...the engagement

well, as you all know, steve and i are getting married! :)

the proposal happened saturday, dec. 15th, in the middle of the 4th largest snowstorm st. louis has seen in december...what a night!

according to what i knew, the night was a double date with our best friends rich and gina to see the wild lights display at the zoo and then head to maggiano's italian restaurant.

these plans were brought to a halt as the wild lights display was cancelled due to the rapidly deteriorating weather. unknown to me, steve was going through several emotions, mainly of the negative variety. his plan for the evening was quickly going awry. rich and gina arrived at my apartment and we decided to go ahead and drive to forest park and see other lights that were displayed in the area. as we got near the park, we noticed that the lights in the zoo were in fact on and people seemed to be going inside the gates. hmmm.... could this mean that we were misinformed about the closing? no, in fact the zoo was closed to the public, but as luck would have it, they were holding a private event inside. this encouraged us to try to sweet talk our way in -- b/c in fact we had already paid to see the lights and it was legitimately the only night the four of us could come. the guard was not impressed and told us he was sorry, but we were out of luck and could not come in. it was still very pretty to look at through the gates!

our group decided to cut our losses and take some pictures outside the gate. the snow was really starting to fall and my feet were starting to freeze. seemed like we were ready to pack up the car and head out when we noticed that rich was no longer with us. gina did a quick search and returned saying that it looked like he was trying to bribe our way into the zoo! too funny!! even better -- it worked! rich had convinced him to let us in (of course rich had told him all about steve's proposal plan and they had cleared with security for the private viewing of the lights). rich came out saying that they took pity on us and would allow us to go in and see some of the lights in the immediate entryway and down the first main path. we jumped at the chance and inside we went.

Gina and Rich outside the zoo gates.

Steve and I outside the zoo gates.

Snowy path inside the zoo.

sooo...inside the zoo we are. we walk along and take some pictures along the way. my feet are solid blocks of ice and i am seriously looking forward to getting back to the car. we come out into a nice clearing near one of the frozen lakes and decide to trade off on some pictures. gina and rich get out their cameras and i look over to see steve on one knee. so completely romantic!

It was cold, but what he said warmed me right up!

so, ta-da! we're engaged -- but the surprises were not over. instead of double date dinner at maggiano's as i had thought, steve had planned a group outing at bar italia -- the restaurant where he and i had our first date! and who was to join our foursome for dinner? our parents! both his parents and mine were waiting at the restaurant to celebrate with us. it was a wonderful evening filled with family, friends, good conversation, and love.

The happy group: Gina, Rich, Pat, George, Carol, Glenn, Steve, and me.