BIG NEWS!!!

THE "SING OFF" IS BACK ON!!! Season 3 is promising to be an excellent one! I am loving it already!! Love those BYU Mormon boys.....

Oh wait... that's not the big news you were all wanting me to post... was it? Whoops! ;)

First off... I love that this is the first post I have done in almost a year. Oh gees. I.am.a.huge.slacker. S.O.R.R.Y.!

Okay... Here is the story for those of you who want to know...

Wait.... FIRST.. Meet my fiance, Mike...

I LOVE HIM.

So.... I have technically known Mike for a long time. Grew up with his brother. Sister married my dad's friend's son. Worked with his mom at The Dell for 5 years. Ever thought I'd date him?? NEVER. The first time I remember actually talking to him was the morning of Ashley and Brian's wedding. I went to their house at about 6 a.m. to do Ashley's hair.. Mike had gotten kicked out of his room for the guests staying there for the wedding, so he was asleep on the couch.. kinda. Apparently Ashley and I were talking too loud while doing her hair and we disturbed Mike's beauty rest.... So... the first words I remember Mike ever saying to me?? "SHUT UP!!!"

He claims he was half asleep and didn't know what he was doing... ;) ha ha

We started "dating" in January... "officially became a couple" on March 1st.. and have been attached at the hip ever since. We "broke up" for a little bit in the middle, but if you ask anyone who was around... we didn't really break up. I still saw him almost every day and I was still constantly talking to him.

Mike instantly became my best friend. I have never been so comfortable around someone. I can talk to him about anything. I can act insane. I can cry. And no matter what... he makes me feel like it is the most normal thing going on. I have never met anyone like him. He is so patient. So kind. So giving. And he loves me. HE loves ME! He even loves me when I am in a bad mood!

He really is the most perfect person for me.

I was asked by a friend last night how I knew I was marrying the right person... my response was this... Mike makes me happier than I have ever been. I love him more than I ever thought was possible. I have never loved someone as much as I love him. I honestly would give up my own life for him. Just like I know he would do the same for me. He treats me better than anyone ever has. And finally... I cannot, and will not, imagine my life without him in it. Next to me. As my eternal companion.

OKAY... NOW I will tell you the engagement story! Thank you for letting me brag about my amazing man first. :) You needed to know him. The story is much cuter that way.

So.. Mike has had my ring for over a month. He picked it out himself... And wanted it to be a surprise... but I'm a brat, so of course I ruined that idea... oopsies! Well, I have been nagging him and nagging him and bugging him and nagging him to give it to me. EVERY day. For the past month... And he kept telling me... "You'll get it eventually." EVENTUALLY?!?! UGH! We all know that patience is NOT a virtue in my world. The word doesn't even exist. So... I was getting frustrated and had a few meltdowns.. But.. Mike wanted it to be a surprise.. and a surprise it was.

I work at Dimple Dell Rec one day a week. Wednesdays. And I ALWAYS look like Hell beat me with an ugly stick on those days. I promise I do. But yesterday was especially bad. Of course. So I'm at work and I wander away from the front desk to help lower some basketball hoops for some of the juvenile delinquents that frequent The Dell. When I get back there is a vase full of flowers waiting there for me. With the most adorable note.. and a ticket into Disneyland. (It was an old ticket from when he and his family went a month ago... but the proposal is Disney themed... you'll understand in a bit.) (Also... I'll post pictures later, when it's not 2:30 a.m.) So the adorable note said, "Hey beautiful. I wanted to send flowers on this very special day. You're invited to this once in a lifetime journey. Truly unforgettable. Wait for the clues to come and follow thier directions. To be continued...... I love you! Michael Hiatt". (So at this point I'm pretty sure he's going to propose... but I don't want to get my hopes up and have it not end in a proposal... so I didn't actually admit it to myself that that scenario was really a possibility. And everyone I know was playing dumb... like they weren't a part of it..)

