Hawaii - Day 3: Jenni's 27th Birthday

What more could you ask for, than to spend your birthday in Hawaii??

It was a perfect day - and a LOT happened, so read on...

First of all, Will and I had a lot of fun just driving around and looking at the various sights. We found this beach, pulled over and ran down to it. There weren't a lot of people, which was nice.

Above: Jenni actually wrote this in the sand, but Will is the one picture by it.

Above: I thought that the beach, the ocean, and the palm tree in this picture looked like it belonged in a calendar. So we had to get our picture taken in it.

Above: Will looking for coconut shells to make a "coconut shell bathing suit" for Jenni. Silly Will.

Above: So many candles, so little cake...

Above: Jenni excited that everyone remembered her a birthday and made it special for her, and also thinking about the fact that only an hour before this picture, Will proposed marriage to her. (What?? Read on...)

Above: Its hard to make a wish when you are in paradise with the one you love. Everything is already so perfect.

The Proposal: In Will's Own Words

Not every good Latter-day Saint boyfriend/girlfriend picks up and heads to Hawaii for a week of vacation. Jenni and I had a good excuse. My sister was getting married and my whole family was heading over for the wedding. I decided to bring Jenni along for her birthday present as her birthday took place while we were there. What a week of fun that was.

Jenni had moved down to Portland over a month prior, but I hadn’t been able to give her the time and attention needed to help blossom our relationship. I was finishing up my Bachelor degree while simultaneously wiggling my way through a Master’s program and working self-employed to make ends meet.

Our escape to the tropical paradise and leaving all of life’s worries back in Portland created the perfect setting to fall in love. We spent everyday together with siblings playing and having fun. Jenni and I always seemed to catch heavenly sunrises and sunsets on magical beaches.

It was the evening of Jenni’s birthday as a stroll along a sandy shore found us secluded in prayer under the evening’s heavenly stars. With the warm breeze on our face and cool sand cushioning our prayer-bent knees, it was here that I desired with all my heart to share eternity with Jenni. I shared this desire with her then. We knew the timing of our heightened feelings were not the most adequate (in light of my sister's wedding), so we decided to keep this special event to ourselves until it was revealed to us the appropriate time to take action.

Jenni's Memory of the Event:

Will described this evening so eloquently, and I don't want to take away from that. But to give a few more details surrounding this event, keep reading...

First of all, before we left for Hawaii, two of my brothers had bets going on whether or not Will would propose to me. I kept telling them that it was not going to happen because Will, himself, told me that it wouldn't.

So when it actually did happen, it took Will by as much surprise as it did me.

We were both kneeling in the sand and holding each other. Up above us was a starry sky, but everywhere else had stormy clouds. There was a warm breeze blowing through us and the moment just felt so beautiful. I looked at Will and asked him "What are you thinking about?".

He describes to me that he had been thinking about how much he wanted to marry me, and the thought "Will you marry me?" kept going over and over and over in his head. So when I asked the question "What are you thinking about?", he of course answered,"Will you marry me?"

My first question back to him was "Are you serious???". Of course I was excited and of course I was going to say yes, but...I wasn't expecting this! I wanted to be sure he was for real. And he was. :)

But as Will said, we didn't want to steal Kristi's thunder because being in Hawaii was a celebration of her wedding, so we kept our engagement a secret for quite a while. Several months actually.