You know you've found your soulmate when they come up with a proposal that is more magical and perfect than you could have ever dreamed of.

The day as I, Emeri, thought I'd planned:

Lunch with both families at Casa de Pico - one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, and the site of our first date! Back to the Keffer household for drinks and to show the Rafterys around. Off to the Keffer/Raftery household (probably for more drinks). And ending the day down at Kevin's brother's place for the Notre Dame game.

Apparently while I thought I was planning away, the real planning had been happening behind the scenes!

As a joke, I sent a video of my hand (with no ring) that morning to some friends saying "this is my hand at the start of the first day of Thanksgiving break." Little did I know!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Casa de Pico and headed back to my mom's. Our fourteen year old chocolate lab, Gracie, had been cooped up all day, so I was ushered outside with her rather quickly as to avoid any accidents. As Gracie was sniffing around, I suddenly heard a very urgent, "Babe!" and turned around to find Kevin on one knee right by home plate, where my dad caught my pitches for years, with my dad's catcher's mitt in hand. Leave it to me to complete every romantic moment as I yelled "while she's pooping???" (Spoiler alert, Gracie didn't need to go to the bathroom, they just needed me and Gracie outside!)

I grabbed Gracie and hit my knees in total shock, exclaiming, "Gracie! We're getting married!" Time stood still for just a moment as the three of us became even more of a family right there by home plate.

Our families were watching from the front porch, ready to celebrate! The rest of the afternoon was a blur of hugs, champagne, tears, phone calls and text messages galore!

Of course, I had to send my friends a new video of my shaking hand (ring and all!) saying "this is my hand in the middle of the first day of Thanksgiving break!"

I thought the day couldn't get any better...we headed out to a celebratory dinner and walked into a surprise engagement party full of family and friends!

I couldn't have dreamed of a more fitting, perfect engagement story for the two of us. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. 🥰