Nick & Erica are Engaged!

Told from Erica's perspective....

Okay, kids, it's time to tell the story. Frankly, we've had to tell it one too many times, so we have decided to write it down for those of you who want to know, and for those of you who don't. Be warned, it is cheesy, happy, creative, cute and has been known to make grown men cry (no, really!). So sit right back, and enjoy the story of how Nick & Erica FINALLY became engaged!

(I think Nick's version is better.. if you ask him, he'll tell you of his panic all week and rushing to get this to work.. even changing things minutes before he proposed, haha)

On Wednesday, November 26th (the day before Thanksgiving... a very nice and lovely day) I was sitting at home, with very little to do. You see, because of the upcoming holiday, I had both school and work off.. which would normally be wonderful, but my best friend was off working all day, so I was immensely bored and amused myself by scrubbing the bathroom floors and listening to some good music.

At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Nick gave me a call, as he often does while he's at work. He then told me to go look in the back of my car, and that he wanted to send me on an adventure so I wouldn't be bored all day. What a sweet boy, I thought, and went out to the back of my car. There I found some daisies (my favorite flower) with a manila envelope. On the envelope it said, These are some of the reasons why I love you. Inside the envelope there was some grass and a flag.. which clearly meant I needed to go to “Patriot Park” (haha, okay, that was the only one I needed help with. The rest of the clues, I was all over).

Anyway, quickly getting dressed out of basketball shorts and a t-shirt and into some more reasonable clothing, I headed out on my journey. The stops were as follows: Patriot Park, the random nameless park behind the Spanish Fork Library, Cracker Barrel (woot!), BYU Wilkinson Center, the Provo Towne Center movie theater, the Orem Walmart (where I switched over to his car), UVU's tennis courts, the game store in the Orem mall, the Scera Shell Outdoor Theater thing, Nick's trunk, Dry Canyon, Mt. Timp temple, and finally the big stone amphitheater across from the temple. Each destination had daisies laid out nicely, and then the envelope somewhere nearby. Each envelope had written on the outside a reason why he loved me (usually tied with some cute meaning of the place, because each of the places had special meanings) and then on the inside had a creative clue to get me to the next place. I mean REALLY creative.. he's good!

Anyway, each of the places had really good adventures. One of which he sent me on a hike, with a compass that didn't work, a map that took me in a circle to an X that ended up being right behind the sign at which I had started. (Funny, funny boy...). The whole adventure all in all took me about four hours.

So finally I make it down to the amphitheater (coincidentally the same spot he told me he loved me.. major cute points there, not gonna lie!). When I pull in, I notice there are TONS of people there.. families getting their pictures taken. I looked around and couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go. Confused, I called Nick, who then told me to look up to the right, and follow the daisies up.

(As a side note, this WHOLE time, I am completely convinced Nick is at work. We both think Heavenly Father must really love him and wanted it to work out, because normally I'm really perceptive and catch on when he's trying to trick me. But no, I was absolutely convinced he was just being cute and sending me on a random scavenger hunt. Also, apparently he's a good liar. We talked on the phone several times during this hunt, and he had a good story of what he was doing.. although he accidentally changed who he was with at work a couple of times, haha. He even brought his drill with him so he could make drilling sounds to sound like he was working. In fact, I was trying to slow down the clues I went through so that I could get done around the same time he was done with work, so we could go hang out after. So yeah.. I was totally oblivious.. good going!)

Anyway, I look up and there are some daises (and a little girl with some of my daisies, haha). So I follow them up the steps, past some trees, and then they stop at a tree in the middle of the grass. Not sure where to go, I stopped, while Nick came out from behind the next tree. I was really happy to see him, and hugged him, but I still don't think it had clicked yet. (Sorry guys, I promise I'm not stupid!) Then all of the sudden he got really serious, telling me how much he loved me and why. Then, yep, got down on one knee, pulled out the most beautiful ring, and asked me to marry him.

Needless to say, I cried, said “Oh my gosh” a few times, also said “Yes!”! He got up and we hugged and smooched and talked for a long time. And I'm pretty sure neither one of us has stopped smiling since!