...when, seemingly out of nowhere, I got engaged!

Hi there, friends Jill!

I've been MIA for quite some time, which is kind of the norm the past few years, it seems. But I feel like I've given MIA (at least where my blog is concerned) a whole new meaning since shortly after 2015 began.

If we're friends on Facebook or Instagram, y'all know I'm engaged.

It came as a shock to my friends, both Facebook and Instagram, because I've been kind of hush-hush about it all. Not because I'm not completely smitten and ridiculously happily in love, but because...I don't know. We wanted to keep things on the DL until we knew whether or not it was real, y'know?

Anyway, my one reader (hi, Jill!) and I have been friends since the days of our youth...but we've been kind of out of touch (except through FB and IG) the past several years. And she's been asking me to blog about what the what is going on. (She said it much more nicely than that, though; she's a good lady, Jill is.) So I'm here to oblige!

Back in January (MLK, Jr. Day, it was), I met up with Jeans and Tracie for dinner after work. While we were eating and chatting, they got to talking about the app Tinder. (If you don't know about Tinder, read this, because nobody is more charming in describing Tinder than Eli. Also, read this, because it's another Tinder post, and it's funny.) Aaaanyway, it turns out that Tracie had been on Tinder for a little while and she had recently peer pressured Jeans into giving it a whirl. That fateful day, Jeanna and Tracie combined forces and simultaneously peer pressured me into trying Tinder out.

I figured, "What the heck. Positive male attention is hard to come by these days." So right there, in the middle of my soup and salad special at Perkins, WITH MY NOSE IN THE AIR, I downloaded the app and set up an account. (I've been openly skeptical and snooty about Tinder since I first heard about it.)

It was kind of fun (ish) and I matched up with a handful of fellas and even had a couple of dates that were less than exciting for me. (That's another story for another time.)

Now let's fast forward about a month.

I was in Brigham City visiting my family for President's Day weekend when I opened up Tinder that Sunday after church and started swiping when I came across a bearded LDS bloke who likes to hike and fish and camp. I swiped right but didn't really think too much of it until we matched a few minutes later and he started messaging me.

Ooooh boy, I just remembered how long-winded I am. I'm going to try to keep this concise.

Okay, so the guy in question was called Andy, and he was lots of fun to message. I found out he's originally from Idaho Falls (where I'm living), and he lives in Logan (where I went to school, and 30 minutes from where my parents live). We messaged lots and he ended up asking me out for dinner for the following day (Presidents' Day).

I arrived at the restaurant early, but I'd accidentally left my phone at my folks' place, so I wasn't sure when he got there. I sat there, trying not to look too eager. Or confused. Or Tinder-y. Every time someone walked into the restaurant, I counted to three before I looked up to see who it was. And there was a time (or two) that I thought to myself, "Please don't let that be Andy." (I know. Shallow. But there were a couple of times when I met up with someone on Tinder and was totally blown away with how little they actually looked like their pictures.)

When Andy walked in, I thought, "Oh! Well hello there, Andrew!" We sat down and I know we ordered some food and ate, but mostly we just talked and talked. For 2.5 hours, we talked. I had to pee about halfway through that first date, but I didn't go because I didn't want to kill the date any earlier than necessary. (Did I tell you that yet, Andy? I totally held my bladder for you!)

At 8:00 or so, Andy, gentleman that he is, reminded me I had a bit of a drive ahead of me back to IF, so we ended the date and went our separate ways.

Without scoring a second date, WE WALKED AWAY.

But you already know I'm going to marry Andy, so you know there's more to the story. (Yeah, no, I'm not going to be concise after all. You who know me well knew those were false words as soon as I originally typed them.)

I'd left my stuff at my parents' house, so as soon as I walked in the door, I found my phone and I texted Andy something along the lines of, "Thanks for dinner, I had a lot of fun." At which point, he promptly texted back and asked me out again.

