Who woulda thought...

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!
Yup it finally happened!! Never really thought it would come but it did on August 10, 2011. After over 3 years of ups and downs, I am finally engaged to my best friend!!!
He did a REALLY good job at making sure I didn't know anything was up...that's for dang sure. The evidence is apparent in how SUPER hot i look in my sweatshirt and very minimal makeup. 
But I guess I should document what went down....so here it goes.
Last weekend I was in California for my cousin's wedding for 5 days!!!! It was the first time we had gone longer than a whole day seeing each other in a year. It was really hard but it DEFINITELY put everything into perspective and made us realize that we don't want to be apart again. When I got home everything on monday night it was absolute bliss. I surprised him at his hockey game and the feelings there were like none we had ever experienced. They were the kind of feelings we knew would last for an eternity. 
But we went along our week. Looked at apartments, looked at rings, went to work, hung out...the usual. Tuesday night we went to Zupas for dinner and we decided that a picnic sometime soon would be fun. So I said "we should go tomorrow!" He agreed and that was that. That night i went home and got a text from him saying "Lets do the picnic at ledgemere." Ledgemere was where we met and we go up sometimes to roast marshmallows and have dinner. I was down, it sounded like fun!
Wednesday after work and apartment hunting. When we got home we were just hanging out and he said he got payed on Friday so we should go look at rings again so he could maybe propose the next week. I was so down but this time I also wanted to look for him because i'm quite determined to get him to wear a wedding ring...we'll see how that works out. Rings don't really happen with Evans men. But of course we ended up looking mostly at the pretty sparkley ones for me. I kept saying which ones i liked and didn't like and he just sat there. We were waiting for it to get a little bit darker before we headed up the canyon so we went to Smith's and got smores stuff, then as we were walking out I said we should grab a movie to watch after dinner, so we went and rented The Unknown (which I have yet to see). We went back to his house so we could go to the bathroom before we went up to Ledgemere...the bathrooms up there are gross. And when it was finally felt late enough we got our Cafe Rio complete with Apple Beers and headed up the canyon. 
We got up to the picnic sight and went to the one we met at. He said, "Isn't that the one?" I told him I thought it was and "luckily" it was available! So we sat down and ate and just relaxed. It was beautiful and just peaceful. He kept talking about how much he loved me and about how far we have come since the night we met but nothing was too far out of the ordinary so i didn't expect anything. 
After all going on a picnic that day had been my idea!! He'd been quiet all day but he said it was just because we hadn't eaten and his stomach hurt. This happens regularly because that dang boy needs to eat all the time so I wasn't surprised. We built our fire and it seemed to take a million years for it to get dark but it did around 9:15pm...sunset was supposed to be at 8:30.  
Earlier in the day I'd talked about dancing later. We tend to slow dance at random times whenever we feel like it...it's kind of our thing and i love it!! So he asked me if i wanted to dance. We put on our song, put it in my sweatshirt pocket, and played it over and over as we danced. He kept telling me how much he loved me and how he couldn't wait to get paid on Friday and he couldn't wait to buy me a ring. I have been wearing a ring he made me out of string since June and he asked what I would do if he just proposed with that. I told him it did not matter to me at all what the ring looked like. He said "So if i got down on one knee right now and proposed with that, you'd be okay with it?" When I said yes, he told me to give the ring to him. We exchanged a few "Are you serious?" back and forth and then I handed it to him...(This is when he started to shake). He got down on one knee, pulled the real ring from his pocket and said, "Sydney I love you will you marry me?"   I was completely in shock!! I gave him a big kiss and then realized that I should probably respond...so I said "of course" and kissed him again. There were lights flashing but we didn't even notice until he had stood up and we were hugging. Abby and her friend had been camping out forever waiting to take pictures. They had saved the campsite for us and were there for 3 hours. Such troopers! Dressed from head to toe in black so not to be seen. So funny. But I'm a huge cry baby and was kind of a mess through all this. Crying with the BIGGEST smile on my face. I don't know if I've ever been that happy. We got composed and decided we should probably talk to our parents considering it was around 10:30 at this point. But we had a raging fire going that we couldn't just leave! So what did my amazing eagle scout fiance? He peed on the fire. Haha it was hilarious. The perfect end to the evening. We have too much fun. 
We went to my parents house and showed them the ring and got lots of hugs. They had been in cahoots with Dee for quite a while about all this so they weren't nearly as surprised as I was. We texted and talked to lots of friends and family and then went to see his parents who knew as well. Seems like I was the only one who was out of the loop! 
It was an amazing night and I'm such a lucky girl to have such a sweet man that I cannot wait to marry!!! He chose my beautiful ring all by himself and he had me totally surprised...it was perfect. Now all the wedding craziness starts because we only have 2 months from engagement to wedding.
 I am crazy in love with and can't wait to marry my best friend. We are ready for it all to be over and finally be Mr. and Mrs. Dee Evans!!