One Year Ago Today...

Bobby made me the happiest girl in the world! I can't believe we have been engaged a YEAR already! This year seriously flew by! This time last year we were in beautiful St. Lucia, rubbing volcanic mud all over each other haha! Afterwards we rinsed off, got dressed, and were making our way up to the Ladera Resort to have a great lunch with our tour group...little did I know my whole world was about to change! After much fighting it on my part, Bobby talked me into going down on the pool deck to "take a picture". I only realized that was not his only intention when he turned around with a beautiful ring in his hand and he got down on one knee. I will never forget the look in his eyes and the feelings I had at that very moment. Even though there were some people around, it was only us in that moment and I forgot where we were for a minute! I completely blacked out and had to ask him what he said haha It couldn't have been more perfect. I never thought he would be able to surprise me with the proposal because I felt like I would KNOW when it was coming, but boy was I wrong! That was the most surprised I have EVER been in my entire life just how it's supposed to be :)

I can't wait to marry Bobby...we still have a little over a year but it will be worth the wait, just like the perfect proposal was! <3 I can't wait to see him tomorrow!!!

Pre-Engagement mud bath

He had planned on proposing at the waterfall...until we got there. Change of plans! haha

Would it be Weird....

If Bobby and I took MORE engagement pictures? We absolutely loved our engagement pictures that we had our friend Jackie do and we would have her do them again if we took more I have just been contemplating for awhile now whether to do MORE or not for a lot of reasons. First of all it was SO much FUN! Secondly I didn't have pinterest before and have SO many cute ideas now that I wish I would have known about back in October...thirdly our engagement pictures are going to be SO old by the time we get married that I kind of wish we would have waited but I was also just so excited to do them "fresh off of the engagement" and really wanted our friend to do them that I just jumped the gun and did them on our spur of the moment trip back to California in October. I was actually talking to Jackie about how now I have all of these cute ideas and she is totally up for it she had a lot of fun with us and this way we could plan it out a LOT better and not have it be so rushed. We literally had to drive to LAX the same night that we had our engagement pictures and it just seemed like we were rushing through them (our fault completely because of our time constraints) and I just think that if we weren't so crunched for time it would have been an even better experience!

Bobby was looking at our current engagement pictures and was saying how he wishes he would have worn something different, and we both wish we would have been in better shape and I said well we can take MORE "re-do" them and have Jackie do them again and we will be able to plan it out better. He didn't say no he kind of thought about it and laughed a littler but never said no so I think he may actually be open to it. It seems so strange I know, but I just loved it (I guess I am vain I love being in pictures lol) I just had so much fun taking pictures with Bobby. And I have SO many cute ideas now that I won't even be able to use...PLUS I just feel like we didn't get very many pictures and I just want more of them to have for us haha Idk maybe I am being crazy, but this has been on my mind pretty much since we first got our other ones done.

So there is my predicament....to take more or not to take more engagement pictures? That is the question!

I said YES!

July 15, 2011...the day I had waited 9.5 years for had finally come!

Bobby and I had been on vacation in St. Lucia for all of about 36 hours when he got down on one knee and made me the happiest girl in the world! He had set up a land and sea tour with the tour company through our hotel. This was an all day tour that took us down the coast of St. Lucia to the southern part of the island. We visited a volcano, a mineral waterfall, covered ourselves in volcanic mud and were then on our way to lunch at the most beautiful resort I have ever seen, Ladera Resort. The resort is high up in the mountains and overlooks the Pitons and the beautiful bay below. Upon arrival I will be honest, I was becoming cranky...I had not had my caffeine and had not eaten which makes for a cranky Casey. So we are entering the resort for lunch with our tour group and tour guide and the hostess leads everyone upstairs to the dining room, but not us. Bobby wants to "get our picture taken" down on the pool deck with the Pitons in the background. I am hesitant and definitely fighting him over it, not knowing if we are allowed to go down there since we aren't guests at the resort. So after a few minutes of him talking me into going down and getting someone to come "take our picture" we walk down to the pool deck for our one of a kind photo op. I go stand up against the railing of the deck and Bobby, with our backpack is giving the lady instructions on how to work his phone camera. So, here I am standing and looking around and I see Bobby go back over to the edge of the pool where he had set down the backpack and start to pull out his wallet. I am thinking "what does he need to take his wallet out of his pocket for?" (I am totally clueless) but then think "well maybe it looks too bulky for the picture". Bobby turns around and holds up the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen and gets down on one knee! I am in COMPLETE shock and caught completely off guard and could not even register what was happening at that moment. I instantly start crying, covered my face and kept saying "OMG, are you serious? Are you serious?" I look down at my best friend and love of my life and see tears building up in his eyes and I can not believe this is finally happening, he is really asking me to marry him in the most beautiful setting I could imagine! I of course say YES and he puts the ring on my finger and I look around and see the whole staff of the resort watching and start applauding. I honestly blacked out, I had to ask Bobby if he put the ring on my finger or if I grabbed it and put it on myself, and had to have him remind me what he said haha! It is all so clear, but so blurred at the same time because my emotions were at such a high all I could do was smile, cry, and shake from excitement!

{The bummer thing that happened (that was out of our control) was that the lady "taking our picture" was actually supposed to be recording the whole proposal but didn't hit the button:( but that just means nobody else gets to see the moment, but I still relive it in my head everyday}

After some hugs, kisses, and applause we walk up to the dining room where the rest of our group is waiting for us (no clue what is going on) and we are seated at our own private table overlooking the Pitons and served champagne. We immediately take more pictures (when I can pull my focus off of my rock) and continue to talk about how he had had the ring for over a month, how it had been in his wallet the last 3 days, and how he had set up the whole thing in advance. I could not believe it I had NO idea about anything! I always thought I would see the obvious signs but I was completely and utterly clueless and I am so glad! Being that we were in the mountains, on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean with no phone service we had to resort to emailing our favorite people the exciting news!

After we finished our lunch (which was delicious) we went up and told our group the exciting news ourselves and the resort gave us a bottle of Moet to share between us all. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day and the rest of the vacation (which we still had 13 days left of). After lunch we then went snorkeling for my first time and then continued back to our hotel...it truly was the most amazing moment of my life and I constantly replay it over and over in my head. I am so lucky to have met my soul mate and to have been blessed to have in my life for so many years leading up to the proposal and even more blessed to be able to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him.