The Proposal!

****Sunday December 16th****

I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible headache, body aches and chills. I knew this was not a good sign.  

And what horrible timing, I had a Santa Suit Fun Run to do with some friends and The Boyfriend! Thankfully the race wasn't until 11:00 a.m., so I took some medicine and attempted to sleep.

The Boyfriend was very sweet and rubbed my back trying to help me feel better. He asked me a few times if I was still going to run the race. Honestly, it never occurred to me not to go to the race, but I did know it would definitely just be a "fun run" and not a race for me.

We arrived and met up with my mom, Jack, my sister and my friend (both Jens) right away. We also found The Boyfriend's dad and step mom very quickly. I tried to forget about not feeling well and enjoy the sight of 600 people dressed in Santa Suits getting ready for a run!

I ran the first mile then had to walk. I'm pretty sure I had a fever and it was about 60 degrees out, much warmer than normal for December 16th in Ohio! The Santa suits were light, but they were still pretty warm.

We were with the Jens for a while then they took off running. The  Boyfriend and I just stayed together enjoying the dogs dressed up and all the sights. Buddy the Elf was even at one of the turns cheering everyone on.

Little did I know, quite a few more family members had been hiding out close to the finish line.

As we were headed down the final stretch to the finish (we had started running again, you can't cross the finish walking!) I started seeing more and more family. I remember looking at The Boyfriend and saying "my dad is here too?!"

Unfortunately I missed a lot of the signs. I think I saw "Congrats Bethany and Kevin" and I know I saw "Welcome to the Family".

After we crossed the finish line we moved off to the side a bit. The nieces and nephews delivered a Santa bag to The Boyfriend and he tells me he has something for me. Inside the bag was a another poster that said "Will you marry me" and the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.

After saying a few very sweet words...

He got down on one knee.

Of course I said yes!

And then I realized how many friends and family really were there! It was so nice to start the celebration with family and friends right away! I felt like every direction I looked I saw more friends and family (and a lot of strangers had gathered around too!).

I love that this picture makes it look like we got engaged at Bravo

This isn't everyone that was there, but close!

What an amazing day! 

I am so glad we were able to have our families there to share in the joy with us!