Yes!

So...

Has it seemed like Miles and Laurel was a little bit quiet lately? Yes?

Did you think that maybe I was omitting something from the Tennessee trip report? Yes?

Okay, you got me. I have been keeping a secret for what seems like 20 million years two weeks.

Josh and I are getting married!!!

He asked me to marry him, on what was already my favorite porch in the whole world, at my favorite time of day: sunrise.

(It was Day 5 in my six days of Tennessee sunrises, which is by far the weirdest photo in that post. We had watched the sun rise, and he proposed with a ring that I loved right away, and I was so overcome that I forgot to take a sunrise photo until about 20 minutes after the sun came up.  So much for that souvenir!)

The whole thing was perfect. (And yes, I said yes!)

Later in the day, we drove through the national park to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. We stopped at one little parking lot for a view of the hoarfrost at the top of the mountain - and for our first photo as an engaged couple, thanks to the timer on my camera!

Later that week, we took another one at my parents' house, with Wish looking totally deranged:

When Josh proposed, we had agreed to tell my immediate family and then try to keep the news as quiet as possible until he could tell his parents in person on Thanksgiving. This felt very reasonable at the time - and in all seriousness, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way - but by the time Thanksgiving rolled around 10 days later, I was ready to burst! I am so glad that it worked: to my knowledge, he got to surprise them with the news without advanced notice from anyone else (or Facebook). On Thanksgiving, with the news no longer under wraps, my grandma helped spread the word quickly by grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand toward every new family member that arrived, to show them my ring.

Now, because we want to get married in the Twin Cities in September or October, I've landed in the deep end of the wedding planning pool and am grabbing for a pair of floaties. No, I'm kidding - kind of. Reservations for the venues around town have been filling quickly, so we've been busy researching and visiting places. (Wish glares at my laptop, to scorn whatever I could possibly find more interesting than playing fetch with him.) Besides attending wonderful weddings in the past five years, I truly have not been mulling over wedding-related details for years or even months, so there is so much information to process and consider. My mom, who dove under her bed to unearth a stack of wedding magazines minutes after I told her the news, has been an unbelievable source of information (and enthusiasm!).

But while my mind has spun from time to time, my spirits are overwhelmingly full of joy. We are so grateful for the warmth we felt this week (and always) from our large families and from those who are like family. We can't wait to celebrate with those people! We are so excited for this new chapter and for the next year - and for all of the years beyond that.