Onze nog lang en gelukkig ....

I am officially going to marry the man of my dreams!!!!!!!!!! I cannot begin to tell you all how excited, in love, happy....we both are! We actually got engaged on Saturday but after delay due to celebrating in Haarlem and Amsterdam (and some threats...my sister) WE are so excited to share OUR HAPPILY EVER AFTER......The Dutch Beginning......


So we will start with Saturday....I could not at all sleep on Friday and did everything I could around the house to pass the time before going to the airport. The airport was pure torture...waiting what felt like years for him to walk through the doors. And when he did, my heart felt whole again. It was the most amazing feeling and of course, I started what would be a day long of crying (I didnt know then).

We came back to the apartment, hung out and celebrated Stu's birthday with a cake I made. The weather that Saturday (Feb 20th to be exact) was AMAZING....beautiful sun shine and clear skies....the best Ive ever seen.

So you all are wondering....did I know it was going to happen. Short answer: no. He told me many times he didnt want to bring the ring here and countless other reasons he thought of to throw me off. So I put my hair in a ponytail (which I regret later for picture reasons) and I took him on a tour of town.

We went to a couple of shops, to the town square, walked along the canal and then.....we went to the old Dutch windmill in Haarlem right on the canal. We started walking over and Stu asked if we could walk down to the dock right next to the windmill....why you ask? Well of course there were ducks in the canal....and Stu LOVES ducks, well any type of wildlife. And yes, this is perfectly normal, so I still thought nothing of it.

We walked around the windmill, took pictures of it all and just sat. All of a sudden he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a note. He wrote me the sweetest, most special words that I will NEVER forget. My heart was bursting with love and I started crying....still had no idea. It wasnt until he stood up to reach in his coat (I thought he was getting cold). Well he reaches out, pulls out something shiny and drops down on one knee. By now it was late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to set (yes, it was as amazing and perfect as it sounds!) (He was so sneaky that he didnt bring the ring box with him for fear that I would see it in his pocket.)

Well he dropped down on his knee and ASKED ME to MARRY HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a dream....it was perfect! Of course I said yes and could not stop hugging him. Finally he was able to slip the most amazing, perfect, beautiful ring on my finger. Then I screamed with joy....and yes the entire time I was still crying.

It was perfect: under a Dutch windmill by a canal at sunset! I will never forget a moment of that amazing day! Oh wait....it gets better. The most perfect boy made the day even better by buying me fresh tulips on the way home to celebrate! It is almost too good to be true! :)

We called both of our parents, who were so excited and just sat to enjoy the view. Later that night, we went to dinner and out for drinks, but more on that in later posts. We wanted to share some special pictures from our special day!! :)

THE RING!

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!! Our first picture as an engaged couple!


Self pic....and yes you will see this left hand in many many more pictures through out Europe. In fact, I find it VERY hard to get anything done because I catch myself staring at this amazing ring all day long!

I LOVE HIM!!!!!!

My ring and tulips!! (Forgive the terrible picture of myself....it was the crying)

And we celebrated with a drink while we called family :) His-beer I got him as a part of his Valentines present.

Mine- wine! This awesome bottle that talked about love and celebrations on the back....I never knew how fitting it would be when I bought it.

Celebrating at the wine bar

The perfect place to begin our lives together...

Our very own Dutch fairy tale....

As of now, we dont have any weddings plans or dates....we have just talked about some minor fun ideas. We are just enjoying being engaged! But I am excited to be able to offically check out wedding magazines.

Stu is sitting here as I write this. He made me promise that we would do it together (which I love) but it took EVERYTHING I HAD not to blog at work today. :) With the time change and the fact that we spent an awesome day yesterday in Amsterdam (more on that tomorrow), we are still getting around to calling and sharing with everyone, so we are sorry about that!

We get to spend an amazing week in Europe (Amsterdam yesterday, Haarlem, Munich and Salzburg) I am SO excited to be able to spend a week with him.

It was all so perfect and something I know we will both never forget. Thanks for reading and sharing our story with us. All of our love!!

al mijn liefde