As you know, we are in Italy! Its such a beautiful country and we are have a great time!
For years now, I have been getting asked one question from everyone, "When are you and Casey getting engaged?" Well thankfully you don't have to ask me any more! Casey and I are officially engaged!
So why the wait? Well, if you know me, you know I don't do anything on a small scale. If it is worth doing, its worth doing epically. So for the past few years, I've been planning on bringing Casey to Italy to propose. She's been dying to see the Sistine Chapel for years now so I knew that it would be the perfect place to get down on one knee.
Here's the full story...
I've been planning a "secret" vacation for Casey and I for quite some time now. I took us to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains last year and really enjoyed the planning and teasing Casey about not knowing where we were going. So last week we took off to Chicago to fly to an undisclosed location. When we got to the airport, I decided to go ahead and tell Casey where we were going so she didn't find out from someone else at the airport. So I turned on the video camera and set it on the dashboard. I pulled out our passports (Casey didn't even know that I had one!) and told her we were going to Italy! She started bawling! She thought that was the only secret up my sleeve :)
So we got to Italy and took the first night to rest. While Casey was sleeping I looked up all the info on The Vatican and The Sistine Chapel. Turns out you can't visit on Sunday's (which was original plan) and on Saturday it is only open until 11:30 I believe. So I knew that I had to pop the question that day because it would be my last chance! The next day we set off on a hop-on hop-off tour of Rome.
We got to The Vatican and we had to bust our butts to get to the Sistine Chapel. You have to go through all the museums and everything to get there. Casey almost started crying when we finally walked in. Not just the ceilings are painted, but every inch of the walls. Its really an amazing site to see. No photos are allowed to be taken in the chapel and you have to stay quiet. There are also TONS of people packed in there. I wasn't expecting there to be so many people. We finally got a seat off to the side and just sat and looked at all the different paintings. We were surrounded by people and I wanted to be a little more secluded so it could be a more private moment. Slowly we worked our way down to the corner. Casey kept asking when I wanted to leave and I said we could sit there all day...
(Here's a little backstory to make the next part make sense.)
Many of you know I'm a musician. I write my own songs and I've been writing songs for Casey sense we first started dating. Back when we went to Hawaii Casey lost an iPod that I had bought for her when she graduated college. It had "I'm so proud of you. Love, Brett" engraved in the back. She was really upset that she lost it because it had sentimental value to her.
Back to the engagement...
Like I said, we were sitting in the corner of the Sistine Chapel and I said to Casey, "I can't believe you haven't cried yet." She said she teared up but didn't cry. I said, "maybe we can change that." and I pulled out the new iPod that I bought her, telling her that I knew the other one had so much sentimental value that this was the only way to replace it. So she was really happy about that and I asked her what she wanted to listen to. She said she didn't care so I set it to play a new song that I had written for her called "Four Words." The second she heard my voice she started tearing up. After the first lines "4 years have come and gone... you thought you'd have to wait another one." She really started crying. I love watching her face as each line started to make it clearer and clearer about what was coming next. Here are the lyrics, I'll try to put the full song mp3 on here when we get back.
Four years have come and gone
You thought you'd have to wait another one
Cuz I played games and lead you on and on and on
But I always knew that you were the one
I took my time, you waited patiently
I took you on a trip, to Italy
The place your heart was dying to see
I knew that was the perfect place to get down on one knee
and now you see why this took so long
all those days of waiting are finally gone
And those years passed like seconds
because our lives start right this minute
I've got
4 words to say
4 words to say
are you ready?
Will you marry me? (of course all this sounds better in the actual song than just in words :)
Then there was an interlude for tears...
You're so cute even when you cry
I'll work my fingers to the bone wiping tears from your eyes
and you have made me the happiest man alive
and I promise to return the favor for the rest of my life
...
Once the song hit the "get down on one knee" part Casey just lost it. She was sobbing uncontrollably into my shoulder. Considering that it is really quiet in the Sistine Chapel there were a lot of people looking over wondering what was going on. We were in our own world though and didn't pay attention to anyone else. When the song hit the chorus I got down on one knee with the ring. She was just bawling and didn't really answer me, haha. Back to crying into my shoulder. I asked "so was that a yes?" It was :) She hadn't really looked at the ring yet so I was trying to force her eyes down to check it out (because its awesome.) It was exactly what she wanted!
So we just sat there in the Sistine Chapel holding each other as Casey glanced at the ring every couple minutes. It was a moment years in the making and we were both glad that it had finally come!
Here are a couple pictures of the ring and us after the engagement! I'll post pictures and info about our trip later!









We weren't supposed to take pictures in the chapel but I had to try and sneak one!

And here is a little preview of what is to come :)
