Fast forward to summer 2017, Anna had fallen in love with Clay's zinger puns, which she once thought were weird, his quiet leaderhsip, blue eyes, and passion for the Lord. ~Swoon~ What more could a girl dream for?

Toward the end of June, Clay had planned a weekend camping trip for us to Cloudland Canyon. Little did Anna know, this was not one of our usual trips. For about a month prior, Clay had been talking to both of our familes and his closest friends, asked Anna's dad for permission, and bought a ring. He also sought the help of his older sister, Mary Beth, to come up and take secret pictures of the proposal.

We got a late start to our hike after a rainy night of sleeping in our hammocks, and making a campfire breakfast. After about an hour of hiking Anna spotted Mary Beth through the trees- oops! The plan had been foiled. But these Kininghams are quick thinkers, and easily convinced Anna that she was just there to take some pictures, as the professional photographer that she is, to build her portfolio. She said she wanted some "cool outdoorsy couples"- okay, sure.

So we hiked back down to the waterfalls, and took a few pictures. Clay was nervous because at the first falls, there were just too many other people- who wants to proposal next to someone's grandma and a crying toddler? So we moved on to the next waterfall, where we walked across a fallen log to "get the shot."

At this point Clay was shaking, though hiding it well, and Anna started feeling awkward...we started getting a little audience as Mary Beth took pictures. Clay was being suspiciously sweet and laying into the PDA- Anna thought it was just to get her to laugh for the photos, little did she know he was mid-proposal speech.

Clay gets down on one knee, and pulls the ring box out of his sock, yes- he was hiking with it there all day. After some more sweet words, and popping the big question- we were engaged!! For Anna, it was the sweetest surprise and easiest "yes."

Photos