The night of November 28, 2008 was magical. After dating for five years, I never thought the day would come when John would ask me to be his wife. We had planned for a couple's massage that night, but I had no idea what I was in for!

John came to my house to pick me up for our massage appointment. Thinking that all we were doing that night was having a massage, I was going to throw on sweat pants and walk out the door. John told me that I needed to put "real clothes" on. I argued with him asking him why I would put on jeans and a shirt when I was going to be covered in massage oil in a few minutes, but in the end I listened to him thinking that maybe we were going to get dinner after the appointment (our appointment was at 7).

We headed off to our appointment, which was incredible! It was so relaxing, the hour definitely flew by. After the appointment I was starving and asked John if we could go get food. He said yes, that he was taking me to a new restaurant that we had never been to before and it was a surprise. The whole car ride to the "restaurant" I kept asking him where we were going. He didn't answer me and the next thing I knew we were in front of his apartment. I was totally confused as to why we were there, but he told me he needed to run inside to get the gift certificate that he had forgotten for the restaurant. I said ok and sat in the car and waited for him.

At that point I was thinking, "I have not seen a gift certificate anywhere around his apartment lately what is he talking about?" John was inside his apartment for what seemed like a long time (it was probably a minute in actuality) and then my text message ringer went off. The text message said, "look in the glove box and read the card." I was so confused at this point but I did what I was told. I opened the glove box and inside there was the card. I walked nervously up the stairs to his apartment thinking what is going on??? I opened the door and the first thing I saw was a photo of us! The lights were off, there were candles lit, and there were rose peddles on the floor. I followed the path of peddles (I didn't even take my coat of!) that led me into John's room and there his was, behind the rose peddles that formed a heart, smiling at me. I was shaking and crying and I have NO clue what John said to me, but when he asked me to be his wife I said, "yes" through all of my tears!

After we talked about the proposal and I called my parents, I wanted to celebrate!! John took me to Bosco and as we walked in the door the waitress was bringing champagne bottles to a table. People were cheering and clapping and I realized those people were our friends!!! John surprised me again by having all of our friends meet up and celebrate our engagement with us! I was so stunned to see everyone there!! The whole night was absolutely perfect! :)

The night of November 28, 2008 was one I'll never forget, but my story starts earlier than Kell's. I had gotten in touch with her mom earlier in the week because I wanted to officially ask her parents for their daughters' hand in marriage. For some reason, I was extremely nervous about doing that, even though I've known her parents for some time. Before hand I went to have a beer with her brother, Michael, to help ease my nerves. When I arrived at their house, my heart was racing but quickly became settled as we started to talk things over. They were pretty much expecting me to propose to her soon, so they were glad that it was finally happening, and they approved of the ring that I bought for Kell.

I had thought long and hard about how I wanted to propose. I didn't want to do anything cliche, or too crazy, but I wanted it to be a complete surprise. For a while Kell and I had been talking about going to a spa, but we never got around to doing it. I figured this would be a great opportunity to do just that, plus I figured it would be much needed relaxing activity because I knew I would be very nervous. I also thought, since it was a holiday and most of our friends would be home, that it would be good to celebrate the engagement with all of our friends. Of course I wanted that to be a surprise too, so I had Jenn, one of our friends, call our close friends and organize somewhere for us to show up to later.

The whole week went by very slow for some reason. I think it's because I was so excited about proposing, that the day couldn't seem to get there fast enough. Thanksgiving dinner with Kell's family was a challenge because I didn't know who, of her family, knew that I was going to propose since I mentioned it to her parents earlier in the week. I tried very hard to not seem suspicious around Kell, and blow the whole thing. But all went well, and I got a couple winks and the end of the night from those who knew what my big plans were the next day.

That morning I was very excited. My whole plan was in place for the day/night. I spent the day shopping for Christmas gifts and prepping for the proposal. I wanted to keep busy throughout the day to keep my mind off of being so nervous. When all the preparation was done, it was time to make it happen. Everything was well thought out and planned accordingly, so this had to go right.

I went to pick up Kell because we had an appointment at the spa, and while she was finishing up getting ready, the only thought running through my head was "She has no idea how great of a night this is going to be." So we left to head to our spa appointment, and I must say it was one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. It kept me very calm, which is exactly what I needed. Part 1 of the plan was successful, but now was Part 2, the most important part.

We were driving to my apartment because I needed to "pick up a gift certificate" to a restaurant. So we pulled in front of my apartment so I could run inside real quick. I got inside, lit the candles, took a few deep breathes, and texted Kell saying to open up the glove box to read the card that was in there for her. I then stood in my room, with rose pedals covering the ground, waiting to hear the front door open.

She walked into the room with a surprised look on her face, accompanied by many tears. I then proceeded to get down on one knee, inside the rose pedal shaped heart, and asked her to marry me. She said yes. Part 2 was successful.

I explained to her my whole gameplan and how it all came about while we were getting ready to "head to dinner." I took her to Bosco, where all of our friends were there waiting to surprise Kell, and congratulate us on our new engagement. We happily celebrated the rest of the night with our close friends, and I couldn't have asked for it to go any better. Part 3 was successful.

The night went exactly according to plan, and it was one I'll never forget.