Our Engagement Story

The third week in July 2008, Mr. H, Emma and I went on our first real family vacation. The first three night were at Mr. H's Mom, near the Lake of the Ozarks. We swam and hung out with his family, relaxing and enjoying our get-away.

On Monday we left the lake and headed to Branson, Missouri, where we went to White Water, Dixie Stampede, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and a fish hatchery. The condo we stayed at was absolutely fabulous. It was 1400 sq. ft (which is bigger than my house) with two bedrooms and a huge kitchen. The master bedroom was beautifully decorated with a king size bed and a heart-shaped jacuzzi tub. Emma's room had two queen size beds. Her thoughts: one bed to jump on and one bed to sleep on.

After each of the four fun busy days, enjoying touristy Branson stuff, we'd put Emma to bed and we would relax and hang out on our balcony, which was my favorite part of the trip. We'd talk, play cards and just enjoy being away and together. The view wasn't much, since they were still constructing new condos all around the resort, but we could see the lights over the treeline from the strip and a big billboard of Yakov Smirnoff.

The last night that we stayed at the resort, Wednesday, July 16, we were spending the evening on the balcony playing a drinking game. About two drinks into the game, around midnight, I lost a hand and owed 10 drinks. He said, "let me make you a deal" and moved the chair that I had my legs propped up on. I seriously thought he was going to make me do push ups instead of taking the drinks until he told me to cover my eyes. After asking if I was peeking, he got down on one knee and told me to open my eyes. When I did he had the ring box out & open. I was shocked. He said, "will you do my the honor of becoming my wife?" and I started crying and said, "of course, yes!". I was soooooo surprised and excited. I knew that he had asked my parents for their blessing but this was one souvenir I wasn't expecting to come home with. He even yelled up at the people in the balcony above us announcing our engagement. It was so cute.

I called my mom and dad and woke them up with the news and Mr. H called his family and they were waiting up, expecting his call. I told Emma on Thursday morning. She asked for a couple more minutes to sleep (she had croup), I told her no, that she needed to wake up and look at mommy's hand. I asked her if she knew what it meant and she said, "yes, that means Drew asked you to marry him and I'm gonna have a dad," and I cried again. I've never been so happy in my entire life.