Jared and I have been together for six and a half years! We have known since we were together six months that we would be together forever. It just took awhile to get engaged! We met at a mutual friend’s house and were inseparable ever since. In the beginning we took things very fast. We moved in together when we only had dated for six months. We talked about getting married very often throughout our entire relationship, but Jared waited to pop the question. In 2005 we decided to get a puppy, Buster a male fawn pug. He is so much fun to have around. A couple of months later I decided to bring home another pug, Chewy a male black pug. We have be a happy family of two people and two dogs since 2005! In March of 2009 we decided to take a plunge and buy a house together. We had so much fun looking for our perfect home. We have spent many nights in our home entertaining family and friends for parties and holidays. ‘When is he going to ask me to marry him’ was always a question wondering around in the back of my head (and at that point everyone else was wondering the same)! Christmas Eve we have a gathering at our home with family to eat, enjoy each other’s company, and exchange gifts. Jared and I ALWAYS exchange gifts on Christmas Eve. Every time I asked him to open his gifts he would tell me, “No, we will do it on Christmas morning”. Needless to say I went to bed a little disappointed that we didn’t exchange gifts because we always exchange Christmas Eve. Before we went to sleep I told him I was going to wake up at 12:01am (since that is technically Christmas morning) and we are going to exchange gifts! But that didn’t happen, I fell asleep. When we woke up Christmas morning I was so excited to go open gifts. Jared had been telling me for a couple weeks that my present was so big he couldn’t wrap it. My mind was going crazy with what it could be! I sat on the couch and put his gifts next to me. I said, “You can open yours. But first you have to go get my HUGE present.” He had a smirk on his face and I couldn’t figure out why. He stands up from the couch, walks up to the Christmas tree, puts his hand inside the tree and pulls out a little wrapped box. I told him, “that’s not funny, where is my huge gift?” Jared said, “Just open it.” So I did, very slowly, cautiously and thinking the entire time what is in this box??? I thought, maybe a necklace, gift certificate? When I opened the little white box, I could hardly believe it! I started to cry. Jared got down on one knee and asked, “Will you marry me?” I was almost speechless, but of course I was able to say, “YES!” After the initial shock I asked him a few times if this was for real, if he was serious. I was so surprised, it is a great memory! I asked him why he wanted to ask me on Christmas morning. He told me, “My Grandpa asked my Grandma to marry him on Christmas morning.” He is very thoughtful like that! I am glad I can share a special day with his grandparents.
My next favorite part of our engagement story is telling all of our family members and friends. The first person I called to tell was my Great-Grandmother, she is 91. She couldn’t stop saying she was going to faint! Her response was amazing; it made me so glad that she is so happy for us! Another favorite of mine is Jared’s Great-Grandmother, she is also 91. We visited her in the nursing home. We didn’t tell her as soon as we walked in the door. But as soon as Jared’s mom Tammy said, “Grandma look at what Jared got Ashley for Christmas.” I held my hand so she could see my ring. She took a long good stare at it, the expressions on her face as she was taking in what she was seeing was great! She stated crying, and talking about how excited she was, you could hardly understand her. It took quite awhile to get her calmed back down. Telling our family and friends about our engagement was one of the best parts of the entire experience. We are very lucky to have so many people in our lives that love us and support our marriage. I can’t wait to become Mrs. Kral! June 30, 2012 cannot come soon enough
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