This is perhaps one of the most creative & romantic T&H stories we've heard yet!! Welcome to the Trumpet Tribe Shayna & Fred, the sweetest couple that got engaged with the gorgeous Victorian Citrus Grove opal ring in Joshua Tree. Read on to hear the many ways Fred popped the question!
Fred and I met through a mutual friend. I was living in Costa Mesa, CA going to nursing school and he was in Florence, AL working as an art director for a fashion company. The odds of us meeting were slim to none. If it weren't for social media and our friend Liz, sending a short video clip of me, we would have never connected. Less than a year later, he was out here living in California, too. I've since graduated nursing school and am now a nurse manager and he, a free-lance photographer/photo assistant.
How we got engaged: It was the weekend of June 1st. We were celebrating my birthday a weekend late in Joshua Tree. He had packed all my bags for me and was ready to go when I returned home from work. When we arrived at the Airbnb in Yucca Valley, I was immediately surprised by 2 additional guests, our best friends Drew & Jess, who traveled all the way from Alabama. The weekend was magical from beginning to end. We had all planned to wake early on Sunday and be out of the house by 7:30am to beat the heat for a hike. At 5:50am I woke to a text message from Fred saying that he has to break plans because he was offered a crazy job and should be done by 1pm. He suggested we go about the planned day and he'd meet up with us later. (This is typical for his line of work - jobs just pop up out of nowhere.) I was LIVID for multiple reasons: 1. it was my birthday weekend celebration; 2. Drew & Jess were in town and we rarely see them; 3. how in the world could he do this?! Afterward I breakdown and cried on Jess' shoulders, but eventually I managed to get myself back together and decided to go on with the day as planned. We arrived in Joshua Tree National Park around 8am.
Drew had found a rock formation he wanted to explore so we parked and began walking. After walking for about 20-30 minutes, Drew & Jess began to complain of the heat. They said they couldn't take much more of this which was a cause for concern for me. It was still very early and if they were already feeling this way, we may either have a huge problem or need to cut this hike short. We eventually walked back to the car and decided to drive for a bit, enjoy the views, but mostly have the AC on. Suddenly, Drew got worried and began to frantically look for his Polaroid camera. He claimed he must have left it at the rocks we were just climbing. So, we went back. By then, it was about 10am and Drew and Jess were beginning to really worry me. I was thinking, "these Alabama kids can't take this heat at all." So we get back to the original formation, and Jess & I decided to stay in the car (I was not all for this as Drew seemed to be really effected by the heat). When I was about to head out to see how he was doing, he pops out of nowhere, red-faced and very excited about something he just saw. He said he found his camera but we HAVE to see something. He said it was the coolest thing ever and we were going to love it. At this point, I'm extremely concerned because I was pretty sure he was severely dehydrated already but he was also now telling me that he RAN back to the car because he wanted us to see this "thing" so badly. At this point I told them how concerned I was about them and how I really feel like we should get out of the heat because "you guys are acting really weird." We got to the rock formation around 10:30am.
Drew gestured his hand towards the rocks and said, "Here it is..." I look up and it was Fred, standing on top of the rocks, in a suit, doing jumping jacks. I asked, "What are you doing?!" and he said, "I'm doing jumping jacks." He asked me to come up with him to figure out what was going on. When I got to the top of the rocks, he hands me an ice-cream sundae and said, "here's a sundae." I look to the right of him and see a steak grilling on a hot skillet* which only adds to my confusion. Is this a hallucination? Am I the dehydrated one? I asked one last time, "What is going on?" Fred took both of my hands looked me in my eyes and said, "I love you SO much." then took a knee and asked me to marry him with the most beautiful opal surrounded by diamonds. I immediately began to cry and exclaimed, "I was SO mad at you all morning and you were doing all of this for me! Of course I'll marry you." And the rest is our future.
*When Fred first told me he was going to marry me one day, years ago, I asked him how he would ask me. "Would you ask me on a mountain? Would you ask me while doing jumping jacks? Would you ask me with the ring in a sundae? Or would you ask me while cooking a steak?" He remembered these ridiculous questions and asked me while doing them all. Let's not forget to take note that he's been in the desert in a suit since ~5:30am. His thoughtfulness is something of which has no comparison and I get to experience it for the rest of my life. Here's to happy ever after, Shayna & Fred
We're SO happy these two beautiful souls found each other. It's not everyday a man will propose whilst doing jumping jacks and cooking a steak in 100+ degree heat! Congrats you two, can't wait to see the wedding pics!