Here's the story y'all have been waiting for.

Let me just preface this by a few things:

1. Ben cannot hide things from me. He may not give me the entire truth all the time, but he can't keep everything a secret. I knew he had the ring, and I knew he had talked to my dad.
2. Lot's of things happened so this could all happen the way it did: the Clark's were out of town for the weekend, Emily and Preston had asked me to babysit weeks earlier, and Dad can keep a secret pretty well.
3. Ben and I never get to spend time together thanks to work and school, so I never turn down an opportunity to be with him.

So, here's the rest of the story.

The week of February 7th, was a fairly busy week for both Ben and I. Ben had meetings on top of classes and getting the first draft of his appellate brief ready to be turned in and I had work, helping out the missionaries, and the usual day to day things. I worked Saturday morning, and was looking forward to a somewhat quiet and long weekend where I could get some things done that I had been putting off for a few weeks. After work, I was "running errands" when Ben texted me asking if I wanted to hang out with him after babysitting or if he could come over then. Of course, I said yes.

When Ben arrived he banished me from my room and and immediate vicinity of my room while he decorated it special for Valentine's Day. I knew, at that very moment, that Ben was going to propose that day. So, I happily let him decorate my room. When he finished, I had to hurry up and leave to make it to Emily and Preston's on time to babysit. Ben said he needed to run by his place to get some books to study, so we took seperate cars.

Babysitting Lauren was a joy.

After Emily and Preston got home and as Ben and I were leaving, he told me to call or text him when I got home. We both left and both headed back to the Clark's. I had forgotten that I knew Ben was going to propose, so I started taking my time driving home. While I was at the gas station I remembered there was a surprise for me waiting at home and that Ben was most likely on his way over, so I booked it the rest of the way home. Luckily, my driving skills surpassed Ben's that night, and I beat him back home.

Once I was home, I went down to my room to find it decorated very Valentine's-y. There on my bed was a little box. In my mind, I thought, Ben better be showing up any minute now. As I opened the box, I found it was empty, so I read the letter that accompanied all the decorations. I called Ben (like the letter said and as he requested before we parted), and HE DIDN'T ANSWER HIS PHONE!!!!! So, I ran upstairs because I knew he had to be outside waiting. When I opened the front door, Ben was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I told him of course, I'd marry him.

So, that's the story. Yes, we are still trying to figure out WHEN we can finally get married, so we'll keep y'all informed about it.