So the engagement went better than planned!
Which seemed pretty impossible but it was amazing!
I thought things had a rough start when I went to go pick up the rental car that was suppose to be a jaguar (what I ordered online) and I get there and the don't have it...they got me a infiniti g35s. I was bummed at first...but once I started to drive it, and open the engine up...I was pretty stinkin happy with it. I'm sure a jag would have been awesome...but the infiniti was stinkin sweet too. It had gps too which helped us get to our dinner reservations.
The newest jag that the rental car place would have had was a '97... and this infiniti was a 2007...19k miles on it...it was pimp. So I'm kinda glad we got something brand new.
The car had 306 horsepower. It handled like a dream...it was amazing!
So Pastor Brandon and I got the car from Sea-tac...and dropped me off at my place, so I had about 2 hours to get final touches on everything and get dressed.
So it got around to being 3pm and I was picking her up at 4:20, her mom came up with a plan to tell her that she needed to come to this family photo thing so that way they could all pick out really nice dresses to wear and it gave me an alaby to pick her up in a nice formal dress. And I realized I still needed to pick up a dozen roses for when I showed up at the door. So I run to safeway about 4min down the road. Race back. Throw my tux on (that was freaking pimp by the way). And make 2 cds for the car because it didn't have hook ups for my ipod the way that i wanted... but the cds worked out just fine.
Had some Colbie Colliat christmas stuff...Michael Buble christmas stuff, a few other christmas songs by Josh Groban.
And so I get all that done...park the car by her apartment (which is less than 50 yards from my apartment) and run up the stairs knock on the door and Boom...
The night starts with her opening the door with shock.
Right off the bat she asks, "What are you doing here?..."
At this point I was thinking...for crying out loud, you could have asked me any question on the planet except for that one...my word! So I said, "Go get your coat!"
...you can't ask that...it's stinking obvious what's going on.
Anyways,...she runs around the apartment trying to get everything turned off and gets her coat on...we get out the door and I take her hand and we start to take the stairs down. And she thinks we're taking her car...and then we walk passed it...away from my apartment...so she's confused...and then I walk her to the infiniti...open the door for her and I get in the other side...sit down...and the car is keyless...so as long as you have the remote on you/near the car...you can unlock it. so i sit down and all you have to do is put your foot on the brake and push the on button.
This car was amazing....
So we head out...and I remembered that I didn't have directions to dinner...but its all good cause we had the gps system. So i type in 'Daniels broiler' and it pops up and tells us exactly how to get there.
The only downer was it took us to a parking garage and I wanted to do valet parking but its all good. It was still fine. So we go up 3 different elevators to get to the 21st floor where daniels is...and I hadn't looked at my watch since I left to pick up allyson...and we get to daniels and I checked my watch, its 5:29 and my reservations were for 5:30...that was perfect.
So the only thing that I was slightly worried about was getting a bad server...other than that I knew that the night wouldn't have any major problems. So once we got our server I was happy to see that he was going to be a good one.
So we sit down and for some reason I get the windows view and she gets somewhat of a wall...and so I offer for her to switch with me so she can have a view...so we switched and she was just blown away by the view...we were in bellevue and we could see seattle...and the puget sound (water) it was gorgeous...so that was a huge hit.
Overall, I wouldn't say that daniels is really all that romantic...it's extremely nice but it was kinda loud and lots of brown tones...so i dunno...it was great overall.
So we start out with an appetizer. Teriyaki filet mignon...it was so incredible...the best teriyaki sauce I've ever had in my life...I would be willing to go back there just for that appetizer alone and get that for my meal...cause that was only like $12-13.
So I order a ribeye thats a special...not on the menu type steak. Its a 3 pound steak...and worth every penny. It was so amazing! I finished it too...$67...just for my steak.
Allyson got a filet mignon steak, it was really good too.
This place, as soon as they bring out your steaks, they have you cut it open right there and they take some kinda special flashlight and make sure that the steak is cooked to perfection for you. It was so interesting!
So we end up getting dessert too which was amazing too we split one cause we just didn't have the room. But it was like a chocolate lava cake, but more like a biscoti...with vanilla icecream on top. It was as good as good could be.
I'm happy how things at dinner turned out.
So we get back to our ride filled with torque and head to snoqualmie falls...
and for the most part just 3-4 mph over the speed limit ::wink wink::
We get to the falls and we both gotta use the restroom, and so I kinda forced allyson to just wait and to go up to the falls with me...Its like this 30 second walk to the lookout...so we get up there and the place is filled with mist from the falls that we can't see anything. (which was great for me cause I knew I wasn't going to propose there) and so she's thinking I'm going to pop the question right then and there so as soon as we get up to the lookout I said, "welp, lets go!" :) So she's totally confused. From there we walk to the Salish Lodge thats right there and use their restrooms, (which we've done once before so it was nothing outta the ordinary. But while she was in the bathroom I got out way before her and now that I look back I totally should have checked us in...but I didn't know when she would be back out. So I wait for her and once she comes out I grab her hand and said, "Just run with my on this one..."
and so we walk about 50 feet to the front desk and I say "Reservations for combs please." And she must be like, " !?!?"
and the guy behind the counter said, "it appears that someone has already checked in" And I was just silent...I couldn't believe that he said that...I called earlier that day to make sure that my mom and mother in-law could get in early to decorate and set things up.
And he opens his mouth with her right there, I'm in a tux mind you. Anyway, it didn't ruin much...just took a little bit of the edge off of it.

