Surprise! My Birthday BBQ Was Actually An Engagement Party!

Oh hey, just your friendly neighborhood FIANCEE over here :) I continue to be blown away by the NICEST emails and phone calls that keep coming our way. It's good to be engaged - I don't think I've ever felt so popular in my life! :)

We had a whole weekend of celebrations after the big proposal. Weeks ago, Rami's bestie's wife Jackie offered to throw me a Saturday afternoon backyard BBQ birthday - I thought it was so sweet of her to offer and gladly took her up on it. Little did I know, Jackie was in on the proposal and what I thought was my birthday party was actually our engagement party! It was so awesome that she thought to do it like that - it ensured all our friends were available on Saturday and ready to party!

As soon as we arrived, Ram whipped out his laptop and showed everyone the professional video (which I still need to post as soon as we figure out how to edit it down). Everyone was a good sport and watched it!



Of course, he held a second showing an hour later for the stragglers/guests who arrived late:

My mom, R's parents, and his brother stopped by the party for a bit. Our new joined family :)



I have a new BROTHER!!! Never had one of those before!



Shockingly, I don't have any food pictures, but rest assured, it was a shmorgasbord... hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken apple sausage, salads, guacamole, chips, fruit, you name it. And for dessert, Cary made strawberry cupcakes! I like to think they were pink in honor of me. (Good thing R likes pink, BTW!)

GB representin our school pals... Also, amazing photobomb by Jackie:



How fun is this? The "activity" on the tables before we all ate was a "decorate your own ring" art project - so cute!!!



This is what happens when you yell "show us your ring!" while I am about to take a picture #awkward:



Someone handed me bridal Minnie Mouse ears. I kinda loved them:



We love our pals!



Post-swim shots... adorable baby included:



The last picture is of our lovely party hosts, Jackie and Offer, and their gorgeous girls. Offer and Rami have been best friends since first grade and from the moment I met him and J, I fell heads over heels in love with them. Ram's friends are one of my favorite things about him - I could not ask for a greater group of new best friends!!!



So engagement party #1...BIG SUCCESS! Now I've got to get started on planning #2!