock! Garret did a great job at surprising me and I really had no idea it was going to happen so soon! After he slid a beautiful diamond ring on my finger, we enjoyed the moment for a while, and I tried to let it sink in that we really were engaged! Before we left the balcony, we prayed together, and that’s when it began to solidify in my mind – I’m really going to marry Garret Lee! God is good.
After that, Garret told me that both of our families, Kristi and Derek, and many of our friends were all waiting at my house for an engagement party. I was really excited about that, because I’d specifically asked Garret to orchestrate that if he could – and he did SO good! (And my wonderful roomies helped him out a lot!)
Everyone was waiting in the yard when we pulled up, and that was so much fun! We told everyone the story, took lots of pictures, and celebrated! All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.
