He put a RING on it.

I know y'all have anxiously been awaiting the second part of the  "WE'RE ENGAGED!!!" series?  Enjoy our proposal story!

As a first year employee at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, we are only given five personal days off from work.  This year, Brady and I decided to take a fall vacation to his home state of South Dakota.  He wanted to watch his parents coach volleyball and football, and he wanted to watch his three siblings play these respective sports, as well.

We flew to South Dakota early on Thursday, September 20th.  (Side note: Brady and I have a thing for panda bears.  We have two stuffed animal pandas.  One is a pillow pet that folds out into a pillow.  With our flight leaving so early, I suggested he bring John Smith, the panda pillow pet, to sleep on the flight.  Much to my surprise, I noticed on the plane that he had packed both stuffed animals, John Smith and Pocahontas, the stuffed panda he gave to me on our one month anniversary.  He said that he could not bring one without the other, something that made perfect sense to sentimental me.) We ate lunch in Sioux Falls and stopped for coffee at Caribou (mmm, Mint Conditions).  That afternoon, we visited his sisters at school.  We went to his brother's scrimmage that night.  Nothing was out of the ordinary.  On Friday, we spent the morning in Sioux Falls with his grandparents, Grandpa Denny and Grandma Sandy Benson, and I met Brady's Uncle Jeff and Aunt Christy for the first time at lunch.  We spent the afternoon shopping around town before heading back to the metropolis that is Chester, South Dakota.

Brady lives on a farm, one thing he misses most about home.  His brother and sister have two bottle calves, Rib eye and T-Bone, that kept escaping through the fence, and Brady's dad asked him to fix it that afternoon.  I felt as though we had not stopped since leaving Charleston, and I wanted to relax inside and work on Brady's gift for our one year anniversary, which was on September 24th.  Brady said he would come inside later; take me down to a cornfield, which I was begging for him to do (if I'm going to the middle of nowhere South Dakota, I wanted to take pictures in a cornfield, okay?!); and possibly see if he could find me a ride on a combine.

After an hour or so of doing our own thing, Brady came up to the house and told me to put on some shoes.  Their family friend was combining, and he wanted to take me.  As we were driving down the gravel road on the Scout, Brady asked if we could stop by Uncle Joe's to see the lake.  It was on the way, and with South Dakota in a severe drought, I understood that he wanted to see Uncle Joe's land and to see how low the lake was.  When we drove up to the lake, I noticed John Smith, Pocahontas (yes, the pandas), and some ears of corn on the dock.  I started to get suspicious.  Brady took my hand and asked if I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.  The rest of the proposal is much of a blur, with me burying myself into Brady in shock.  He had to make me stand to even show me the most beautiful ring in the world.  Supposedly, he did actually get down on one knee (there are pictures to prove it), but I do not remember saying "yes."  He knew the answer, anyway.

I told Brady that I wanted someone hiding to capture the moment.  The next thing I remember is him having me look to my right, where I saw Coach Fods with a camera in his hands.  I immediately turned red and knew just how awful those pictures were probably going to be, with me hiding my face in every picture.  He snapped a few "official" pictures of us by the lake.  Brady showed me how to twist the kernels off the ears of corn, and then, we headed back to his house.

The actual moment.  It's proof he did fall to one knee.  And, you can see Pocahontas on the dock.  :)

That night was the Homecoming football game at the school, where his dad is the head coach.  When we reached the house, I had to get ready quickly to head to the school.  I called my mom, dad, and sister.  When I walked into the school gym, after hugs from his mom and sisters, everyone wanted to see the bling.  Apparently, everyone in the town of Chester, South Dakota, knew about the impending proposal, except for me and his nine-year-old brother.  How rude.  :)  My mom had even mailed the ring to the school (with insurance, of course).  It was the perfect night celebrating with Brady, his family, his friends, and his town.

The bedazzler.  Isn't it gorgeous?! I would not change a thing about it!  (Didn't he do a phenomenal job?!)

The rest of the trip was amazing.  My new sparkly accessory on my left hand was the perfect souvenir!

I knew his family wanted to have professional family pictures taken before we even flew to SD.  I made sure Brady was prepared and packed a black shirt and jeans.  Brady made sure I packed a matching outfit, even though I felt a little awkward about being a part of his family pictures.  I guess, now, it all makes sense, seeing as I am going to be a Benson, one day.  :)

Family pictures! We are cute, and you know it!

