The Engagement

From Sadee’s Perspective

I think I freaked Johnathan out on our drive back from visiting his sister and her cute family in Wyoming when I said, “So… when do you think we should get married?” (He’s always been good at putting up with me.) I laughed out loud when he casually answered, “I don’t know, next summer?” Plot twist: it was April, and we’re getting married in November.

I honestly had no idea when he was going to propose, but like any girl, I was anxious for it. And because Johnathan loves to tease me, he kept finding ways to fake me out, randomly dropping to one knee only to tie his shoe. Hilarious… not. There were two specific times I thought it might happen:

The first was a random Monday night. We had just returned from dinner, and I had put on my PJs. I was working on setting up my Fourth of July decorations. Johnathan said, “I have something for you!” Since I was about to meet his family in California on their Ranch, he thought I should at least own one Carhartt shirt. I went and tried it on to make sure it fit, and it did. He pulled me around the table after I came back to show him the new shirt and said, "Stand over here." Suddenly, he dropped to one knee, pulled out a ring pop, and said, “Sadee Simmons, will you marry me?” Of course, I said YES! What girl says no to a Ring Pop? He promised it wasn’t the real proposal, but he thought it would be funny since I always joked I’d marry him even if he proposed with a Ring Pop. So, technically… we got engaged on June 16th. ;)

The second was in California at his family's house. On one of our last days there, he took me shooting. A few weeks earlier, he’d asked how I thought he might propose, and one of my guesses was that he’d recreate our first date. So there I was thinking, Oh my goodness, this is it! I was so nervous I couldn’t hit a single shot. Johnathan kept looking at me like, Why are you acting so weird? Later that night, while watching TV, I admitted, “I thought you were going to propose earlier…” We had a good chuckle about it.

Fast forward to the actual proposal. Johnathan flew into Provo on July 30th so he could join me and my family on a cruise. I picked him up late at night, grabbed our usual In-N-Out, and dropped him off at his apartment. After work the next day, we hung out at my place for a while. My brother Ethan happened to stop by. This was his first time meeting Johnathan since coming home from his mission, and it made my big sister's heart so happy that they got to meet before our big family trip.

After Ethan left, Johnathan and I went out for dinner at our favorite pizza spot, then stopped at The Cheesecake Factory to get some cheesecake. Since I was stuffed, I asked him if we could go for a walk. We often walked Provo Canyon on Sunday nights, so when Johnathan said, “Yeah, let’s go up the canyon!” I was sure this was the moment. We had just eaten at “our spot”… it had to be happening! Nope. It was just a walk.

Afterward, we headed to get dinner for my sweet grandpa, Marlon, who loved Wendy’s. But first, Johnathan said we needed to stop by his sister’s house to water her plants. (Suspicious, since her car was there and he swore she was in Chicago. She really was. I just didn't find that out till later.) Inside, the table was set with orange roses (because I am weird and don't like red ones) and all my favorite treats. I looked at him and asked, “Whatcha doing?…” He just smiled and said, “Nothing! I thought we could have a movie night, so I grabbed snacks.” I asked, “Here?” and he said, “No, we’ll take them back to your place.” We packed it up and left. No proposal, no watering plants (sorry, Elizabeth).

Now I was completely confused. Still, I ran into Wendy’s for Grandpa’s dinner, and while waiting, I called my best friend Britney, telling her, “I think he’s going to propose tonight!” We giggled like schoolgirls, and I promised to keep her updated.

Back home, I helped Grandpa eat his dinner and tucked him into bed. Then Johnathan and I headed to the basement. I told him I was going to change into pajamas while he found a movie to watch, and he stopped me: “Can you just wait one second? Stand here, please.” That’s when he got down on one knee and pulled out… surprise, another Ring Pop. “Oops, wrong ring!” Then he brought out the real one: “Sadee, will you marry me?”

I cried, jumped up and down, and honestly didn’t even look at the ring at first because I was so excited. We called our families, shared the news, and celebrated.