Yes, you read that correctly. Jess and I are engaged. Here's the story:

Friday, March 20, 2009: On my way over to Jess's house I stopped by Campus Craft and Floral and had them fill a vase with a nice Spring floral arrangement. I gave it to Jess to celebrate the first day of Spring. That evening I cooked dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. It was very tasty. Once we cleaned up dinner it was time to head to the symphony in Salt Lake City. As some of my readers may remember, we were supposed to go to the Symphony way back in January, but instead Jess was in surgery. So, I exchanged those tickets for the Pops concert. We were a little behind schedule, but doing alright, until, at about Pleasant Grove, we realized that the tickets were still tacked to Jess's bulletin board where they had been since January! Oh Noes! We called a friend who went and grabbed them and met us just off the highway back in Provo. With tickets in hand we headed back up to Salt Lake.

We arrived at Abravanel Hall at about 8:30 (the symphony started at 8). Luckily we arrived just a few minutes before intermission and were able to go to our seats then. The first half hour had been pieces from their "Toast to Vienna Festival", so we didn't even miss any of the pops performances. The music was great and we really enjoyed the rest of the songs.

After the Symphony let out we left Abravanel Hall and I guided Jess across the street to where our horse and carriage ride were waiting. She, not knowing all the plans of the evening, was nice enough to let me guide her slightly out of the way, and caught on quick when I gestured toward the carriage and said, "I think this is our ride."

The carriage ride took us up into Memory Grove Park just East of the Capitol building. The park is in a canyon, so it only has one entrance. After reaching the top of the park, the driver let us out to walk through the park while he turned around and we could meet him back at the entrance. We walked along the path that led through the park, looking at the various memorials along the way. We paused at the Meditation Chapel where I pulled out the ring, bent down on one knee, and asked Jess to marry me. Her response was, "Absolutely."

So, with the ring now on her hand we walked through the rest of the park and hopped back onto the carriage. The driver took us back to the parking lot and let us out. I suggested that Jess call her parents, but she felt that since it was now 11:00pm, that they would already be asleep (midnight in Texas), and didn't want to wake them up. I tried to warn her, but she found out the hard way when her mom gave her an earful when she called today. Anyways, that's the bulk of the story. And, of course, you now want to see pictures of Jess and the ring:

The ring was custom made by Wilson Diamonds. It features a trellis setting ("trellis" is one of the several words used to describe the style), a princess cut diamond in the center, and pear cut sapphires on either side. It's a beautiful ring, exactly what I was hoping to put together and, with some small discussion about rings from Jess months ago, a ring Jess loves too.

The tentative plan at this point is to get married in the Boston Temple around the end of June, or beginning of July. I'll be finishing my schooling at the end of June, and thus starting work somewhere in July. So, that seems like the most convenient time to do this in terms of trying to get married, move, not worry about needing vacation time from work, etc. Now it's just a matter of working through all the details, one piece at a time.

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