HE STOLE MY HEART, SO I'M STEALING HIS NAME.

Hay Reh (Be-to-be)

"Life is a journey..."

On September 21, 2012, Brady asked me to marry him.  With us waiting until Summer of 2014 to tie the knot, I have ample time to plan and save and plan and plan.  However, even though our wedding day is over a year and a half away, the excitement of our impending nuptials is ever present.  As y'all know, I love to write and talk and blog and type, and a wedding website, for me (er, us?!) is a must.  I am starting to write about how we met, the proposal, and the story of each of us, but, of course, I cannot submit a website until at least a few of the details are finalized (um, like a date?! :)).  I must say that it has been such a joy to write our story down, to put pen to paper (type words on a computer?), and to re-live, almost, our journey.

I started this blog to publish my time at culinary school.  And, though I graduated almost a year ago, this blog is still relevant to my life; I met Brady at the CIA.  And, I'm still livin' life one cupcake at a time, except now, I need to bake two cupcakes. one for me and one for my husband-to-be.  Enjoy this series of posts.  I'll start with "how we met."

We both enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, in June of 2010.  We shared some of the same classes our first year, before we began our studies in our respective fields of culinary and baking and pastry.  We were not friends outside of school, and we did not really get to know each other at all.  Brady knew who I was and I knew of Brady.

Let's fast forward to externship, about a four month period of time between your first and second years at the CIA, where you work in the industry at a pre-approved site.  Brady externed in Boca Raton, Florida, and I externed at Kiawah Island Golf Resort outside of Charleston, South Carolina.  I externed with one of Brady's closest friends from the CIA, "pookie bear" or Trevor, as most people know him.  Trevor and I became good friends in South Carolina, and we remained as such, when we returned to New York for our second year.  Trevor, Brady, and I shared all the same classes for the six weeks after the completion of our externship, and it was then that Brady and I began to spend a lot of time together, inside and outside of class.

At a party on an August Saturday night at the CIA, Brady and I finally exchanged numbers, and through awkward encounters and our love of football, we began to text.  It was at that party that I began to see "Baby Brady" as a little more than "one of my boys" or my baby brother.  It freaked me out, a lot.  We continued to text, all the time, and by all the time, we sent each other over fifty a day, on average.  Brady started to act differently towards me, with piping party invitations and casual football-watching requests, but I shot him down every time, apparently.  Though my heart skipped a beat every time I saw his name pop up on my Droid and I found myself jealous of all of Brady's other girl friends, I could not justify liking him at all.  Brady is four and a half years younger than me.  His people personality and love of having a good time gave him a reputation that was far from angelic.  We were graduating in less than a year and who knew were we would go after graduation.  I even went so far as to lie to my roommate (I know, mom, you taught me better than to lie) about my feelings for Brady.  I thought that if I denied them long enough, Brady would move on and my feelings would fade away.

My feelings never changed.  I caved one day when Brady asked me to go get sushi and watch football.  I did not even know it was a date, and I even paid.  (Much to my surprise, I found out later than he had forgotten his wallet anyway that night.)  We watched football, and when the night came to an end, Brady even walked me to my door, like a true gentleman.  Two nights later, I invited Brady's best man and roommate, Duke, to Sweet Tea Tuesday, our weekly tradition.  Brady was not twenty one, and I never included him on our roomie date nights.  On this Tuesday though, he was angry that he wasn't invited and came over anyway.  (I was just doing it to play hard to get.)  It was that night that Brady and I stayed awake all night just talking.  I kissed Brady (so he says, three times) and that was it.

Then, all hell broke loose, and a few miserable months at the CIA ensued, with unnecessary drama and gossip, which to this day, we wouldn't even change.  There were not too many people that supported us, Team "Braley."  One thing remained the same though, our feelings for one another, and they only grew stronger and stronger.  We realized that we were something worth fighting for.

On February 10, 2012, we graduated from the Culinary.  We never questioned staying together; in the same town or far away, we would make it work.  Through many turn of events, the road led us to Charleston, South Carolina, with us both accepting positions at Kiawah Island Golf Resort.  We are loving life in the South, and we are so blessed and thankful to be living this life, together.  Here's to "twenty-five to life."

"HE WANTS TO MARRY ME." (To the tune of Sandra Bullock's character in Miss Congeniality.)

Haley Benson-to-be