First off, can I say it is still super weird to be wearing my dream ring on my finger? Ok. Yes. Super weird. But also... so amazing!
On our way to Utah from Texas, we stopped in Kansas to see Lisette (and also to eat raspberry black bean dip from So Long Saloon). When we got there, after 7 hours of driving separately because my car is too heavy to tow behind his truck, we were tired. We knew if we drove separately the next 14 hours, we'd be stopping every two hours or so. It would pretty much take us 2 years to get to Utah. So, we decided, while eating raspberry black bean dip (which I honestly might let take the blame for the entire ordeal), to buy cheap Frontier flights back to Kansas and to leave my car at K State for the week. We unpacked a little bit of my stuff, put it in the truck, and off we went. My first real time driving the truck (nerve-wracking), but mainly lots of cuddle time and listening to the same audiobook! I was excited, because that's what I had been looking forward to the whole time. ANYWAY. The point of this paragraph is to tell you we left my car in Kansas, and had to, at some point, return to get it.
Sunday the 21st, we flew out from SLC to MCI early, early in the morning.
While at the airport, we were going through security, and Jake's bag pulled to the side by TSA. Of course. I was pretty oblivious to everything that was going on, but I learned later that the TSA worker pulled out the ring box Jake had made me and I didn't even notice! Jake said to me, "Lynnette, you can go stand over there," And I was like, "No it's okay, I'll stay here!" (Haha sorry Jake!) Jake said to the guy, "Dude that's an engagement ring, please help me out!" The TSA guy ended up finding Jake's knife in there, so all was good and I was still 100% oblivious. Jake later said to me, "I would've had to propose to you right there in the Salt Lake City airport if you would have seen it!" Hahaha.
We spent Sunday with Lisette -- "hiked" the Konza Prairie which is not far from her campus and watched a movie. We didn't have a place to stay that night, so we just figured it was best to leave late because we wanted to spend time in Colorado during the day instead of missing the awesome scenery again! So we ended up leaving around 11 pm central time, which let me tell you - TERRIBLE IDEA. 2 hours in, we were both so tired. We stopped several times that night, and I'm honestly amazed neither of us fell asleep at the wheel.
It was the 22nd, and this day was pretty freaking awesome. That morning, we went to Cherry Creek State Park and just kind of walked around and talked. I think we were both just needing to move around and get some energy, so we were willing to stop anywhere!
After, we went to Denver City Park and laid down a sheet I had in my car just to talk and hang out. Earlier the previous day, Jake had told me about this analogy that he and his uncle had thought of. This was the analogy: "We're on a river, and I love the river. The river is so fun. And at the end of the river, we drop into the ocean. And the ocean is super intimidating, right? It's scary."
Of course I took this analogy the "wrong way", but I don't really know how else I should have taken it! He shared this analogy with me and my immediate reaction was, "We can postpone the wedding date! We can date all semester!" and, his personal favorite, "Do you want to date other girls?" Apparently this is not what he was going for -- he just wanted to discuss marriage and make sure I was 100% in it, for e t e r n i t y.
A couple times Jake said things like, "I love you! I want to get married in December. I know I'm going to marry you." And other times he said things like, "I'm not sure I'm ready! It's a big commitment." Let me tell you -- this day was a whirlwind of emotions. Several times I was sure we were going to drive home broken up and the whole drive was going to be completely awkward (I am being so serious).
We left the park and went to eat at Mellow Mushroom -- amazing pizza. Parking was insane. We found this parking lot that seriously charged about $25 for 1 hour of parking, but we couldn't find parking on the street. So we decided we were "living on love" and went for it. The pizza was amazing as usual, and Jake was able to eat bruschetta and about three whole pieces of pizza. I don't know where all of it goes, but it's in there somewhere, apparently. We left, and we had about a 4 hour drive to Glenwood Springs Canyon, where there is this amazing hike we found called Hanging Lake.
