It was Friday, February 20, 2009. Mom and I were out shopping and decided to go in David's Bridal 'just for me to see what I liked'. I was not engaged. At this point everybody pretty much knew that Josh and I would get married.. but he hadn't asked me yet. So into the dress shop we went... pretending. :) After much laughter trying to figure out how the slip that the nice lady gave me to use was supposed to go on, and miscommunications on dresses that I like/didn't like, I put on my dress. As soon as I put it on I knew! (And that was before I saw myself in it-- there's only mirrors outside of the dressing rooms in there--curses!) I looked at Mom and she looked at me and both of us were speechless. That is until I paraded through David's Bridal in my bare feet singing 'Here Comes the Bride'.. and no, I'm not kidding. Then we looked at the price tag. It was ON SALE. Angels started singing! I swear. Then mom said, 'We should get it!' uhhhhhh.... She continued, 'Well I mean it's on sale, it's your size, you love it.. and I figure you're going to love it when it actually comes time to wear it so I guess it doesn't really matter if Josh has proposed or not. This way when he does, you already have it!' At this point the girl working chimes in, 'So when are you getting married?!' Our cover was blown. And I had even switched my purity ring to my left hand. DANG IT. 'Oh, well..' I said, 'He hasn't actually asked me....yet.' Goooooooood going, Haley. Well played. No, no she was very nice and said girls were in there all the time that weren't engaged. WHOOOOPIE! I wasn't the only freak pressuring my poor boyfriend into marriage. (Just kidding. Sorta. No really, I'm just kidding.) I immediately thought of my dad and what he would think. But Mom assured me he wouldn't care! He would be glad we were buying it on sale! blah blah blah. I should have known! What I didn't know was that Josh and my dad were meeting for breakfast the very next morning to have 'the talk'. So after a phone call to dad and the delivery of his American Express card, (delivered by the lovely Shannon.. who cried when she saw me standing on that awful pale green carpet in the gorgeous dress) we were at the check out counter. I still couldn't believe it. And then, my phone rang. And it was Josh. And I almost had a heart attack. OH MY GOSH I'm a that psycho girlfriend!! So there I stood lying through my teeth as he asked me question after question. (What are you doing? Shopping with Mom! Where are you? Kohls was having a really big sale! Oh, did you get anything? Uh.... Mom got a dress!) Then I saw a girl that I worked with at Chick-fil-a. Poor girl said hi to me and I shushed her. As if she was going to say, 'HEY HALEY HOW ARE YOU NICE SEEING YOU IN DAVID'S BRIDALLLLLLLL'. I'm not sure she ever talked to me again.

Anyways, all this to say, that two years ago today Josh asked me to be his wife!! Yep, the very next weekend after I bought my dress. It all went down like this....

Our dear friends the Tilley's had just adopted another little girl, and wanted pictures of their new family of four.

I was going to take them, and Josh was just 'tagging

along'. So we were out in this field (that I chose-- good pointer when you are going to propose-- make her think it's all her idea) and I'm taking pictures of the family. And then when I had decided I had enough and we could probably be done, Jenn chimed in with, 'Let me take some pictures of you an Josh!' And I obliged because Jenn is an awesome photographer! So we are posing and she's just taking picture after picture. Then she says to look over the field with my hands on a fence. (I now have my back to her and Josh.) Then she starts messing with my hair and keeps telling me not to move my head because my hair looks perfect. At this point I'm feel

ing pretty good about myself I honestly don't remember what I thought Josh was doing. I think I just assumed he was behind me. So I hear her take a few and then she says, 'Okay! I'm done.' And when I turned around Josh was on one knee!! I freaked out! All I can remember was thinking how huge the diamond looked and how I was so confused because I couldn't figure out how he bought a ring without me knowing and I wanted to know who all knew and then I realized he was talking so I zoned back in. He was asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. And I went limp. Seriously. The pictures look like he's hurting me because he's trying to hold me up and he's still

got the ring in his hand. I'm literally leaning on him. I couldn't stand. I was so happy!! Then we took some more pictures and headed home to see my parents! We got home and started talking about dates.. I wanted a fall wedding. October to be exact. Well when we realized October was nearly 8 months away, we moved to September.... then August. My mom made us stop there. :) Those 6 months I honestly felt like I was floating. It didn't stop until I was walking down the aisle and I realized it was real life. And the real life feeling feels a lot like the floating feeling. But better.

Best feeling ever.

I love you Joshua Taylor Barton!! And I always will.

PS: Tonight I asked Josh if he knew what today was and he said, 'Um......(long pause) It's the anniversary of when we got engaged!!'

Good man.