I'm sure all the ladies are DYING to read this part. So, here it goes... 

Side note: A year before our engagement, he told me that as soon as he gets accepted into the DPT program he would propose to me. Totally did NOT believe that! 

It was the weekend before Tony was going to start his Physical Therapy program at Loma Linda University. We decided to go out for a nice dinner and a stroll on the beach for our last hurrah. As I was leaving the house, mom as usual had to say something about my clothes, pony tail and no makeup. "Jessica! put some makeup on. I have 30 minutes until my next client lets do your hair." I didn't think anything of it because this is a constant battle between my mom and I every time I go out. Tony finally rescued me and we are off to Redondo Beach. On the way there, he kept texting someone. All I wanted to do was throw that thing out the window! He finally realized I was upset and stopped texting but now he had to get gas. REALLY? At this point I didn't think we would be able to make our dinner reservation. But I tried to stay calm because this was his last weekend of fun not mine. We finally made it to Redondo Beach. As we got out of the car I was ready with my slippers but for some reason he forgot his knowing we were going to the beach. Still, I didn't have a clue what was going on. As we strolled along the beach, he starts going down on his knees. In my head I thought, it's because he isn't wearing slippers and now the shells are cutting his feet. But not to worry, I have bandages in my purse. Then I see Nick (Tony's brother) waddling like a penguin with this huge stereo playing Brian McKnight, Rose (Tony's sister in law) and Michelle (Tony's sister) filming and taking pictures of Tony and I. Everything was a blur. Tony said something (I was completely out of it), he whips out this black box with a flash light on top and HELLO there is this gorgeous ring. Still confused, I put two and two together and finally got a light bulb. Holy cow IT'S A PROPOSAL! Is this really happening? Now i'm freaking out because  what am I going to tell my parents? Are they going to approve? Did he even ask for their blessing and for my sisters blessing? I thought to myself, they like him, so i'll just deal with those problems later. I said "YES!" After taking a few pictures, Tony and I were off to our dinner reservations. What I thought was just for us, turned out to be my family and his family. And the tears came out when I saw my parents and sister. This proposal was more than what I could have ever asked for. 

Ok boys and girls its my turn, forgive me for this long story I am about to tell. 

So I will start with I definitely asked for her parents blessing weeks before the proposal. I also would like to add that Jessica swears her family cannot keep a secret, especially her mom and sister. Soon after I got her parents blessing, it was time to jump into action. I called up my siblings Michelle and Nick to tell them my proposal idea and to get the details worked out. I wanted to propose to Jessica on the beach at sunset. Yes, this is done all the time, but I had a little pizzazz to add. I was gonna have a song, Brian Mcknight "Back at One", playing during the proposal. He was the first concert we went to which happened to be our second date. But that wasn't the only pizzazz I had in mind. I was gonna have a heart shaped rope on fire!!! In hindsight, this rope on fire was a little crazy, but I was thinking my love burns deep for her. Anyways, that was the plan. I also wanted a place to go after the proposal so we could celebrate our engagement and surprise her with both our families there. But I didn't know where to go. My sister said, "Don't worry bones, I have the perfect place and it's right on the beach." Great! Now its time to gather Jessica's family together. I emailed everyone and got them on board a week before the proposal so no one had time to spill the beans. This was my biggest concern because Jessica would constantly tell me her family can't keep a secret.