I slept most of the way, woke up when we stopped for gas, complained a little, bought sour skittles, and then we made our way to the trail. There were so many signs that said things like, "CAUTION: HARD HIKE. BRING WATER. HAVE GOOD, STURDY SHOES." Me? I'm not in shape. We had a few water bottles. I had old tennis shoes I had bought from Nordstrom Rack about 18 months back -- but sure, it was going to be great! I stayed positive, even though it was pretty cloudy and gray outside and it was probably going to pour on us, but it was fine!
The trail was pretty busy this day, which was comforting, just in case I broke my leg or died and Jake needed help getting me down (kidding). The way up wasn't so bad, actually, but still not super easy. Jake would stop occasionally for "his" sake, but really mine, and ask if I wanted to keep going. I would reply, "I'm fine, I'm fine!"
On the way down, we started talking about his amazing family -- I was finally feeling like Jake was being his normal self again! Maybe the nerves were subsiding or something had clicked, I didn't know, but I was glad he was becoming normal again! We talked about his mom, and how she's such a hard worker and how she has accomplished so much and still wants to accomplish so much more. I shared stories I had of her that I came to know while being at the farm, and he shared some stories of her as he was growing up. We also talked about his brother Brent, which led us to talk about Tess.
The way Jake's family talks about Tess is amazing and heartbreaking all at once. I remember Beth told me about her a little over a year ago, but I didn't think much of it because I had never seen a picture of her and I didn't know the full extent of the story. Earlier this summer, Beth and I also talked about an experience she remembers with Tess, and now, walking down this hike, Jake started telling me about the same exact experience. He told me he remembers coming home from school with his brothers and Beth had picked them up, and his dad met them out in the driveway and said, "Tessie's passing away." They spent the rest of her time together, sharing stories and just loving each other -- the kind of Blackwelder love that I have the hardest time explaining to people until they see it in action. When Jake quoted his dad, he started crying a little bit. We were both pretty emotional right then.
When we got to the bottom of the hike, we joked about getting engaged (how much more joking could we do? We had already gone ring shopping! Haha). He told he me hadn't asked my mom yet and since I thought he didn't have the ring yet, I told him, "Don't worry, we'll just call her next week!" Little did I know, he 1) had the ring and 2) was texting my sister (who had tried on my ring the night before!) saying things like, "I haven't asked your mom, but I want to ask her to marry me!" and Lisette was saying, "Just do it!" We got back in the car, and I thought we FOR SURE weren't going to get engaged -- I was a little disappointed, but it was going to happen at some point! His mom had texted me when we got back in the car and I got service again, "So what's the scoop? Are you guys going to get married in December? Let me know!" And I seriously responded, "I don't know, I am thinking he wants to wait a little bit right now so we'll see. I love him and I'll wait as long as he wants to!"
And then.
Literally 15 minutes later.
We pulled off to the side of the Colorado River, the last stop before the canyon ends, and started walking around a little.
We were standing by my car and I said, "I need to know. Do you want to marry me or not?!"
Then.
He reached into the car and got out this amazing little box he had made the week before (I knew he was making something, but he told me it was a "wedding gift", which is another reason why I'm so crazy for thinking he was breaking up with me).
I said over and over, "What are you doing?! What are you doing?!"
He got down on one knee and I said, "what are you doing?!"
And he said, "I'm ready for the ocean, will you marry me?"
It was simple. And sweet. And perfect. I could not have asked for anything more.
And the ring was exactly what I wanted.
I was seriously so shocked. I had no idea it was coming, and I was so excited.
But we realized he still hadn't asked my mom for permission, and she just happened to be in Vegas, so we drove 7 hours there to tell her in person. That was so fun.
I love Jake, and I can't wait for our life together.
Sometimes I'll just be driving and I'll kind of see our future. I'm not sure exactly what it looks like or where we'll be, but I know that we'll be together and that we want the same things and no matter what we decide, we'll be happy with where we are.
There's nothing more I want than to be a Blackwelder (and more importantly, Jake's Wife!)
(So cheesy, I know, but so true.)
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