She said yes....

So this weekend was kind of a big deal. Ok it was a really big deal and it was a lot of fun. There are a lot of stories about this weekend most of them revolve around the surprise party after I proposed to Alyssa.

So here are the details of the day, first I showed up to her parents house to pick her up after work. I hung out and waited (as usual) for her to get there and ready to go. We then left and I told her that I was going to be going up to Seattle that night to hang out with Kenan at an Irish Pub (this is one of many many stories she bought....) but that I wanted to hang out with her. The first thing we did is we drove over to our church because I needed some help in dropping off a speaker (to the rest of you sound nerds the JBL-VP7315 and they sound sweet!) that was in the back of my truck. So after Alyssa helped me drop off the speaker we borrowed a couple of tables for our friend Darianne to work on an organizing project for a wedding company she just bought. Actually the tables were for the buffet line at the party but that was just another story she bought, thankfully she USED to trust me.

We then left the church and headed out to grab a bite to eat for lunch. We stopped by Qdoba for some knock off mexican food that I really like and just sat and talked for a bit. Then I took her to the store to by some alergy medicine and "just because" it was on sale I bought a bunch of pop. Again another convient story. We then left Safeway and drove off to Redondo beach, this is where we went on our first date. We parked and walked along the same path and sort of recreated the first date. I walked down the boardwalk with her and we were just enjoying the warm but muggy weather. I think she was expecting me to propose her but instead I turned us around and we walked back to the truck.

We then drove up from Redondo out by this place where we looked at Christmas lights. Just a side note, this place we looked at Christmas lights was really cool but I think that was when I first realized that this girl has issues with being cold. I had my head out the window for cool air because her little honda has a heck of a heater. Anyways back to the main story, we then drove by the theater where we meet (our church was meeting there), by the park where we hung out and took pictures one day. Finally we started heading to the Tacoma waterfront, we went to the Tully's by stadium so I could get a coffee and we drove by stadium high school. This was one of the first places we talked or hung out much because we had some friends (Jeremy and Erin Gibbons) get married there.

We then went down to the waterfront on Ruston Way in Tacoma. We parked in the same spot we always do and walked along the water towards "Our Log". We were just walking and talking about things and we began to approach the place where we have sat and talked about many many things. In fact "our log" is the place where we decided we were going to start dating. As we got closer Alyssa saw that some lady was sitting on our log, not only did she notice this but she was really indignent. The thing she didn't know was that this "lady" sitting on our log was Nikki Gibbons and that Jordan Gibbons (her husband) and Jaime Gibbons (his brother) and Vinny (Jaime's friend) were all hiding out with cameras and video camera's. Well we got to the pre-arranged spot and I asked her if she would marry me. She kissed me really big and then realized she hadn't said anything. I think the answer I eventually got from her was uh-huh (it was her speachless yes). I then placed the ring on her finger and we walked away.

We headed back to the truck and I told Alyssa that I wanted to get some of my favorite salsa thats sold at a Thriftway in the Stadium District. So we swung by the store and bought 4 things of salsa and she was a little ring struck and didn't realize that I didn't need 4 things of salsa but I told her I was wanting to have to some extra but I needed to take it to my house to put it right in the fridge. Well we drove to the house and we were just talking about things and we turned the corner up to the house and all she could see were cars everywhere. There were tons of cars and she was starting to freak out just a little bit because there were tons of people with cameras and they were all our family and friends.

We got out and got completedly covered by silly string and bubbles as we walked to the front door. After the entrance everyone went out back for a BBQ and hanging out. The final surprise of the day was when Jordan Gibbons showed up with pictures for Alyssa of the day. She got to see the proposal and realized that this "lady" on "our log" was Nikki.

Everyone was finally gone at 11 and we were all exhausted from the day. It was a great time and good food. I would really like to thank the following people for their help.

• Gary and Cindy Van Hee - without your help I could have never gotten her there and she would have suspected the whole thing.


• Rick and Donna Hanson - thanks so much for the food and the flowers for Alyssa. Not sure about you guys writting a card to thank us but only saying something to Alyssa though.


• Justin and Darianne Westscott - thanks guys so much for hosting the party and letting us mess up the house a bit. I am really thankful for your friendship and hospitality.


• Patty and Carl Brumfield - thanks for the food and for the grilling, the food turned out great.


• Jordan, Nikki, Jamie and Vinny - thanks so much for taking the pictures down at the beach. You guys did a phenomenal job.


• Jaymie Quale - thanks for the decorating and the silly string. I appreciate the help in keeping her in the dark.

To everyone who took pictures Alyssa and I thank you for them. She loves to scrap book and she has plenty of pictures from the party to remember everything by.

Well, I am now stepping out into a new area of life. Its gonna be an interesting journey and I can't wait to see where it takes us.

Here is the link to all of the pictures.

Derek's Picasa Album for the Engagement Party



For those of you interested we are talking about a late fall wedding, keep the date of October 25th open..... more details to come