He was a boy. She was a girl. Can I make it anymore obvious?

I should have known Noah was going to propose that day. I must admit that I was suspicious. There were signs: his mom suggested painting our nails, Noah wanted to get dressed up for a nice dinner, we were stopping at a waterfall, ect. However, there were two essential things I THOUGHT he was missing: a ring and a conversation with my parents.

We left Noah's family vacation to meet up with some friends in Arkansas for a float trip and Noah suggested stopping at a waterfall that "wasn't far" out of our way before going to the nice dinner so I could wear the new sundress I bought for vacation. When we pulled into the state park I immediately asked Noah if I should put on my tennis shoes instead of the sandals I was wearing. Noah insisted that it was a short walk to the waterfall and that the path was paved, so I shouldn't need them.

We got out of the car and started on the trail. He was right, it was paved. It was also steep. I asked Noah to walk in front of me so he could help me down. He replied "I'll stay behind you so that if you fall I can pull you backwards." Weird. Not very gentlemanly. But we trekked on. Then Noah tried to go off-roading. I was very confused as to why he would want to stray from the pavement he had just convinced me we would be staying on. After a brief attempt, it was clear that my heels would not be cooperating and we returned to the pavement. Then I was even more confused when just before we got to the observation deck Noah went off the road AGAIN to go closer to the waterfall. As soon as we entered the clearing by the waterfall my spidey sense finally went off.

Noah pulled out a ring. A fake ring that I had bought for 50 cents at an ice cream shop earlier in the week. I was unimpressed with a fake proposal. Then, he said "what if I had the real thing" as he pulled out my engagement ring. He proposed. I said yes. And now you are reading this on our wedding website.

I knew it wouldn't be easy to hide a proposal from Gabby, she liked to ask questions and I didn't trust my poker face to get me through it. Luckily I had timing and a rational soon-to-be fiancée on my side. I knew Gabby would probably be suspicious of me proposing over my family's vacation but as she mentioned, she didn't think I had the ring or the blessing yet. So now that I thought I could actually surprise her I began to form a plan.

Gabby and I had one day between vacation and a float trip with some of my friends where it would just be us so I told her we would make it a date. I knew of a cool waterfall that a friend of mine had been to that was somewhat close to our destination and we could go get a nice dinner afterwards. So, we got dressed up and began our drive.

When we got to the waterfall Gabby asked if she should change into tennis shoes from heels... well, I couldn't exactly say "you'll want to be wearing the nice shoes for photos", so I told her most of the path was paved from what I had heard. We got out of the car and as I started to pull the ring out of its hiding spot to put in my back pocket Gabby walked around the car much faster than I was expecting. Luckily I got it in my pocket without her noticing and we began our walk. I had been given a path by my photographer friend who was hiding at the falls for our photos so I tried to steer Gabby that direction even though it was a much steeper path. I also couldn't exactly walk in front of her either because I had a noticeable ring box in my back pocket. So we ended up taking the easier route down and I just had to hope my friend was hiding somewhere you couldn't see from that path.

Now for the proposal itself, we walked out onto the shore of this watery area and I looked around real quick to make sure my friend was ready for us. I saw him peak around a rock and give a thumbs up so I began my rehearsed speech. Gabby had bought a fake ring at an ice cream shop earlier on vacation and I pulled that out for a fake proposal which she had explicitly told me not to tease her with. I said "You know what this would be a great place for?" and she gave a little smile and maybe even rolled her eyes a little. I followed up with "what if I had the real thing though?" and I got on one knee and pulled out the ring box that I had struggled so much in hiding that day. She said yes and the rest is history, I may have acted a little funny as things didn't happen exactly how I had planned but now I have a fun story to tell and a wonderful bride-to-be that I can share it with!