The Proposal

Wednesday, June 22, 2011.
It's exactly two weeks from the day Thomas came home from his two-year long mission.
It's also the day I became his fiance.
Get comfy.
Grab some popcorn and a soda.
This is gonna be a long {and fun} post. Don't forget confusing.
The story of his proposal.
Thomas, because he's so amazing, has decided to help me write this post.
We will recap that day and share our story, both from our own points of view.
Thomas' experience is in bold, mine is in italics.
Here we go...are you comfy??...

The day started out normal, just like any other day. Where as my day started out bright and early finalizing everything for the proposal to ensure perfection.  I had the day off work, (I don't work yet) so Thomas and I had planned on spending the whole day together. We were originally going to go to the golfing range, because I want him to teach me how to golf, but the weather was uncooperative, (it rained) so we decided on a movie instead. He had told me he had to help his mom with stuff around the house before he came over, (teehee) so he was expecting to arrive around ten or ten-thirty, then we were going to see The Green Lantern at 11:25. So I just chilled around the house that morning. I killed time blogging, reading my scriptures, and reading an awesome book I'm working on (The Girl who Played with Fire). I gathered together all the hot sauce packets, wrote out the lines i wanted to have inside a few of the lockers and the poem on the wall, and headed over to the school. Once I arrived I had to explain my scheme to the people that were going to help me. (I only decided the day before that I was going to ask her and so I had only come up with the basic details when I got permission to do it.) Once I had the people involved informed I went on my merry way setting everything up. Half way through setting up the cupcakes I realized the custodians had not been informed not to touch the cupcakes! The head custodian did... he just failed to relay the message to all the others. So I frantically ran around the school making sure every custodian knew. :)

Thomas arrived shortly before eleven, and we chatted a bit (he teased me about my books being more important than him because I wouldn't put it down...) and then we left for the movie. Green Lantern was great - you should see it if you haven't! (This was my only regret... to all men that could possibly be reading a blog (lol)... DON'T TAKE A GIRL TO A MOVIE FOR A ROMANTIC DATE! And it's really not the thing to do before asking a girl to marry you. I did it because I needed a 2 hour excuse out somewhere for her to be with me.) The day seemed totally normal. After the movie we drove to our high school for an "interview" Thomas had for a summer maintainance job. I went with him to meet and talk to an old teacher he had who I had never met before. After chatting for a few minutes, Thomas excused himself to use the restroom before his interview, so I just chilled and talked more with Mrs. Hernandez. After a few more minutes, Jim, (Tim actually) the man Thomas was meant to have the interview with, came in asking if Tom was here yet. Mrs. Hernandez explained he had gone out to the restroom, but said she and I would go look for him and send him Jim's way. We roamed around the halls, and she asked me if the school looked different at all, to which I replyed no...wrong answer. {I was meant to notice something on the walls, which I didnt...} (Not too suprised... when I asked her to prom there was a 3'x4' piece of cardboard with her name on it facing her and she didn't notice it... =P)She led me a little further down the hall, and inquired, "Hm...what's this on the wall?..." While she was being tricked I was booking it to the back staircase of the school. I waited there with my mum and my sister (they couldn't miss it, and we needed a photographer). I, as most of you have probably seen, laid waiting for Katie to complete her collection on the 3rd floor. Once she had we rushed to the lockers and set up for her final arrival. And then went back to waiting...

Anyone remember the prom story?? He wrote a poem all along the main hall of the school asking me to go to prom with him? Yup. He did it again...sorta. On the wall was a riddle, explaining I was about to embark upon a scavenger hunt. As soon as I saw the poem, I knew today was {the} day...Mrs. Hernandez explained the scavenger hunt to me, led me to the first locker, and told me to have fun. Here's how the hunt worked...remember all the adorable things Thomas has made for me with the Taco Bell sauce packets that say "Will you marry me?"?? Yeah, those were my trail...Each locker had sauce packets hanging from them. One packet meant it was locker one, two packets was the next locker to open, three packets the third to open, and so forth...Inside each locker was a cupcake with a letter in frosting on top - - This was the way I had asked Tom to prom the first time we met. Every so often in a locker was a note with the cupcake telling me which level of lockers to go to next...

I started on the third floor where "Will" was hidden. Then I was directed to the second floor to find "You." Down on first floor was "Marry" and "M". {Once I hit the "marry" I started to tear up, and I {almost} started crying...but then the giddiness came quickly back and I once again became too excited to be anything but happy and giddy!} The "E"  to "me" was hidden behind a bench in the exact spot where Thomas asked me to Prom my senior year in high school. At the final "E" - where I thought I would find my Thomas waiting with a ring  muhahahaha- was another note sending me back up to the third floor, where I found a trail of sauce packets on the floor leading from the stairs to the center opening of the locker banks. In the center of the room was a giant question mark, again, made of Taco Bell packets. The packets on the locker had all been "Make a Wish" packets (we like 11:11 big time), and the ones with the question mark were the "Will you marry me?" packets. After giggling and staring at the packets for a minute, Tom's sister Sammie (who had been hiding and taking pics at this point) suggested I continue opening lockers....good idea! I started opening a couple, but all were empty...


...Then I heard the song. Thomas started "Love Story" by Taylor Swift on his phone - well, the last verse of it - and popped up from behind the locker bank. We kissed to the music for a bit, and then he told me to keep checking the lockers. FINALLY I found the right locker, inside which were two mirrors placed facing each other. On the back of one, Thomas had written "Forever" and on the front of the other, "And ever..." so that looking into the mirrors, the real question was, "Will you marry me...forever and ever and ever and ever and ever..." which is something he had done in my locker before back in our high school days. He's pretty awesome! At the bottom of the locker, was my Dumbo he had given me on our six month anniversary (which he kidnapped from my bed without my knowledge!), and sitting on my Dumbo was the perfect ring in its box.

Thomas picked up the ring, got down on one knee, and said, "So, my Katie Jo Barthel...will  you marry me?" To which, amid the biggest smile ever and girly giggles, I squeaked, "Of course!" And threw my arms around his neck, planting a big fat juicey kiss on his lips. I must admit here that between hearing "of course" and the kissing I almost forgot to put the ring on Katie's finger.  

It was an amazing day. It was perfect. He combined a little bit of everything he's done for me through the years, and all back at the place where it all started - our high school. It was perfect. Amazing.

We went back to my house to show my family the ring and tell the story. Then we...she... spent quite a bit of time on the phone with family and friends. That night we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Benihana's (WOOT!!!), to celebrate. We came home and spent the night cuddling and reading Jesus the Christ together and playing cards...and calling each other "fiance" a lot.

It was the perfect day. A totally random day, so I didn't see it coming at all, and he made it magical. I am so in love with him. We can finally announce our date...drum roll please...December 17, 2011. (I thought she forgot to write the importance of where M was, but she was waiting to tell you the date till here. M was in the locker 1217: the day we're getting married!!!) I am so excited to become his wife. I am so excited to start our life together. I don't know how she gets so happy from goofy things, but I am very glad she does. Katie, as you all know, is the most amazing person on the planet. I am as excited as she is to start our life together! I love her so much!!!