Does life get any better than this?

The Seattle Library ( very cool)

Us at the museum after Dane proposed. Notice the mascara and red face?


This cute little man was one of the workers in on the whole thing. He is from India and told us that he has never seen anything like this before. He was beaming and winking at Dane the whole time...lucky for Dane, I didn't notice

The spot where Dane proposed. He had that picture frame with all of our pictures and the flowers on a little art niche.

Birthday cupcakes that Dane bought for me

Birthday cupcakes... of course with those candles that NEVER blow out...this is so Dane!

The BLING BLING

Dane took me on LOTS of adventures today. This is at the Seattle Public Library (I love this place) and he had never been

This is for Dad! (Dane's not Jill's)



The water fountain outside the Aquarium

Under the SEA!

Riding an Orca in the ocean!

This is REALLY hard to do ( you know catch the orca, and ride him) but we are pretty good at it

Same face?

The docks!

I took this picture the second I saw the aquarium and I realized this was the next surprise for the day!

Gas works park! AMAZING!

Daners with our picnic that he made for us, equipped with not 1 but 2 string cheeses for me! He knows his girl.

I brought the flowers with us to the picnic so that people would say congratulations to us! haha... hey It's my day and I'm LIVING IT UP!

beautiful Gas works!

The view of Seattle from Gas works

The old machinery at gas works...so cool

On top of the hill at gas works...pictures don't do this place justice

This group of people walked up to me and Dane while we were having our picnic and were laughing saying "congratulations" and then took our picture for us. They were laughing because Dane was eating his sandwich (chowing down) and I had my camera an inch away from my ring taking pictures...pretty much ignoring Dane.... sad but true

Our picnic site at gas works

side view of ring ( these are the pictures I was taking at the picnic)

Beautiful beautiful beautiful

So fun... people were flying kites with their kids... I wanna take our kids here some day!

Gas works

Gas works

at the museum where Dane proposed

SOOOO Happy....right after Dane proposed

Dane and a museum worker that was in on the whole proposal.

The spot where Dane proposed

I am all red from crying

Getting ready for my birthday! Very excited!

My birthday cake from Rachel on my Thursday surprise dinner party that her and Dane threw for me

The dinner party. We had lasagna and garlic bread and yummy sparkling ciders.

My surprise dinner party.

Today was straight out of a dream for me. I am now engaged to the man of my DREAMS, my very best friend, and all on my BIRTHDAY! 24 is such a great age! Anyone else agree? I could not wait to post pictures of our day, and Dane is on the couch next to me taking a nap from our long day, so right now is the perfect time. Plus LOTS of people are asking for pictures. So here they are, but first I will tell you the story of how Dane pulled this whole thing off.