Now that everyone was on board and ready to go, it was time to propose to Jessica. So the morning of the proposal, I gave my brother a speaker. He and his wife Rose went off to the beach to meet my sister and find a location on the beach away from the restaurant.  I picked Jessica up around 5 o'clock and out comes this beautiful woman. But wait, what's wrong? Why does she look irritated? I asked her what's going on. She says, "Oh my mom was making me do my hair and makeup. And she did not like what I was wearing." In my head I was laughing because she has no idea what was in store for her tonight. Jessica gets in the car and says, "Ugh, lets go, I'm gonna put my hair up soon anyway." I told her,"no just leave it down, it's our last date probably for a while. At least leave it down for the beach, we will take pictures there plus it looks really nice." She agreed and off we go. I texted Nick and Michelle we are on our way so they can find a location on the beach. We get about half way and I don't hear from either of them. I began to worry because I want to have everything in order so this can be smooth as eggs. I texted them again,"Hey I'm half way there where are you guys? I don't know where to go." Jessica asks me, "Who are you texting?" I quickly respond with,"oh my mom is asking about something with the house." Nick texted, "We are here off 2nd street but stall". Perfect, I now know where to park. But which way on the beach do I go? So I texted him back.They don't respond as quickly as I would have liked them to. I am checking my phone constantly and I can feel Jessica getting more and more upset as I drive to the beach. I exited the freeway. I am freaking out, I can feel the sweat starting to drip down my back, and then I get a text from Nick saying "stall". That's it? that's what he sent me??? just stall !!!??? I texted him back immediately, "STALL? how am I gonna stall? we just exited the freeway!" Jessica is now pissed and scolds me, "this is our last date, why are you on your phone. You can't just spend the last weekend with me?" I felt so bad. I apologized and said, "Let me send one more text to my mom and I am done". So I texted again, "Ok guys, Jessica is furious with me. I'm gonna put my phone down and try to stall. But please tell me which way to go on the beach and how to find you. My sister lives right by the exit and Jessica has never been there. So to stall I said, "Hey! you know what, let me show you Mich's house. We have reservations at 6:30pm so we have enough time." As we drive by, I get her looking out the window and I see a text message. Again it says, "Stall. There are too many people here, stall." CRAP, what am I going to do! Then I noticed I was low in gas. I tell Jessica I have to get gas. I turned around and head to the shell station. After I pumped gas, I went inside to use the'bathroom' and called my brother and sister to see what the heck is going on. So I ask Jessica to pull the car into the parking spot because I am having an emergency. I have to poop. This def bought me 5-15min. I run into the shell station and call my brother but he doesn't pick up.  So I call my sister, and finally she picks up. I am hiding in Shell's quickie mart behind the cookies peeking over to see if Jessica is gonna come in to check on me. My sister says "stall," I tell her I can't, "Jessica is pissed and I am already by her house. There is nothing more I can do, we are just gonna go for it." She says "Ok, when you park on 2nd street, walk straight out to the beach then go to the right. You will see a rainbow umbrella, we will be hiding behind it. Before you get to the umbrella look for a Nike shoe bag, that is where the rope will be. It will be closer to the water so when you turn to go towards the water we will run out to play the music, take the pictures and the video."  Ok, we are off to the beach. IT'S ON!! When we get to the beach, I realized I forgot my slippers. As we start walking across the street, Jessica gives me this look like I'm the dumbest person on the planet knowing we are going to the beach and forgetting my slippers. She ask, "How could you forget your slippers?" and I said "It's ok, I don't need them." So we walked out on the beach towards the umbrella like I was told to. I noticed the lifeguard packing up and about to leave. Perfect! I think I can light the rope on fire with no problem. So we make the right turn. I can see the rainbow umbrella they were telling me about so we are on the right track. As we walk towards the umbrella, I keep turning around to see where the lifeguard is. She still hasn't left and we are getting closer to the umbrella. Jessica says something about it being pretty but I don't hear her. Then I  hear, "What are you looking at?" I have nothing to say but, "Oh... there are these birds about to get hit by the water do you not see it?" She thinks I'm crazy but it worked. We get closer to the umbrella. I am ready to just light this rope on fire lifeguard or not. But oh no! I don't see the Nike shoe bag. We are get closer and closer to the umbrella but still no shoe bag. I'm thinking screw it, i'm just gonna propose right in front of my family so they can get great pictures and videos. Plus, the sunset was beautiful. To distract Jessica so she can't see my family hiding behind the umbrella, I start asking her to try and find those birds that were gonna get hit by the water so she will turn her head away from the umbrella. She laughs then says, "It is pretty" and she keeps looking away.  We get right in front of Nick, Rose and Michelle. I start yelling, "Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!" Jessica turns to me, "What's wrong?" I said, "I think I stepped on a sea shell." I dropped to one knee and hear her say, "I think I have a band-aid hold on." I looked up at her, grabbed her hand, pulled out the ring, and asked her to marry me. She sits there with the most confused look and doesn't say anything. A million thoughts are running through my head, "She is not going to say yes?!?!?!?!? She doesn't love me! What is taking so long?!? Take the ring! Take the ring! Jessica TAKE THE RING!!!!"  It felt like an eternity on my knee. Then I see this huge smile, she said YYYEESSS!!! I am so relieved, excited and happy that I placed the ring on the wrong hand. I get up and give her the biggest kiss!!! 

After the excitement died down and we finished taking some pictures, I said, "Lets go to dinner we have reservations."  We drive over to the restaurant and parked. This is after I missed the turn into the parking lot and start driving in the biking lane but that is another long story. We get out of the car and I see Lisa, Jessica's cousin, scampering across the parking lot hustling into the restaurant.  I turn quickly and give Jessica another kiss. Lisa makes it in and we start walking over.  I told the hostess,"Reservations for Jessica and Tony". The hostess replies, "The engagement party?" I quickly start talking over her so Jessica doesn't hear, "Yes, yes yes, we just got engaged we have a reservation, where do we sit?" The hostess again says "For the..." I stop her and said "Yes! we just got engaged where do we go?" She says, "Ohhh, just go up to the third floor right that way." Thank God Jessica's brain is turned off and she is staring at her ring.  We walked upstairs. I let Jessica go in front of me and everyone yells,"CONGRATULATIONS!!!" Jessica gets so excited and runs in. I just smiled and thought, I am so lucky to have this beautiful young woman to be my future wife.