We're getting hitched!

That's right, America; we're tying the knot.  We arrived in Carrickfergus, a town near Belfast, Northern Ireland, for two nights to celebrate the new year.  Dave's brother had his wedding reception at our hotel the previous year, so Dave suggested getting ready for the gala event early so that we could go take pictures down by the castle and marina.  It looked beautiful outside, and the weather reports said there was a 0% chance of precipitation.  Because the sun was setting a bit faster than we expected (like 3:30 in the afternoon), we took a taxi to the castle and waterfront.  We walked around for a little while, taking photos and exploring the castle grounds.  The sky was a bizarre shade of red for the time of day, but it looked gorgeous over the water.  Then while we were walking out on the pier, it started to snow.  Big fluffy flakes.  Dave thought this was romantic, so we kept walking to the end of the pier.  Then it started to sleet.  In buckets.  Fortunately, the end of the pier had a watch station that offered some cover, so we stood there taking photos for a bit.  Then before I knew it, he got down on one knee, pulled out this gorgeous ring, and popped the question!  I think confusion and shock were my primary reactions, as I definitely wasn't expecting this to happen any time soon -- plus he told me how many people apparently knew about this and that he had purchased this ring over six weeks ago.  I had no idea he was such a good secret keeper!  Obviously, I said yes and am very excited.  Anyway, because it was sleeting and we looked like we had gone swimming from all the water, we raced to the nearest taxi stand and took a cab back to our hotel so that we could dry out before dinner, only to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers and bottle of champagne from his mum.  We then spent the rest of the evening with friends and family at the New Year's Eve gala; it was perfect.  So after two days in Northern Ireland, we're back in Manchester.  Details will come later; we need to figure out our job situations first.

Happy New Year!