So I wait for a bit and his sister, Ashley, comes in with a poster and 2 Disney princess figurines. (Taped to the bottom of all of the figurines were reasons why Mike loves me.) The poster says, "There is only one place where princesses dwell, go to your castle and all will be well." and on the back it told me to go home and find the surprise waiting for me. So Ashley tells me to stop freaking out that I look like death rolled over, because Mike knows me better than anyone, and he has already planned for all of this. Of course he has. He is brilliant. :) So then a couple of hours later his mom comes in with his nephew and hands me 2 more figurines. (Fairies this time... Tink being one of them, of course.) FINALLY it is time to leave work and go home to find out my surprise waiting for me.

I get home to find more figurines making a trail into my front room... and on the two big arm chairs I have a couple of things waiting... 1st one... a poster that says, "Cinderella had a gown made by mice, look for the brown one, it's sure to be nice. Step in your charriot and go so fast, head to the place where we want our marriage to last." on the 2nd chair was a brown dress he had bought me. We had seen this dress while we were together one night... and I had mentioned how I thought that maybe I'd buy it to wear to my best friend's wedding.... Well.. he remembered and went and bought it for me. He is the best. Anyway... on the back of the poster it told me to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Leave at 6:30. And meet Abby there. So.... I had 3 and a half hours to get ready... so I used all 3.5 hours! :) I jumped in a shower... waxed my eye brows... curled my hair...and full on put on make up... (Although... let's be real.. anything would have looked better than what I looked like that morning! ha ha) Finally... it was 6:30. So I headed to the temple to find Abby.

I got to the temple and found Abby. She had another 2 figurines and another poster for me. This poster said, "Hurry, Cinderella, the time's at hand, to journey to that place where we ate on the land. I'll tell you Princess, it's in the park! Please get there before it gets too dark!" Well... Mike was in contact with Abby the whole time... so he told her he wasn't quite ready for me yet so she had to kill time before she could let me go.... so... we took some awesome pictures and talked about the day so far... and if I knew what was coming.. etc.. and then FINALLY Mike gave Abby the "go ahead" to send me over. And away I went... taking the scenic route... not on purpose. ha ha I turned on the street too early.. so I took a detour to the park. whoops. (He made me wait all day... I figured it didn't kill him to have to wait. ha ha)

So I get to the park where we celebrated our 1 month anniversary... I parked next to his truck.. got out.. and walked down the hill to where he was waiting for me.. With my sister-in-law, Tara, filming us... and my sister, Misty taking pictures... He had a table and chairs and dinner all set up for us... with more figurines as decorations.. When I finally got to him I gave him the biggest hug and cried a little bit.. I had missed him so much throughout the day. It's crazy. But true. So he told me to come over and sit down... so I did... but he was still standing up... so I was looking at him, feeling a little awkward.. and said.. "Was I not supposed to sit down.. do I need to stand back up?" So he kinda chuckled and reached down for this darling Tinkerbell figurine.. and said.. "I was hoping you'd notice this, but I guess not..." and he grabbed my ring off of the top of Tink's head... walked around the table... got down on one knee.. and said. "Brindi Rae Nichol... will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?" And I said... "OF COURSE!" So he put this amazingly gorgeous ROCK on my finger and gave me a huge hug and kiss... and his family, who had been sitting up on the hill (I seriously didn't even notice they were there!) all stood up and cheered! And then they all hugged us.. and we hugged our paparazzi (our camera crew.. Tara and Misty)... and everyone left us so we could enjoy a romantic dinner together. In the park. With a random soccer game going on behind us. :)

So... random side note... and to explain the Disney theme...I had always thought I wanted to get engaged in Disneyland... so we were going to do it when we went for Mike's best friend's wedding in December... but I am, again, impatient. So I said December was too far away. ha ha so... Mike brought Disneyland to me. Hence the princesses and fairies, Disneyland ticket, princess themed posters, and all of the Tink stuff!

It.was.perfect.

I honestly couldn't have planned it better myself. He did such an amazing job. He had all of the places that are important to us as stops. And he was so clever about all of it! And.... I was completely surprised! I had no idea what day or how he was going to propose... and he totally pulled it off!

Michael... I love you! More than anyone ever will. I promise to continue to make you the happiest you have ever been. Thank you for making me the luckiest woman ever. I am so honored to be your eternal companion. Thank you for choosing me in our pre-mortal life. I can't wait to continue building our future together!

And just so you can all see my ring..... because I'm obsessed with it...