Some of the biggest advantages to proposing in the room were being at the falls but not at the lookout (incase weather was bad, which it was!), and 2-3 years down the road for anniversaries we can go back to room 215, and stay in the same room that we got engaged in...how special will that be?!

So we check in and get up to the room and it Gorgeous!
Soft lit, Sooooo romantic... the bathtub has rose pedals and floating candles, the room has white lights and tool everywhere so its a super soft lit room.
It had french doors that opened to a deck out facing the river. a huge california king sized bed.
Fireplace...everything. It was perfect...there was a huge window you could walk through from the bathroom to the bedroom. I'm not kidding when I say this place was stinking sweet!
And so my mother in-law also put a bunch of rose pedals on the bed with a few gifts that i wanted to have for her there.
One of them being a box full of cards, that I had a lot of people write to Allyson just telling her congratualtions. Another gift was a special calendar that I bought so that we could pick out a day to get married. Another gift was a huge wedding planner binder that my sisters, Kalyn and Karen, made for her that has been a huge help for her in the last few months...to keep her thoughts straight and everything...it even has questionaire for her and questions to ask the photographer, questions to ask the event venue...its totally been a huge help for her.
My mom (Linda) and her mom (Eleanor) and Tammy all surprized me even with getting me a few cards from them and my mom bought us a really nice cake from the same place sister and brother in-law got their wedding cake from and it was sooo good! it was like a huge dingdong...it was a marble cake but mostly chocolate and had fudge layers...it was delicious!
And so back to when we first get inside the room.
We get inside and take all of it in...just slowly walked around and looked at everything, it was so perfect.
We wanted to go out on the deck, so we did ...(it was like 34 degrees out so we didn't stay out long)
so we get back inside and I just decided it was game time...
I didn't want the ring on me all night so I gave it to Tammy to place somewhere in the bathroom so that I could grab it before I proposed. So I go to the bathroom real quick and pretend to wash my hands... and I just grab the ring.
I come back out and hugged her...we would kiss like every 4 seconds
...for like the 15th time in 2 minutes...
cause we both knew what was going on. Obviously!
And so I started out with my speech that I made a few days prior...cause I was thinking, "what in the world am I going to say that will lead me into the question,...will you marry me?" Cause I didn't want to come right out and say it... so I typed something up a few nights before the big day...and I memorized it...and got it out almost word for word...and the only time that I got a little teary eyed was when I started to say all what I had memorized. But, I didn't cry, cry...just got misty eyed.
She was tearing up...and here's what I had written.
"Allyson.
It has been a wonderful two years. God has taught us both so much about life and each other. And those two years have been a wonderful chapter in our lives, but now, its time to start a new chapter.
You know that I don’t say something unless I truly mean it.
And now, honestly, I can say with my whole heart that you are my best friend.
We’ve been through a lot together. But that’s not enough for me.
Because, there’s so much more to go through ...together.
With my promise to love and cherish you for the rest of my life, ...
...Allyson Marie Nichols

(Took out the ring and got on one knee) Will you marry me?"



(I picked the ring out all on my own!)
She said yes and then I had her read a small webpage that I made for her.
You can see it at

And after that I had her open up her cards...and before we could finish the cards my mom and her mom and her sister all came in and I open the door and looked at them and said, "We have plenty of towels, thanks" and I start to close the door on them... lol ... just being goofy me.
So they come in and drool over the ring for a little while and we talk about dinner, have some cake...talk breifly about wedding plans. But, my brain was soo fried...it was just done with all that I had going from the proposal.
So shortly after that my mom decides to go and I tell her I'll leave with her so everyone leaves the room, to give Allyson and I a moment alone to say goodnight and give her a small kiss before I go for the night... So I leave her, her mom and Tammy to enjoy the room and look through bridal books. I get home take off my tux that I'd had on for 9 hours at that point. And slept from midnight to 4:30am! I only got 4 hours the night before so I thought I was going to sleep for like 20 hours...and I got 4! I was shocked and irritated. So I got to thinking...I've got unlimited miles on the car...so I figured I would go to starbucks and get the girls breakfast and see them again...so I surprize Allyson, AGAIN! I just don't stop do I?!

You can't put a price on that night though...we will forever look back to that night with outrageous memories...I know that I gave it 130% and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out...Her mom and Tammy worked so hard, and my mom worked really hard on making it special for the both of us.
And I know they enjoyed helping me.
When you finally meet that special someone one of the greatest things you can do is to get your family involved. No matter what it is...when you have the support of your family, its worth every second!