a new beginning

Plenty of people have asked the question "How did Jeff propose?" So after telling the story a hundred times (it never, ever gets old) I came up with the idea to make a blog so I could tell the story again, for those who haven't heard it but want to, and so that all our future wedding plans can be shared too! So here we go.. the start of my fairytale story..

As many of you know but some may not my major was nursing until about a week ago. So the past 10 weeks have been filled with nothinggggg but studying and I promise that is no exaggeration! Well my sweet boyfriend (at the time, fiancé now =] ) came up with a plan that the Friday I was done for the quarter that he wanted us to just get away for the day. The plan: He'd take off work. We'd drive up to Atlanta. Shop. Have a picnic in the park. Go to the Cheesecake Factory. Just a relaxing day for the two of us. So that's what we planned.. little did I know Jeff had some much different, much bigger plans!
We had planned to leave at around 7 so that we could make a stop at the JcPenny's Outlet first and then actually be IN Atlanta at the park around lunch time. Jeff took his time that morning, (for all of you who know Jeff you know that this isn’t an abnormal thing so I didn’t think much about it.. but I know now that he did this on purpose that morning), and we didn't end up leaving until about 8. So it was lunch time and we were still a ways from Atlanta so I mentioned just stopping and grabbing some lunch instead. Jeff kind of insisted that we wait so I just kind of forgot about it. Well a few exits back from High Falls Jeff asked if I would close my eyes because he had a surprise for me.. I didn't realize where we were so of course I was like, uhh, why?! But Jeff was like; trust me, just do it! So I did, I closed my eyes and my mind started racing! You should know a little detail before I go further.. we hadn't packed an actual cooler because we were just going to have peanut-butter sandwiches so therefore we just decided we'd stop at a gas station to grab something to drink. So keep in mind my eyes are still closed when we arrive at this totally run down, old gas station. Jeff proceeds to say “Open your eyes!!" and I was like, umm.. what in the world are we doing here?! Then Jeff tells me that we're stopping to get drinks because our picnic is going to be taking place a little sooner and in a little different location than what we had planned before. So he goes in, buys the drinks, comes back out and what does he do? Tells me to close my eyes.. again! So I do and we drive just a little piece down the road before he tells me to open my eyes but this time when I opened my eyes instead of seeing a run down, old gas station I saw this…

 And of course I was like “Awww! It’s beautiful!” Jeff then let me know that he had chosen High Falls to be our destination for a picnic and he had some more surprises in mind for me. So of course I was super excited about what was to come! I noticed some picnic tables and asked if he wanted to go set up the stuff there and he said that he had some place else in mind and for us to take a walk down one of the trails to see if we could find a better spot. We came to a flat rock right beside one of the biggest waterfalls there and he asked what I thought about that spot.
Here’s “the” spot..

Of course I thought it was beautiful and quickly climbed over the fence, ignored the “Do Not Climb” sign and waited for Jeff to follow. He then told me to close my eyes again because he wanted to set up the picnic as my first surprise so I turned around and closed my eyes and he walked on down a little further to set it all up. A few minutes passed and he told me I could open my eyes, when I turned around and opened them I noticed a little trail of rose petals all the way to the picnic blanket.. *sigh* so sweet! He bought a blanket for Mama to monogram for us to use on this day and he also brought along his computer to play “our song” while we were eating.

He had really put some thought into all this! So we enjoyed our little picnic and were just sitting there talking when Jeff got the idea for us to try to take a picture. So we stood up and were trying and after several failed tries we got an “okay” one.

 Jeff then said that he had one more surprise and asked me to turn around and close my eyes.. again!! So I did. I turned back around and Jeff was just standing there.. so I was a little puzzled and asked what the surprise was. He then took my hands and started talking to me.. and the next thing I knew he was down on one knee and had pulled out a ring and was asking ME to marry him!! Me!

What did I ever do to deserve all this?!
So now it’s been almost two weeks and I still can’t seem to wipe this silly grin off my face! It’s still a little hard to believe that I get the privilege to be Mrs. Jeff Henderson! But I can hardly wait to do so!! So there you have it.. my real life fairy-tale story! It still brings tears to my eyes. I love the thought of having a fiancé, I love the thought of planning a wedding, I love the thought of being married and most importantly I love the thought of sharing all that and forever with Jeff! We’ve set our special day to be October 13, 2012... let the planning begin!! Stay tuned for more.

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