The Proposal:

From Michelle:
When Josh and I first met he told me within 24 hours that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Without question, I felt the same. Less than a week later we had started talking about wedding details. To some it may have seemed quick but it’s like people say, “When you know…you know”. Months went by and we had found the perfect venue, the best photographers, incredible cinematographers, and an amazing band…but no ring. Haha. On October 17th, 2011 (Josh’s birthday) I woke up and asked him what he wanted to do. I wanted to make his birthday memorable since it was the first one I was spending with him. When he said he wanted to go hiking I agreed. It was a gorgeous fall day and we started hiking up the Appalachian trail towards McAfee’s Knob (the most photographed spot on the App Trail – for those who have never been…you have to go at least once in your life…it is truly breathtaking). We hadn’t been on the trail for more than 5 minutes when I had realized I forgot my camera! I asked if I should turn around and get it. He said not to worry about it. So…we kept hiking along…when we got closer to the top I remember saying to Josh, “I hope hiking is going to be memorable enough for your birthday!” He laughed and said it definitely was. We got to the top and there were quite a few people hanging around looking at the views, enjoying the beautiful day. We were out at the top talking when Josh started looking around and asked how much further we could go at the top and asked about different views there were from different spots. We started walking up a little further until we were more secluded. It felt like we had been up there longer than we usually are so I started for the woods and asked, “Ready to head down?”. I turned back to look at him and he was down on his knee. The next 5 minutes was quite a blur. I just remember being completely ecstatic and ridiculously happy. 🙂 I immediately wanted to take a picture and remembered I had forgotten my camera! So we took out my cell phone and took some pictures. On the hike down I nearly tripped over every branch because I was staring at my ring and not the trail. I joked that it had to be a memorable birthday now. It was an amazing day for us both.

From Josh:
As some of you may know Michelle and I had plans to get married long before our official engagement. With that said I wanted to try and propose at a time she may not expect it. It was not easy trying to sneak anything past her, so I decided on the day I thought she would least expect it, my birthday. I had planned for us to go hiking at McAfee’s Knob that day, and fortunately for me it was a beautiful fall day. I was able to sneak the engagement ring into the book bag and off we went. Once we got to the top of the mountain I waited for the right moment, took a knee, and asked Michelle to spend the rest of her life with me. It was the best day of my life to date.