Okay, so I'm not going to go through each date to tell you how it all went down. Let's just suffice it to say that we've been on the same page from the very beginning (except that I'd have let him kiss me on the second date, but he was a perfect gentleman), and falling in love with him has been ridiculously easy.

We had kind of talked about vague plans about "if we get married" for a short time (obviously, since even now I've only known him for, like, three months)...and then it all became clear that marriage is what we both wanted, and Andy hit the ground running.

This is the day we decided for sure we wanted to get married.

We looked at engagement rings the day we said it out loud ("it" being "let's get married"), and I found one solitaire that I liked...but even so, I couldn't get excited about actually wearing it. I've always been the simple inset diamonds right in the band sort of girl, so when I told the jeweler that, she took us to the men's section. And that's when I got a little depressed. I have skinny fingers, and she was having me try on size 10 rings, and my imagination just isn't that good. So I showed Andy some pictures of rings that I could actually get excited about. When he went home, he sent me a couple more pictures to see what I thought, and I told him, "It seems like you've got a really good idea of what I like, so I'm going to let you pick."

A couple of days later, Andy talked to a jeweler in Logan and ordered my ring. And planned our honeymoon. And we got going on our wedding announcement. And set a date, and called the temple, and reserved the Lodge for our luncheon. All before I had a ring on my finger.

My dad gave Andy his blessing to marry me, and then...

I headed down to Utah on Thursday, April 23. Ever since Andy happened to me, I always take the long way home and head to Logan before "visiting my family" in Brigham. When Andy got home from work, we made dinner and visited for a while. Then he took me up Green Canyon and we went for a little walk.

And that guy was a man on a mission! We had gone on a couple of hikes before (thank you, mild winter!), and he hikes like he means it, but that day, Andy really meant business. We were walking very briskly up the trail. (Bear in mind, I kind of wondered if I was going to get a ring that day, so I was dressed cute instead of sensibly. No hiking shoes on this ginabean.) That's not to say he dragged me up the trail or anything, though. We were just walking fast while enjoying the overcast skies and dodging the bikers riding down the path.

I have no idea how long we'd been walking, but I knew that the coast had been clear of bikers for a while, and there wasn't another soul nearby, when suddenly Andy asked, "Are you ready to head back?" I said, "Sure," and Andy said, "Okay, but first..." and he pulled me in and kissed me good. Then he said, "I have a question for you, and I think I know the answer." Then he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. OBVIOUSLY I said yes, and he stood up and put the ring (swoon!) on my finger, and we kissed again and then it started to rain, and my little heart was beyond full. I mean, I know Andy didn't schedule the rain or anything, but does this guy know me, or what? (Yes, yes, the rain added to the perfection of the evening. So much!)

I. love. my. ring.

SO. Andy and I are getting married. I'm moving back down to Utah, and I'm thrilled about it! We've already found a new apartment, and I've already found a new job, AND LIFE IS BLISS!

My future sister-in-law Hailey took our engagement pictures.

Also, I totally love Andy's family. They are down-to-earth and loving, and I scored big with his family when I fell in love with him. #WinningAtLife

Umm, before I leave you, I'll just tell you a few things I love about my Andrew...

From the very beginning, I noticed that Andy is a calm soul. And I can't tell you how attractive his tranquility is to my tightly-wound, passionate, excitable, frenzied heart. I always hoped I'd fetch me a calm man, and I got my wish!

I love how considerate Andy is. He treats me like gold, and he's always thinking about how to make me smile and make my life easier. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Andy has integrity up the wazoo. He loves the gospel and lives his life accordingly. He loves his family and he treats his momma with respect. He's ridiculously cute with his nieces and nephew (swoon).

Also, Andy is funny. He makes me laugh all the time, and he makes me smile when I'm having a rough day. He hates it when I'm sad and does whatever he can to make me happy.

There are roughly one zillion more reasons I'm crazy about this guy, but I've already been rather long-winded, so I'll end it here. We're getting married July 16, and we can hardly wait!

Here's to new adventures with this handsome fella by my side!