You’ve probably…well, actually I know you’ve all anticipated this post for FAR too long (but hey, the rebrand was worth the wait, right!?)…and it’s finally here!!!

I can’t believe in just a few short weeks I’ll be saying my vows to become this guy’s WIFE! Holy moly. But before I get to the whole wedding, I have to tell you the whole story on how he asked me to be his forever…

After spending Christmas with Nathan’s family in Vancouver, the two of us hopped on a plane together to celebrate with my entire family for New Years. Oh you guys…even just the experience of traveling together had butterflies going crazy! When we arrived at my parent’s house, we were both exhausted, and I was just getting over the worst little winter bug…and the last thing I wanted to do was be outside in the freezing cold temperatures, but I couldn’t say no to being with my man!

On December 28th, he texted me before I headed to bed and said something along the lines of, “I wish I had things all figured out…just be patient with me for a bit longer, I don’t plan on dating you without a commitment for much longer.” Little did I know he was on the other side of the wall with a RING and would be asking me to be his forever just HOURS later!!!!

If there’s one thing you need to know about me…it’s that I am the most difficult person to surprise. At least I think so. But Nathan seems to do a dang good job of it…because I had no idea he was proposing until he WAS!

On the morning of December 29th, we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and the most beautiful warm sun. We hopped in the car and he said, “Hey, let’s go geocaching!” And my first thought was, “Umm…it just snowed 5 inches, there’s no WAY we’ll find anything in the mountains.” But I pulled on my snow boots and we went on an adventure anyways. I could tell he was super excited about it….sooo…we explored around the whole Methow Valley, and not to be debbie downer…but we didn’t stumble upon anything. Three hours into our adventure, I was ready to call it a day and go home.

A warm bubble bath and hot chocolate were just calling my name, ya know? ;)

He said, “Let’s just go up to Alta Lake, I think there’s a geocache there we could probably find!” I didn’t really think we would, but I said, “Then can we go home?” I know, I know. I was totally killing the mood, but I didn’t know I was about to become an engaged woman!

We arrived at Alta Lake and he opened my door for me and took my hand and led me down to the beach. You guys. This beach is one of my favorite places in the world to begin with, but walking down there to the most beautiful snow covered landscape…it was breathtaking. There wasn’t a single footprint in the snow either. He said, “Let’s go this way…” and led me over to this patch of trees where we went in circles for a good ten minutes trying to find this geocache. Nathan was on his phone looking at coordinates (actually, let’s clarify that he was actually texting my brother and mom who were totally hidden taking photos), and all of the sudden, he goes, “LOOK!” And low and behold…

Before our eyes was the biggest military style geocache box I had ever seen. Granted, I’d never been geocaching before! We opened the box to find a present wrapped inside. It was about the size of a photo album, and it was all wrapped in Trader Joes grocery bag paper with the cutest little bow on top.

We walked out onto the snow covered beach and he looked at me and said, “I just wanted to give this gift to you in private, that’s why I waited until now. I’ve been working on it for awhile.” I opened it up, upside down, and flipped it over to find a photo of us on the front. I opened the pages and almost burst into tears. But a) I’m not a very good gift receiver and b) I was in shock.

Nathan had spent months taking photos and writing letters throughout our entire year together, documenting all of it and I had no idea these photos even existed. He knows words are my love language and photos are my biggest passion, so combining that all together into the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen was beyond anything I could have ever asked for.

He said to me, “I wrote you a letter too..” And handed me this small piece of paper that was filled with the most beautiful words I’ve ever read.

But let’s backtrack real quick. Nathan told me at the very beginning of our relationship that he had never told a woman he loved her and wouldn’t until he knew he would marry her. So for all these months, I had that in the  back of my mind and knew he hadn’t told me yet. When I got to the “end” of the letter…he said, “I love you…and…”

At that point I look at Nathan and he was on his knee, looking up at me with the softest, most tender eyes and held out the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen in my entire life. It was simple, beautiful, and perfect. He looked at me, “I want you to be my first and my last.” 

I’m really not sure if I said yes, but I couldn’t wrap my arms around him fast enough and pull him into the biggest embrace. I had totally forgotten it was below freezing outside and we had even gone on a geocaching “date”. Little did I know that entire morning of adventure was to completely fool me and surprise me with the biggest gift in the world.

We spent the afternoon together flipping through the book he had put together, laughing about sweet adventures and dates we’ve been on, reading letters we’d written to each other, and sharing warm mugs of hot cider by the fire. And now…in just three weeks, I’ll walk down the aisle to this guy and we’ll spend forever together as one. He makes me the happiest woman in the world and I cannot believe I get to be the one to walk through this life with him and be by his side, walking him into becoming the man Jesus is creating him to be.

Nathan Moller, I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for asking me to be your forever. <3 You win me over every single day.

Check back soon for the current happenings…what it’s like to be a bride, why our wedding will be a little untraditional and all the details behind it! <3