Going To The Chapel

My last post (the day I posted about spotted beards and Christmas candy) was the day before one of the very best days in the history of best days...

But I didn't know it at the time.
Or the next morning for that matter.
I had no idea that I was about to become one of the most excited girls ever.

I was volunteering at Somerset Beach Campground's Live Nativity in the evening with some great friends and co-workers—and, of course, my Superman :)  The Live Nativity is great, I look forward to it—but it is COLD!  We bundle up so much that we resemble marshmallows in our lovely Bible-time costumes.  Usually when Todd and I are back at Somerset, we'll go for a walk before actually leaving the Campground.  It's nice, we get a chance to catch up on the week, and remember some of the crazy things that have happened to us at camp.  So we went for our walk, and it was great as always.  After making our loop around the West campground, we walked back to the parking lot—but instead of walking back to the car, we went to the beach instead.  (I am still surprised that I did not catch on to that...)  Anyway, we walked up to the beach and saw a swing hanging from the tree by the boat house!

Now, some background: Before we were dating (and some after), we would talk on the swings a lot—and once we were swinging rather late in the evening and were picked on by the other counselors. And "teenagers staying out late on the swings" were mentioned a few days later in our security meeting (not about us specifically, but I still turned a few shades of pink).  

But because of that, "swings" is one of our little inside jokes, and we had actually just been talking about that meeting and remembered how embarrassed I was.  Thus, a swing that neither of us had ever seen before was kind of a huge deal, and we started taking turns on it.  It was great!
After trying out the swing, Todd gave me a bag of Dove chocolate—similar to the one he gave me before we were dating—the week I had my Senior Teen girls—(that had confused me greatly the whole week, because I already had a huge crush on him, but of course didn't think he was interested).  Then Todd encouraged me to get back onto the swing, and he stood behind me as we talked and I went back and forth.

I distinctly remember noticing that he wasn't saying much anymore.  But apparently I just like the sound of my own voice, because it didn't phase me at all, and I kept talking, assuming that he would pipe in when he was done with his own thoughts.  And he did... kinda.  After a moment, Todd called my name and upon turning around I found my favorite young man on one knee, with a small white ring box in his hand.
I'm not sure how I got off the swing, but the next thing I remember, I was standing in front of him—completely in shock, trying to figure out what was going on.  He asked me to marry him and I clasped my mitten-ed hands over my face and said "ohmygosh" a few dozen times before I was finally able to give him a resounding "yes!" and buried my face in his shoulder.  He laughed at me :)

Best night ever?
Yes

Swing, Chocolate, Superman, Promise.
Yeah, it was perfect :)

But of course, it wouldn't do to have everything happen without a single snag!  That's just not how we do things.  This is the only picture of us that we have from that night, because Todd's camera battery was frozen and I had lent mine out to a friend for the week.
So here we are, just hours before our engagement, in our ridiculous costumes.

I may be a little bias, but I think we make a cute pair, don't you? ;)

You can see pictures of the ring here: RING

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