7 Years

Matt and I are celebrating our 7 year dating anniversary! It's also been 3 years since he proposed! Unfortunately he's in California now, but he gets back Thursday morning so we're planning on doing something special after that. :-)

I may have already mentioned this on here, but when Matt asked me out the first time he said then that he wanted our relationship to end in marriage. We had been best friends for almost a year and had known each other for 7 years. I already knew I loved him even though we had never talked about it. For a long time I thought that he liked a friend of mine. However, a couple of weeks before he asked me out he asked if he could escort me to the historical ball that the homeschool group had every year (basically it's a prom). And then there had been a few other times that I suspected he liked me. It was still kind of a surprise that he liked me that much though! We waited a few months to say "I love you" to each other because we didn't want to start saying it until we knew 100% that we were going to stay together and eventually get married and by August of that year, after spending even more time together, we knew for sure.

As for our proposal, Matt was supposed to go out of town on a class trip on March 24, 2006 so he had arranged that we would have our big date when he got back. I made plans to meet my brother and sister for dinner and then they were going to come up and spend the night at my apartment. We said our goodbyes and then that evening after work I drove down to meet Chris and Melissa. I arrived at the Mc.Don.alds and sat down to wait for them and all of a sudden Matt popped up beside me! It turns out his field trip had been canceled at the last minute, he hadn't even known until he went to class that afternoon after we said goodbye. So he offered to take me anywhere I wanted for dinner and he had arranged that my brother and sister would meet us at my apartment later.

We went to a BBQ place and then Matt drove us to a shopping center (which is now 2 minutes down the road from our house!). It was a cute little place with fountains that were all lit up at night. We walked around talking and stopped by the fountains. Matt said he wanted to give me my anniversary gifts. First he pulled out the camera he had just bought me for Valentine's the month before and said that I could use it after he gave me the last gift. Then he pulled out a wad of toilet paper and said I might want to use it after the last gift (I was actually totally confused by this...was it something scary to make me pee my pants!?) and then he pulled out a cell phone, also to use after the next gift. Now at this point it crossed my mind that the next gift could very possibly be THE BIG GIFT. However, I was still kind of confused about the combination of "gifts" he had just given me and I knew that our date scheduled in a few days was still on and it was supposed to be nice, so I figured he would propose then if he was planning on proposing at all (we had already discussed engagements and decided to wait until after he graduated). But sure enough, when he pulled out the next gift he got down on one knee and said, "I hope you'll use this gift forever because I'll love you forever. Will you marry me?" and he opened the box and there was the most beautiful ring EVER! Of course I said yes. :-) It turns out that the camera was for taking pictures after the proposal (duh), the toilet paper was because he couldn't find a tissue and was just in case I cried (definitely would have made more sense if it was a tissue), and the phone was for calling friends and relatives to let them know the good news afterwards. :-)

So needless to say, this day is a big day for us. Our relationship is extra special so we celebrate 2 anniversaries every year. :-)

Now for the pictures!

2002 (Matt was 18, I was 16) - when it all began. A couple of weeks after the ball we volunteered to visit nursing homes to show off our dresses and provide entertainment by dancing. After the nursing homes we went to a shopping center with a beautiful fountain (sound familiar?) and danced. I danced with Matt the whole time (I was SO pleased), although this was a week before he asked me out. For those of you who care, I'm wearing a Civil War style gown (that's me and Matt in the middle, dancing down the line).



2003: The historical ball. This time I wore a Colonial style gown. Yep, it's an authentic pattern. Lots of sewing by hand!



2004: My senior ball. This time around I'm wearing a Renaissance style dress although it's hard to see...this is the only picture I have on my computer of that ball.


*Update: 2005: We weren't doing anything special, but was close to March of that year and we were in love (that's special!). Wow....I'm so mushy today!


2006: Engaged!

2007: Trip to the mountains for my Spring Break.


2008: NYC trip (cold!)