So, I knew Dane would be proposing sometime soon, and I was guessing it would probablly be on my birthday because that is the only day he could take me out without me suspecting anything. I never told Dane that I was thinking he would propose on my B-day, but he knew anyway, so Dane had his friend Austin leave a message and pretend to be the Shane co. saying there were problems with financing our ring, and we could not pick it up until Monday. Dane played the message for me and said something like, "Jill i'm sorry, I was gonna propose to you on your birthday, I don't want you to think I didn't want to, but I can't now because of this" and then he pretended to be bummed the rest of the night. I felt really bad from him and was trying to tell him it was ok, but I was WAY bummed too. So the next day, Dane picked me up at 10am to start my birthday extravaganza. He took me to the Bellevue Art museum (I have been asking him to take me there for a long time). We were walking all through the museum and I was taking my SWEET time reading about each and EVERY piece of art. I was having a really good time. When we got to the second floor Dane had his little display of flowers and pictures of us all set up (he had drove down to the art museum early this morning and set it all up, then came back and got me, and drove BACK down). I must of looked at every single piece of art on that floor besides Dane's display, and then as we were about to head to the third floor Dane said, "oh look at this one" and I looked and it didn't hit me for a few seconds that it was pictures of us. So I thought It was really cute and picked up the flowers and loved them, thinking this was a really cute B-day present, but then Dane got down on one knee. Dane had done such a good job with all of his lies, I still didn't know he was proposing. It started to hit me when he told me that I am more beautiful than any piece of art in the world, and that nothing could capture how happy I make him, and that I am one of God's greatest creations, and that he wants to make a masterpiece with me. It was VERY sweet. Dane was worried about being cheesy but his mom informed him the rule with proposals is that you get to be cheesy! Really though, It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard. I cried and knelt down with him and he asked me to marry him and I said Yes Yes YEs YEs! and then he said, " I have the ring for you". I had tottally forgot about the ring at this point, so he pulled the ring out of his pocket and slid it on my finger. The museum workers all came over and clapped for us along with people visiting the museum. Everyone congratulated us... it was really fun. The museum workers were all in on the whole thing, and one security guard stayed near Dane's display to keep an eye on it while Dane picked me up from my house. It was really cute. Then Dane told me about all the LIES he has been telling (for a good cause) and told me about meeting with my dad. After Dane asked my dad for his blessing (which went very well) my dad left Dane with some salsa. So Dane and I ate the salsa that night, and Dane told me that a customer had given it to him, but as soon as we took our first bite I was like, "wow, this tastes exactly like my dad's salsa). Dane was thinking, "what?! How did you guess?!". And I kept going off about it, saying it was EXACTLY like his salsa, but I had no clue it actually was my Dad's salsa...so anyways Dane almost got caught. So back to today....

After Dane proposed the birthday fun began. He took me to Gas Works park in Seattle and packed a yummy homemade picnic for us. We ate by the water, and walked around for a bit. (Beautiful day today by the way). Then he took me to the Seattle Aquarium. It was so much fun, we watched seals and otters be fed...it was really cool, and I had never been. Then Dane let me pick something to do for the day, so I had him take us to the Seattle Library. This place is not your ordinary library. It is awesome, and new, and beautifully constructed inside and out. We just walked around, and I showed him all my favorite views from the library, and we looked at a few really old books and maps. Then we headed back to Mill Creek, took a nap (Dane did, while I blogged), and had a snack, opened up presents, and ate my birthday cupcakes. And for the last event of the day we went to Capri ( A beautiful italian restaurant in Town Center right by my house). It was SUCH a classy place, and not too expensive. It had really pretty lighting, and paintings, and we got to sit near the piano where a guy sang and played all night. When I came out from the bathroom and sat down to our table the guy gave a shout out to me and Dane and said, "I dedicate this song to Jill and Dane, the newly engaged couple! Congratulations!" and then he played "Right here waiting for you". (Is that what it is called?) and the people in the restaurant clapped for us. Dane requested some other songs but he didn't know them. :) The waitor brought us a free dessert...soaked in liquor. Sad, we couldn't eat it. :( Oh well...it's the thought that counts.

So, today was AMAZINg. It was out of a dream. I loved EVERY minute of it, and could not stop crying the entire day because I just feel overwhelmed with gratefulness. I'm so glad Dane and I get to share our lives together!

We have so so much to look forward too! It's just the beginning!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and the congratulations! We love you guys!

Also thanks Brian and Kiera for the congrats! We look forward to the many family vacations together, and catching up to you someday with some kids of our own! We love you guys tons!

Our future home...ok maybe not

Magnolia

Magnolia House... with a little mini house (we don't know what it's for)but gorgeous huh?

View from Magnolia

Today was a really nice Sunday because of wonderful weather! We went to church, then after church Dane came over and I made us dinner, and then we went for a drive in Magnolia, which is an AMAZING neighborhood in Seattle. It is full of insanely BEAUTIFUL homes on the water. Gorgeous!

PS. This is the neighborhood I nanny in and get to feel jealous of twice a week. :)