OUR PROPOSAL STORY

I thought it would be fun to for the first blog posts I do to be all about our engagement and wedding season to have sort of a memory log for Parker and me! So I’ll just jump right in with our proposal story!

At the time, Parker was still playing professional baseball in the Kansas City Royals Organization on their Double-A team located in Northwest Arkansas. Each year around the half-way point of the season, the players get just a few days off for the All-Star Break. Since he was pretty close to home we had planned on him coming home for the break, instead of me going to visit like in years past, so that he could see friends and family as well (baseball can be really lonely - especially as a Christian - so we wanted to prioritize him getting to see his community… or so I thought haha).

(fun fact: my parents actually came with me on this trip to visit Parker while he was playing and he asked for their blessing to marry me… the next time I saw him he proposed ❤️)

So, after a little delay because of a delayed game, Parker started the 6 hour drive south. He went to Tyler, TX on Sunday evening to see his parents - and unknown to me, to help get things in order for the proposal - before heading to Ruston, LA on Monday afternoon. My sister, Kaitlyn, had come into town and I had suggested that we have a girls day with my other sister and mom and get our nails done… which made their job super easy to make sure my nails looked good haha. So while we were getting our nails done, Parker had gotten into town and told me he was going to run into the grocery store and get a couple drinks we liked and then we would meet back at my parents’ house. Little did I know that was a cover for what he was actually doing… he parked his car at the grocery store, left his phone in his car so his location showed that’s where he was, and then he WALKED to the jewelry store around the corner to pick up the ring! 😂 Honestly, so smart and I would never have thought about that haha.

Fast forward to that night, I had planned a little get together with our community group so that Parker could see everyone since he only had a couple days in town. I thought I was being so  sweet planning it but little did I know they would all be coming over the next night to celebrate with us! I remember thinking everyone was acting so weird and not talking much but now I know they were all stressed they were going to accidentally say something about the next day when I was in the room 🤣 They are all such troopers for going along with everything!!

(our sweet community group (+ a couple extras) 🤍)

The next day Parker and I had a full day planned together to squeeze in as much quality time as possible (and to get me out of the house so my mom and sisters could get everything set up haha). We hung out at the house for the morning then played tennis together for the first time, had a lunch date, and then got coffees before going back to hang out at the house for a little bit before dinner. 

(me thinking we were just having a casual day together… Park internally freaking out all day 🤣)

I had told Parker that the one thing I wanted to do while he was home for the All-Star Break was to go on a nice date since we didn’t get to do that very often during baseball season (I mean I really did all that hard work for everyone between suggesting getting our nails done and asking for a nice date 💁🏽‍♀️😂). Anyway we had planned to get dressed up and go to dinner and then go star-gazing in my family’s field right down the road from my parent’s house. I think we took a little nap and then Parker said he wanted to eat dinner early (because they had very specifically decided what time he needed to propose in order for the lighting to be good for pics lol). I had told Parker a few months before that there was a certain dress I wanted to wear if we got engaged in the summer… Well he and my sisters told me to wear that dress that night and it went completely over my head - I still had no idea what was about to happen!

(the photo I forced him to take before our date lol)

We finished getting ready, but before we left I insisted on taking a couple pictures at the house since we were dressed up… all I can say is bless everyone for putting up with all my clueless ideas that week 🤣 On our way to dinner I got a craving for chocolate chip cookies so I suggested we get some at the store that we could bake when we got home. We had dinner at a local steakhouse and then as we were leaving I brought up getting the cookies again. But Parker said he wasn’t really in the mood for cookies and just wanted to go to the field to star-gaze. Well that put me in quite the mood! So I said I wasn’t really in the mood to go star-gazing anymore plus I told him the grass was going to be too tall to drive through since it hadn’t been mowed in a while. At that point he was s t r e s s i n g haha. He offered to get me an icee (my favorite guilty pleasure) and said we could drink them while we star-gazed. I was still irritated (I just could not understand why we couldn’t get some cookies!) but agreed we could settle on icees and star-gazing. Parker said I could stay in the car and he would go into the gas station and get the icees for us. I thought he was just trying to be sweet since I was upset but really he was rushing to get to the field at the agreed upon time since the photographer was waiting haha. 

We drove to the field and when we pulled in there was a path that had been mowed along the edge of the field. This should have been a huge indicator that something was up, but I just thought it was the neighbor’s kids riding their 4-wheelers through there or something haha. We followed the path and drove to the back of the field and when we rounded the corner there was a beautiful backdrop set up with flowers and champagne. I FINALLY realized what was about to happen. I started tearing up and all I could say was “are you serious?!”

We parked and walked over to the spot and Parker wasted no time getting to the point. He got down on one knee and I honestly don’t remember anything he said but I do remember as he opened up the ring box it was upside down haha! It was so sweet how nervous he was. I of course immediately said “YES!” and we started celebrating!

(we took a few pictures in the field before heading to my parents house)

(a close up of the ring 💍🥰)

As we pulled into the driveway I noticed there were a TON of cars and was immediately overwhelmed knowing we were about to walk in to see so many of our family and friends waiting for us. As we walked through the house, we opened the back door and there were about 80 of our closest friends and family waiting on the back porch to celebrate with us. 

Our parents and sisters worked so hard to plan the sweetest celebration - they had decorations, snacks and desserts, custom cookies, cups and napkins - no detail was left out! We had the absolute best night celebrating with everyone! I cannot even put into words how loved I felt that day. It was the most perfect day, perfect night, and perfect start to our engagement season!

I can’t wait to keep reminiscing and share more details of our engagement and wedding season with y’all!!

xo, Sweet T