December 9th - Nikki says "Yes!"

I knew it was going to be great. But I had NO IDEA getting engaged would be this wonderful. There are so many precious moments from this past Sunday. It almost seems impossible to capture them all but I'm gonna try! I had an amazing time planning all of this out for Nikki. I wanted this to be the BEST day of her life!

Pre-Race

Nikki showed up to my place in Carrollton around 6:30am. Why? Because she was going to run the Dallas White Rock Marathon. That's why! 26.2 miles. I filmed her as she walked through the door... see for yourself! {the video is at the very bottom of this blog post...}

Nikki was really excited about her "race outfit" and "pre-race outfit." I assured her how beautiful she looked as she modeled them for me. I was so impressed at how calm and confident she was before the race. I told her that this was her day!! And that I didn't want her to have to worry about anything at all. She seemed to really appreciate that.



Marathon start - American Airlines Center

We arrived at about 7:30am with virtually no traffic. Nikki enjoyed not having to know anything about the directions and all that stuff. She just sat there and smiled, very giddy and obviously excited for the race!

We sat in the car about 5 minutes too long. Nikki wanted to take pictures of our clif wristbands. Also, Nikki lost a pin for her bib so that took extra time (haha).

At around 7:50am we started running to the start line and Nikki was shivering she was so cold...so I lost my jacket, but she looks good in it, huh?

About this time I get a call from Jill & Terry and we meet by the start line to send Nik off. Nikki was so happy to see some family before her race! That's Victory Park in the background.

Nikki ran the race for her late grandfather who passed away about 1 year ago. Her mom brought his picture to show to Nikki right before the start to remind her. Nikki tried not to get emotional...he's the one to introduced Nikki to running when she was a kid.

Nik & I said our goodbyes and I gave her one last little pep-talk. Look at how excited she is!



The Marathon

Jill and Terry rode with me in my car and we went to see Nikki between miles 5 & 6 in Highland Park. She looked like she was barely even trying! We dropped by Starbucks to kill some time and then we saw her again right after mile 12 (see below).



We saw her one more time around mile 16 and that's where we met up with David, Laura and Chris. I was wondering if Nikki was cold out there...Jill decided to offer Nik her warm headband and Nikki didn't hesitate in accepting it!

Nikki's brother, Chris, ran with her for about the last 6 miles of the run and he ran in his jeans! You are the man, Chris. Here's a picture of me trying to keep up with them at mile 26... Clearly, Nikki is too fast for novices like myself :)



Post-race Analysis

Okay, so who knew we had a future Olympian in our midst? Nikki finished her first marathon WITH EASE in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 9 seconds. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was so impressed. We thought at best she would finish in about 4 1/2 hours. I was so proud of her in this moment (see picture). I still am so proud and she has some amazing potential in endurance sports should she ever want to pursue it.




This is definitely my FAVORITE moment of her race, right when she came out of the finishing gate.




As we were walking back to the car I caught a moment of Nikki playing around with Jill, Terry and Chris.









Food time!

Nikki wanted to go to Fadi's off 75 & Knox. I took her there after the U.S. Open Triathlon back in October and she loved it. So we shared a Fadi's Sampler with Chicken Schwarma like we always do. At lunch Nikki said "This is the best day of my life!" My plan was working, but she had NO IDEA what was about to come!




Some time to kill...

Nikki finished the marathon so fast that it threw a kink in my plans! We had some time to kill so we went to my mom's house and napped a bit during the Cowboys game.

1st Surprise

I told Nikki I had a surprise for her and we got in my car and started driving. We went to the Cooper Fitness Center and I had scheduled her a massage. She loved it and I tried to build it up like that was the "big surprise!" haha

The Best Surprise

After she came out of her massage, I took her to my car and got out a bag and then convinced her to go on a walk with me. We went to a pretty area with a pond and a fountain and a white bench. It was a beautifully misty, cold evening around 5:30pm and about 40 degrees! I had started a memory book for her and even had pictures from that morning's marathon in there. I had fun building it up like a scrapbook (and you all know how OCD I am about that kind of stuff!) It had to be perfect for her.

She loved the book and I handed it to her to look at it herself. She turned it to the last page and the title read "The Day of My Engagement." Nikki froze. No emotion. It was like she wanted to believe it but thought there was NO WAY I could sneak something like this past her! I had been playing dumb about the whole ring thing to her, when in reality I had been doing lots of work behind the scenes. I had also spoken to her parents, of which she had no idea about. I tried to tell her that "yes, today is the day of your engagement." I then read a poem to her that I wrote myself. I don't think she heard a word of it! Then I got down on one knee and got to tell her how much I loved her. And then I asked if she would marry me, and she said "yes!" Here's a picture like 5 minutes after I proposed:

We spent about an hour out in the cold just enjoying the moment. We prayed together and just laughed and giggled a lot. It was a very special moment I will never forget.

Dinner

I wasn't done surprising Nik. We had never gone out to eat and "dressed fancy" before. That's how Nik says it. So I surprised her with a really nice dinner at La Duni. It was amazing food. Nik couldn't stop looking at her ring :)

In the middle of dinner, the waiter came and surprised us with a bottle of champaign. Reed and Whitney had sent it to us from Nashville. HOW COOL IS THAT?!! Wow, we felt so grateful to have such amazing friends at that moment. The night couldn't get any better if it tried...

Look how happy she is!

The ring...