The beginning of my 'Happily Ever After'

Today is a special day for my husband and I.  6 years ago, Ryan took me on a vacation that will forever be the start of something so much bigger than we realized at the time.  On Thursday, June 12, 2008, we arrived in Daytona Beach, FL for our first vacation together.  I was completely thrilled to be there with a guy I had grown to love over the past year (we had been dating since March 27, 2007).  We were staying at an amazing hotel resort on the beach (Wyndham's Ocean Walk Resort), and I was in paradise!!

We went to the store and got some groceries to last us the 5 days we were there and then crashed since we were so exhausted from the travelling that day!  The next day, we had a great time on the beach.  We enjoyed the water, and got some much needed sun.  That night we went to an amazing dinner at the Chart House.  Ryan seemed a bit fidgety but I didn't read too much into it since I was so hungry and could only think about the delicious meal and dessert that were in front of me.  When we returned back to the hotel, we decided we wanted to take a stroll on the beach down to the Pier to watch the sunset.  (I didn't take as many pictures as I had liked to during this trip - in retrospect I would have taken a TON more!!)  We decided to take a seat on the beach on our way back and just watch the sun set over the water, and that is when it happened....

Ryan turned to me and said these words:

"Soooo... I kinda like you a whole lot... and wanna keep you around for a long time... soooo will you marry me?!" 

(that might sound childish, but it is totally him and it was absolutely PERFECT!)

(Here is the ring - I took the picture the next day after 

SOO many people were asking me post a picture of it!!)

I freaked out!!  I was so excited and couldn't be more thrilled about everything!  Right after he proposed, there were fireworks going off at the Pier (I would love to brag and say that Ryan had planned that out, but he didn't).  We went back to the hotel, and called EVERYONE!!  It wasn't until the next morning that I realized it had happened on Friday the 13th!!  We had a really good laugh about that one!

We enjoyed the beach for a few more days, got WAY sun-burnt and headed back home.  We always talk about going back there, but haven't made our way just yet - maybe next year.