Surprise after surprise...and *BLING*

So last Saturday, August 9th, 2008, Brent was a groomsman in a wedding of some of our mutual friends. Our friends, Wyn & Chelsea, got married up in Napa Valley. I was looking forward to the weekend up in Napa for several reasons. First of all, excited for the wedding. Second, excited to spend the whole weekend with my boyfriend and his family. And lastly, thrilled that I would be in beautiful Napa Valley on my birthday, the 9th of August.

A couple of days before we left for Napa, Brent called me all excited about this plan he had for celebrating my birthday ON my birthday before he had to get to his responsibilities as a groomsman. He said we should wake up at 4:30 am and drive to this beautiful spot to view the sunrise. In my head I was going, "Wow, that sounds AWESOME, I like waking up super ridiculously early if it's for a destination like that...but that doesn't sound like Brent. He would never want to wake up that early, even in celebration of my birthday, unless....could he be proposing that morning??" I didn't say any of that to him, I just told him how excited I was about that idea of a birthday celebration. Several more conversations with him throughout the day drew me away from the thought that he was going to propose on my birthday, and my sister, who I was living with at the time, was totally clueless as to whether or not he was going to propose. For the next day or two I had to keep reminding myself that IF Brent was going to propose to me, Heather would totally know about it and be in on it, and because she was so totally clueless about it, I needed to not let my hopes get up that I was going to return from Napa Valley as a fiancee.

The morning before I left for Napa I plopped down on Heather's couch and began giving myself a mega-pedicure, as I wanted to look really pretty especially for Brent at the wedding. Heather casually offered to french tip my fingernails, saying that she's usually pretty good at it and people usually compliment her on her self-done nails. I casually said yes, why not? As I gave her my hand I suddenly sat bolt upright, looked her in the eye, and said, "Heather, you're giving me a manicure." She looked at me with a blank expression and said, "Yeah?" I asked, "Am I going to be showing off my hand to people for any reason this weekend?" Heather continued her blank expression for a few seconds until it looked like a light bulb went off in her head. Then she smiled really big and said, "OHH!!! Do you think he would propose?!" Her reaction made me even more certain that Brent wasn't going to be proposing on my birthday...once again, Heather remained totally clueless. I went ahead with the manicure anyway.

Friday, during the wedding rehearsal, I got a call from my parents who hadn't seen me in about a week for several different reasons and just wanted to catch up with me. I had a chance to speak to only my mom, who asked if Brent was going to do anything special for my birthday the next day. I told her about him wanting to wake up early for the sunrise, and immediately she was like, "*GASP* Hayley....do you..you think he might be proposing to you? That's a really romantic sounding morning!" I sighed and said, "Well, mom, no, your reaction pretty much sealed it. He's not proposing, you would have known about it and you would NOT have said that if you had known about it." We exchanged a few more words and I got off the phone, trying to remain excited about waking up ridiculously early in the morning JUST for a sunrise on my birthday. :)

The next morning Brent was outside my hotel room door promptly at 5 am, and we rushed off to our destination. It didn't take long for me to realize that he was in a rush, that we were late for something, and that we needed to make it somewhere in time to meet some people for something. This was obviously more than just a sunrise. I guessed that we had to meet at a certain place to get on a bus for some sort of a tour...perhaps we were going to a waterfall or a geyser that I thought I remembered existing up in Napa? Brent kept his lips sealed as much as possible when it came to what we were doing, and I remained pretty much clueless, though I was pretty sure that whatever it was that were we doing was more than just a simple sunrise.

Eventually he told me to close my eyes as we pulled into a parking lot, he assisted me in getting out of the car and he walked me, with my eyes still closed, to a spot where he decided I could open my eyes. I opened my eyes to a sign announcing the starting point of a hot air ballooning adventure. I squealed and jumped up and down and hugged him...ever since riding Soarin' Over California at Disneyland Resort I've told Brent how much I REALLY REALLY wanted to go hot air ballooning in Napa Valley. Suddenly I was naturally super excited for this early morning adventure, even if it didn't end with an engagement...though I have to admit that I was still in my heart of hearts hoping that I would be proposed to before the morning was over.

There were about fifty other people there that morning who were also ready for a hot air balloon adventure. We all had to pile in vans and take a half hour drive to the launch site. When we got in the van we were soooooo jazzed about what we were about to do.

Observing the hot air balloons being blown up was so intriguing.

Brent and I were placed in a group that would take a certain balloon's second ride of the morning. That meant that we had to watch a first group enter into our balloon, watch it lift off and then drift away.

Our group was ordered back into the van and our driver took off, all the while keeping in touch with the guide ON the hot air balloon, they were communicating with each other about where the balloon was going to touch down and where our van should meet it so that our group could enter the balloon. It was so cool getting out of the van in this random field where the balloon touched down and slowly approaching it, hiking over yards and yards of alfalfa.

Getting into the balloon is kind of an adventure in itself. The basket doesn't have any doors or anything, you simply have to climb over the side of the basket.

Lift off was amazing. We heard the ginormous blowtorch give a few quick blasts and then we slowly, centimeter by centimeter, then inch by inch, then foot by foot and yard by yard peacefully drifted off of the ground.

At one point our guide took us over a sunflower field. We were literally drifting only about two feet above the tops of the cheery flowers. SO so peaceful.

