Noah and I had been talking about getting engaged for quite a while, and with our 5 year anniversary of dating a few days around the corner I had a feeling it was going to be at any moment. He had a reservation for New Year's Eve (Our Anniversary Date), so I figured that was when he might ask!

The day before, we were having a bit of an errands adventure. We went out for lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant, and then decided to find a park to go to.

We drove Chuckanut Drive, stopped at Larrabee state park, and then spent about an hour looking for rocks and sea glass. I started getting a little suspicious, but I couldn't spot any square-shaped objects in his pants pocket, so I assumed we were just making the most of our day.

We ended up walking up to one of the view points, and I put my arm around him, leaning my head on his chest as we looked out towards the Islands. I felt his heart beating quite loudly and very fast. I pulled away to ask if he was okay, right as he stepped back and got down on one knee!

Funny fact... at the start of our beach rock scavenging, there was a moment where we paused to look out at the water. Apparently, he was gathering the courage to propose and I ended up getting pooped on by a bird. That's good luck right? <3

Part I

“Escaping dorm-life at WWU, I was staying at my parents house for the weekend. My brother had two of his friends over to work on homework. I was briefly introduced to both of them before I ran and hid in my bedroom.”

-Bella

“While working at Discount Tire in high school I asked my friend Tristan to help me write an essay for a class. While I was at his house I saw a girl with shoulder length, curly brown hair, and glasses come down the stairs and go into her room. I thought she was beautiful. ”

- Noah

Part II

“9 PM after work, my brother calls and asks me if he can get a ride out to the house. After waiting for a little while, a car pulls up and 4 guys get out. My brother comes over to my car and explains that Noah’s car got a flat tire on the freeway and that they need to change it. The only thing in that sentence I focused on was the name “Noah”. I stayed in my car and tried to sneak a couple looks at who was over there, and Noah and I met eyes a few times. I quickly realized that he was pretty darn cute. On the way home I told my brother to give him my number if he was interested in it.”

-Bella

“On Saturday nights after work at Discount Tire we would go out to Red Robin for dinner. I drove three of my coworkers that day and on our way back to our work parking lot I got a flat tire on i-5. Discount Tire is closed on Sundays and I have been cursed to only ever get flat tires on Saturday evenings. When we got back to the shop, my coworkers sister was waiting to bring him home. They watched me sadly change my spare tire, and I tried to be funny to impress this girl. All but one of my coworkers had left (including the girl), and as we waited for his ride, I saw a text pop up on my phone “you can have her phone number if you want it.” I didn't feel so cursed about getting a flat tire that night.”

- Noah

“After texting back and forth for a few days, we planned on meeting up for a coffee date. The date started out a bit awkward, but we slowly started getting more comfortable with each other as time passed.

We ended up deciding to continue the date by going back out to Sudden Valley, and hiking around the forest. After exploring for a bit, my parents came home and wanted to start our New Year celebration.

This was the moment I assumed Noah would leave to avoid meeting the parents on the first date. But to my surprise he wanted to stay. We played a board game, and then watched the space needle firework count down on the TV. At about 1am, Noah was ready to leave, and my entire family stood at the door watching us say goodbye to each other, so all we could do was hug.

-Bella