Riley and I got engaged on March 6, 2010. We had recently gone to St. George with some friends and had a pretty serious conversation about where our relationship was headed. It had become clear that it was time to move forward. We got back on a Monday, and went back to our regular routine. I was in hair school, Riley was at the LDSBC, and we were talking seriously about marriage.
Behind the scenes, Riley had been saving for a ring, and that Thursday he took my dad to Shiver's for "the talk". He bought the ring later that day, and both our families were in on the plot. I had no idea. Riley seemed distant to me, and unavailable. Turns out he was unavailable because he was ring shopping all week!
I started to get annoyed, and my family was no help since they knew a proposal was close at hand... No pun intended!
Friday night (March 5th) Riley and I were sitting in his truck, again having the marriage conversation. Riley was saying how our relationship had really reached a plateau, we were stuck in a rut, and no where near getting engaged since he had no money for a ring. Little did I know the punk had already bought it! I was absolutely devastated. Here I was, thinking we would be married by summer, and I had just been informed that was not the case.
The conversation ended like this:
R: I'd propose tomorrow if I could.
Me: okay.
R: I love you.
Me: Okay.
I was so mad! I went inside and even shed a few tears. I literally had NO idea what was coming!
The next day (Saturday, the 6th) we had made plans to go do baptisms at the Salt Lake Temple. I called Ri to see what time he would be picking me up to go, and he told me he was going sledding with his friends. At this point, disappointment turned to anger! Fine then, I'll do baptisms by myself!
I got ready to go, and when I went to leave, Riley conveniently showed up and said he would take me. We would just have to hurry.
He was SUPER chatty on the way to the temple. I could barely get a word in, but I thought maybe he was just super excited to go sledding. I realize now how ridiculously gullible I am!
We finished at the temple and Riley insisted we walk around Temple Square for a while. He said he didn't feel good and needed some air. Turns out he needed to stall, since the ring wasn't ready when he went to pick it up earlier and his friend Derek was meeting us on the Square to get it to Riley.
When Derek and our friend Lindsay showed up, I remember thinking it was a weird coincidence to see them there on a Saturday night, but still had no idea what was going on, and was very concerned with getting my "sick" boyfriend out of the cold.
We said goodbye to Derek and Linds and made our way across the street to the parking garage, when Ri informed me that he really wanted to take a tour of the Conference Center. There was a sign up that read "Roof Closed For Private Event"... You guessed it, we were the private event! I mentioned something about how a tour would be lame without going on the roof, but agreed anyway.
When we went inside, our tour guide was VERY eager to give us a "tour". Except she skipped the whole thing, took us straight to the roof, and shut the door behind us.
"Weird lady." I thought.
After stalling for a few minutes, Riley and I stepped up to look at the view of the temple. He grabbed my hand and said something like "Hey, who's that down there?"
I looked down and standing in the street were our families, and some friends, holding up signs that spelled "SARA WILL YOU MARRY ME?" At first I didn't process it. Just last night Riley had told me it would be quite some time before there would be a ring on my finger. But when I turned around, Riley was on his knee.
Our dear family friends, and two of mine and Riley's favorite people, Aunt Karen and Uncle Von were hiding on the roof and filmed the whole thing. You can't hear much on the video except me shrieking "YOU STINKER!". He had lied all along, and literally everyone knew. Except me.
After, we went to Hires for dinner with the family, and met up with all our friends for a party at my parents house.
I still get butterflies thinking about that week. It was such a roller coaster! I am so glad Riley chose to make it a surprise, and include our families. He picked my ring himself. And it's perfect. Three years later, I still love it and cherish it more because he chose it.
The proposal was perfect. riley knew exactly what i would want. And everyday I am so thankful I somehow tricked Riley Stewart in to popping the question!
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