Trip Day 3 (the big one!)

We left Seattle in the morning and began a leisurely drive to Portland, stopping in Tacoma to visit a Chihuly glass exhibit and in Multnomah Falls. We arrived at Multnomah Falls and decided to do a 2 mile hike up the mountain to see the top of the falls. Matt grabbed his backpack and threw in a couple of water bottles. Just before we began our hike, I realized that it was kind of chilly, so I ran back to the car and got a sweater. I returned to Matt, who was waiting at the base of the hill, and we started hiking. After a strenuous (for us) walk uphill, we reached the top of the largest falls. We stopped to admire the view - with dozens of other people who made the hike. Matt suggested that we continue hiking upwards to see some of the smaller falls, and as we did, the crowds thinned until we rarely saw people on the trails. We reached one of the smaller falls and Matt suggested that we go down to the rocks and explore. This resulted in (as usual) my near death, as I slipped and tripped, almost landing myself right in the water. We finally got ourselves positioned on a couple of semi-comfortable rocks and we hung out, enjoying the beauty of the falls. Out of the blue, Matt asked, "So, is this the type of place where you would like to be proposed to?" It definitely threw me off guard, but I immediately said a) yes and b) started shaking. He pulled a beautiful polished wood box out of his backpack, attempted to get down on one knee (it ended up being a two-knee situation because of all of the rocks) and asked me to marry him. I said yes even before opening the box, but Matt suggested that I open the box just to make sure it was okay before I agreed. :) I tried, but I got stuck for a few seconds as I kept trying to open the hinge side. Finally I figured it out, turned the box around, and opened it. The ring is absolutely beautiful, especially so because Matt designed the ring himself. The center stone is a lovely round cut diamond. It is surrounded by two pear cut sapphires. The top and sides of the white gold band are intricately engraved. I especially appreciate the little carved heart and infinity symbols on the side. Anyhow, Matt slipped the ring on my finger after I said yes again, and then I started crying. We hugged - very carefully - on the rocks, and jumped up and down a few times, and then happily began our descent down the mountain. We got another hiker to take a picture of us. Unfortunately, we were incredibly sweaty from all the hiking, so we didn't look so cute. The picture is attached anyways. :) (As are some pictures of the ring!) When we got back to the car, we called our families. The only person who knew about the engagement was my father, who Matt called for permission while I was running to the car to grab my sweater. That night, we went to my sister's brand new apartment in Beaverton (outside of Portland) and told her the good news. We went out to a celebratory dinner at Macaroni Grill with Jos and her new roommate, Justin. Much champagne was consumed and we even scored a free dessert. We made a quick stop at Barnes and Noble (to pick up a wedding planning book, of course), and then crashed at her place for the night.


The ring from the side. See the awesome infinity symbols and the heart?


The ring, from the top. Very very very shiny.