night in July 2004, but didn't really talk until
we played on the same team at the Mars Hill
Church softball tournament later that
month. He was the stud second baseman
and I tried to play rover next to him. Later
that day we came face to face at the
volleyball net at Drew Keefe's house where
Tony decided to mimic my victory dance
with an "interesting" dance of his own.
Needless to say, we laughed hard at each
other. Laughter is a great start!
September camping throughout Washington
with a group of friends - wakeboarding,
hiking, and having crazy conversations
around bonfires. We also attended several
"Evite" birthday parties in Seattle with our
friends almost every weekend. After our last
camping trip of the summer, we decided to
take a walk at Discovery Park with Tony's
dog, Wade. This went over very well since
we had already become friends. The
dog-walk led up to our first official date on
Sept. 23rd at Ray's Boathouse, where we
watched seals frolic in Puget Sound (which
Tony had told me he planned to have
released every 15 minutes...how romantic!)
had already discussed marriage for quite some time,
so I was hoping...But, clever Tony decided that we
should go on a walk with the dog to Discovery Park
(site of first outing together) a couple of days before. I
remarked, "Cute! That's where we went on our first
date!" Of course, he had it all planned, but I was
oblivious. We walked down to the beach and watched
the beautiful sunset behind the Olympic mountains and
decided to take a picture of ourselves with the
lighthouse in the background. Tony set up the camera
and supposedly took our picture. He told me he had a
question for me, and by the look in his face I knew what
he meant. Well, you can guess how the next few
minutes went, and I was completely surprised and
amazed and thrilled! He got down on his knee and held
out a BEAUTIFUL ring and asked me to marry him. It
was so romantic and awesome! After our time of
glorying in the moment died down and I took my eyes
off of his (and the ring!), he walked over to pick up the
camera and told me he had the whole thing recorded.
How cute is that?! We will be able to relive that
moment in history forever!