Brent took this moment to give me my birthday gift. He began with the card. A cute, slightly romantic, very birthday-ish little card. Another factor that told me he wasn't going to be proposing. Then he pulled out his birthday gift from his pocket. It was an old-fashioned writing set that I had been eying at Medieval Times a few weeks earlier, included a quill pen, ink, two seals, and gold and red wax for sealing. I thanked him very much, was very grateful for the gift and was excited to use it, though Brent admitted to me later that he could tell I was disappointed by the gift...after all, I kinda sorta wanted a ring. :)

After the little birthday celebration I crossed my arms and hung my elbows out the side of the basket, enjoying the remainder of the peaceful hot air balloon ride. Brent was hugging me from behind until I suddenly felt him fumbling around in his pocket. I thought to myself, "No way...NO WAY!!" He again wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear, "Hayley, I love you so much." I responded, "I love you so much." He whispered again, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I shakily responded, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!!" He then opened up a little box in front of me and asked, "Will you marry me?"

I started laughing and crying at the same time. It took me a few seconds, but I finally stuttered out the happy words, "Of course!! Of course!" We hugged and laughed and I continued crying, until our guide shouted from the other side of the basket, "Everybody ok over there?" I looked at him with tears streaming down my face and said, "Oh yes...we just got engaged!!" The four other couples in the basked giggled and congratulated us. Brent and I finally realized that the ring wasn't yet on my finger, so I asked if I could try it on and he slipped it on the finger. Slightly to big for me at the moment, but I'm a little under weight right now because of the illness so I think I'll grow into it. The ring is beautiful and perfect, just my style.

The couple next to us offered to take our picture, you can still see a few tears in my eyes.

The balloon adventure lasted probably about a half an hour more, but it went by in a flash for me and Brent because of our excitement over being engaged. When it finally came to touch down, our guide warned us that we were coming in very very fast and steep, and we really need to follow his directions in bending our knees and leaning against one side of the basket. As we approached the ground and saw the dry bushes speeding past us, we realized just how fast we were traveling. My heart started racing...it didn't seem safe. Suddenly dry bushes were whacking our faces, and we felt one side of the basket start to skid and jump and bump on the ground as our guide tried to reign it to a halt. Finally we were stationary, but the whole basket was tilted so that only one side was touching the ground, and the whole basket was about to topple over onto its side. All of the riders' instincts were to lean to the other side to even things out, but our guide ordered us to lean into it and let the basket topple over. The basket dropped onto its side and suddenly everyone in the basket was lying horizontally, human atop human. When we were finally settled on the ground and the crash landing was over, the whole party burst into laughter, cheers and applause...hot air balloon crash landings are AWESOME!!

When Brent and I clamored out of the basket, we asked someone to take our picture once again so that Rick Holland, our college pastor, could be pleased that yes, Brent did end up taking the knee.

Brent told me that our next destination was this really cool castle that we had visited the last time we were in Napa, during the time we were visiting Chelsea's family. He said that our good friends Anton and Marietjie, who were in Napa for the wedding anyways, were going to be there to take some initial engagement photos of us. His plans were SO perfect. I was so happy that I was going to be able to celebrate the recent engagement at such a pretty place with such good good friends.

As we pulled up into the castle driveway, I saw Marietjie talking to Heather. "Wait a minute, Heather?!" I thought to myself. I screamed and tried to scramble out of the car while it was still moving (or so everyone tells me), and when I finally got out laughed and laughed as I hugged her and told her how HAPPY I was that she was there to be with me at such a special time!!! She apparently woke up at 3:30 am that morning to make it up to the castle on time to meet me there...SUCH a pleasant surprise, such a loveable sister, such a LOVING sister!!! She had me re-enact the face that I made when I first saw her.

I hugged Anton and Marietjie and laughed and squealed with everyone, and then for the next half hour or so Anton and Marietjie ordered Brent and me around, telling us what positions to take and how to pose for some engagement photos.

The rest of Brent's family soon met us at the castle also to celebrate. Anton and Marietjie soon had to leave because of other responsibilities before Wyn & Chelsea's wedding that day, and Brent got the rest of the group reserved for a tour of the castle before he had to take off for his own responsibilities as a groomsman. It was hard saying goodbye to my fiance so soon after our engagement, but I knew we would see each other soon. I must say though, I think I would have enjoyed the tour of the castle and taken it all in a whole lot more if I hadn't gotten engaged that day, or at least if my fiance had been with me. Instead, throughout the tour, I was mostly going like this:


At the site of the wedding, I was wrapping my wedding gift outside of my car when I heard my name called from a distance. I looked to see where the voices were coming from, and saw some of my bestest girlie friends from my Bible study: Amanda, Emily, and Michelle. I slammed my car door shut and galloped toward them, asking if they had heard the news. All of them said "No!" with confused faces, until I got close enough to hold out my hand to show them the ring. Let me just tell you, four girlie girls excited over something like that creates shrieks and squeals that you can hear for miles and miles. :)

The rest of the evening was so fun, the wedding was beautiful, I was able to flirt with my fiance from the audience the entire time :), and the reception felt like just as much an engagement party as it was a reception. Brent and I were being congratulated right and left, from people we didn't even know, girls were wanting to examine my ring, and even the father of the bride, at the end of his toast to his daughter and new son-in-law, gave a toast to Brent & Hayley, the newly engaged couple.

The next day Brent and I and Heather spent with the Tylers in Sausalito, relaxing and celebrating my birthday/engagement. They treated me to an awesome dinner at The Spinnacker, whose tirimisu, I have to admit, is better than my recipe. :( Oh well...I got grand ideas from trying the restaurant's tirimisu, and will have to tweek my recipe as a result.

Before I end the post I must give a shout out to those who kept the secrets so well...ESPECIALLY Brent, Heather (a natural actress...she knew about the plans the whole week leading up to the engagement), Marietjie, my mom, my dad, Anton, Rita Tyler, Ashley,.....so many others, but especially those mentioned. It made for an extremely pleasant surprise.

And now Brent and I are still floating in a hot air balloon...or at least that's how we feel. And we're counting down the days until January 3rd, 2009.