Love is in Stiles

On December 11th 2010 I picked Kelsey up at her house. She was wearing a purple skirt and a black shirt with white polka dots. She looked BEAUTIFUL!
We got back in the car after dropping of a paper at one of her teachers office and I had her open her presents. First I gave her a dozen red roses, a few small things that she had told me she wanted in prior conversations, which I had made mental notes of. She loved it. The ride to Salt Lake was slightly quiet mostly because I was nervous. I had always said I would only tell one girl I loved her. And I had decided through prayer, thinking things through, and the feelings I had that Kelsey was that girl. I hoped more than anything that she would tell me she loved me too. I hoped she would realize how big of a deal it was that I was telling her that I loved her. I hoped she would know that I wanted to marry her.
We arrived at the Thai restaurant that Colby had suggested. I was surprising her by having Colby come to dinner with us because he and her are really good friends. We sat down and Colby gave me a call and told me that his car was broken down. I had to explain to her what was happening and we pushed Colby’s car out of the road and we drove back to the restaurant and ate. It was a good time with a good number of laughs.
Then we went to the ballet. Kelsey was very excited about it. I was happy with her reaction. We sat there in our seats and chatted, and took a few pictures. It was really nice. I was nervous. I had waited my entire life to tell a girl that I loved her. I was happier than ever with my decision to save those precious words for one precious girl.
I wanted to wait until after the show. But I realized right as the lights went dark that I didn’t think I could wait that long. I felt panicked. I wanted to tell her in a meaningful time. Realized the show was not going to start immediately. I leaned over and said “Hey Kels,” and I whispered as gently as I could in her ear “I love you.” She went crazy. She was ecstatic. She looked up at me and kissed me. She kissed me over and over again. She would not stop kissing me. She then stopped, looked at me and said “I love you too.” My prayers were answered. By her reaction, it was clear that she knew how big of a deal it was that I had used those words. The show was good. I have never been as happy as I was that night. We got back to the car and I said “Do you know what that means?”
Kelsey looked at me and had the cutest smile when she said “Kelsey Stiles?”
I said “We are getting married!”
She then responded “you haven’t asked yet!" matter of factly.
I explained that I didn’t have a ring but I would get one. We spent the drive home talking, just talking about everything. We talked about our life together. We talked about kids names, where we would live, everything. It was a lot of fun. We almost immediately went and bought her a plane ticket to come see my family in Texas during the winter break.

I was planning how I should propose the whole time we were apart. Finally I settled on asking her on the side of a lake that is in my parents’ neighborhood in Texas, but I wanted fireworks. Jared (my brother in law) took me to get fireworks and we got big fireworks cakes that have a bunch of mortar rounds that can be lit with only one wick. We bought a few of these I was excited. I wanted Kelsey to have a story she could tell all of her friends and be proud of! She flew in on the 29th of December and I wanted to propose that day so that I was not awkward and nervous the whole visit. I got the ring that day, I took a look at it and I went to pick Kelsey up at airport. It was relaxing to see her.
We came home and had dinner with my family. Kelsey and I then "went for a walk" We had planned that at 7:35 the fireworks would go off. As we pulled up to a neighborhood near the lake Kelsey gave me my christmas presents. It was cologne, a nutcracker, and a stocking that will go over her parent’s fireplace at Christmastime. I thought it was very sweet of her and I was excited about the gifts, but I really could not wait to get a ring on this girls’ finger! So we went out and were sitting on the bench. I was nervous, and so happy.
We sat there and talked for a good while on the bench. My phone vibrated telling me it was 7:35, the time which we had decided the fireworks would erupt on the other side of the lake and I would heroicly get down on my knee! 7:35 came and went, but no fireworks… I saw my family drive by the lake several times. I realized it was not going to happen. I finally got a text from them saying that it was too windy and it was not going to work that I read while I was giving her a hug while sitting on the bench. Finally Kelsey said “I am cold.” I didn’t want to propose just yet, but I also did not want to wait any longer. I was torn about whether to do it without the fireworks or wait for another night and have the fireworks. As we let go of the hug Kelsey’s hand bumped my pocket that had the ring box inside. I was like “ok well I guess I will do it now!”
I got down on one knee, her face looked panicked at first. Her eyes were big and her mouth dropped wide open. Then as I got settled down on my knee her face was as happy as I had ever seen her. I took a deep breath and said “Kelsey Joelle Holbrook, Will you marry me? Forever?” She hugged me, and kissed me, and said “yes.” When the actual word “yes” came out, I was as excited as I have ever been in my life. I can’t describe the feelings I had that night. I could not wait to marry Kelsey. The nice thing is that I am more in love with her now, than I was six months ago.