The Dress!

Last Monday my mom and I set out to look for the perfect dress. Knowing that I was going to get engaged in April or May, I had already set up appointments to look at dresses prior to getting engaged. This was because I wanted to get the dress at home with my mom, and I didn't know when I would be back in town. Our first appointment was at Schaffer's Bridal.

We arrived at Schaffer's and my consultant Lisa was waiting. She was so great! I told her what I was looking for and my price point and she took me over to an area with a bunch of dresses. It was definitely a challenge looking through all of the dresses, they weren't the most gorgeous things on the hanger. I ended up pulling 5 dresses to try on.

The first dress I tried on was beautiful and I loved it, something I wasn't necessarily expecting right away. Then the second dress I tried on was different than the first and I loved it too! I became a little overwhelmed because I didn't think that I would find one, let alone two dresses I would love right away and especially not the first two. Feeling a little overwhelmed I tried on the remaining 3 dresses, but luckily I didn't like any of them. I put the first dress back on again and this time I didn't like it as much. The first dress was a discontinued dress so they were selling the one they had on the sales floor. The problem was it was a size 12. That meant they would have to alter it about 10 sizes smaller and that would change the entire look of the dress. Also, there was so much dress that it was wearing me. So that was an easy decision to make. Then I put dress # 2 back on and I absolutely loved it!. We walked over to the area where they have veils and I tried on a bunch of veils. It was perfect! We still had two other appointments to go to so we told Lisa we would probably be back but we felt like we needed to go to the other two appointments. On our way out to the car I told my mom I just felt like canceling the other two appointments because I really loved the dress I had found at Schaffer's.

We decided to go to our second appointment anyways. At this place I didn't like any dresses, but felt kind of bad so I tried on one dress just cause. The customer service was bad and the dresses were just not what I was looking for. As we walked out I made the decision that we were done look and all I wanted to do was go buy the dress at Schaffer's. We were back at Schaffer's within 30 minutes of leaving. Lisa was very surprised and happy to see us back. That's when I told her I was back to buy dress #2! We took a lot of pictures and filled out the necessary paper work. I also picked out my bridesmaid dresses while we were there too!  I am so excited about finding my dress and the bridesmaid dresses. We even found my nieces flower girl dress on Etsy later that day!

-Rachel

We're Engaged!

On Saturday April 7th I was sitting in my room watching one of my guilty pleasures, Shahs of Sunset, when my mom walked into my room. She told me to turn off the T.V. and  said I needed to go. She handed me the keys to her car and an envelope. I opened the envelope and found a note:

Rachel,

Step 1: Prepare for an adventure.
Step 2: Give your mom a hug and ask to borrow her car.
Step 3: Make sure the car has some gas in it.
Step 4: Proceed to where our first date was (hint, look at the gift card) [There was a Chili's gift card inside]

Ground rules of the adventure:
If you have any questions or if there is an emergency call (480)-xxx-xxxx
Take a picture at every stop and take anything you find with you.

So I quickly got dressed and left to begin my adventure. I drove to Chili's and went inside where I asked the hostess if she had an envelope with my name on it. She looked very confused so I explained to her that I was on some sort of scavenger hunt and there was supposed to be something for me there. She still looked confused so she said she would go get ehr manager. I started to worry because I really didn't know what I was supposed to be doing at Chili's. Finally, the bartender came out with a rose and an envelope. By this point I was shaking and everyone who was sitting in the bar area was starring at me as a struggled to open it. The next clue said:

Congrats on finding the first clue, only 14 more :)  [Later I found out this was a lie to throw me off, there were not 14 clues]

Please proceed to the spot where we danced the night away in our younger days and look for 2 yellow balloons by the office entrance. Your next clue will be waiting there....Hint: it's where the wolves live and learn.

So I headed to my old high school, Desert Mountain. When I pulled up I didn't see any balloons. So I walked over to where the office was; still no balloons. I walked around and around, and didn't see anything. I was really confused so I text Jeff's dad. He sent me a picture of what I was supposed to be looking for: it was a picture of balloons tied to a sign. I walked to where the sign was and there were no balloons. Then I found the envelope on the ground by the sign. My next clue was....

Proceed to a place where you can "look out" over the valley, if you pass Palisades you have gone too far. (Then there was a map) 

This next spot was a place that looks out over the valley thats kind of between Scottsdale and Fountain Hills. With the A/C blasting I hurried over there. When I arrived there was a group of tourists taking pictures and they all gave me strange looks when I got out of the car and cut the balloons loose with my keys and opened my next clue...

Your next clue leads you to where the name of the city you are currently in gets its name. Hint: Water shoots from here every hour.

Proceed East on Shea toward the 87 (I don't know cardinal directions, luckily I know the city well, I also don't know what the 87 is but I assume that is the B-line) , make a left at Saguaro Blvd, and then a right at Panorama Dr once you pass the water feature. Your next clue is attached to a place where you can sit (look for the yellow balloons).

So I drove to this next place except I didn't know that there were two streets with the same name. Jeff didn't realize this till after he had left the clue there (he told me this after). So I saw a parking lot and parked. I got out of the car and I see about 20 benches; none with balloons. I was beginning to think, great not again! Then I decided that I should just keep driving. I drove a little further down and there they were!

"Enter the gate and go to where I make my swing great."
There was a map of the country club where jeff lives with satellite view of the country club and parking lot. There were arrows showing me where to park and where to go. Then it said to text Jeff's dad a picture of the fountain before I left. When I didn't read was that his dad would be giving me the 2nd part of the clue.

I arrived at the country club and saw the 2 yellow balloons. Since there were people around I decided not to cut the balloons free especially because they were looped. So after a couple minutes of the loop I looked around wondering what I was supposed to do when one of the golf bag attendant guys told me to get in the golf cart. Not knowing that the second half of my clue was on my phone I was like ok I guess that's what I'm supposed to do. So as the guy is driving me to wherever my destination is he asked me if I was on an Easter hunt and I told him that I was pretty sure I was about to get engaged. As we pulled up there was Jeff standing on the 1st tee of the golf course with a rose in hand. I walked over to him and he gave his little speech and asked me to marry him and of course I said YES!!!! Then his brother Chris popped out from behind the bushes with a big cheer. Chris had been hiding taking pictures of the whole thing! It was amazing and perfect. I am overwhelmed with happiness.

We drove back to Jeff's because we had planned to have dinner with his family and as we were pulling up I saw my family members cars. We went inside and Jeff's family and grandparents were there and my family, brother, sister in law, and niece and nephew included were there! It was such a fun and exciting time :)

-Rachel