Back in 2014 I planned a picnic for Brooke as a surprise date for her birthday, unfortunately, she got really sick and we were unable to go on our date. We had the intention of making it up eventually, but throughout the years, we had just never gotten around to it. For our engagement, I decided that I was going to finally make it up to her. Her parents were planning a family trip during the summer to stay at a beach house in Oceanside, California for a week; I knew (as cliche as it would be) this was my perfect opportunity. I had my location, now I just had to put the plan together! Back in high-school, I wrote Brooke sticky notes with Bible verses on them and would put them in her locker; one of them having the verse Genesis 29:20 - "So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.", just as God would have it, it's been 7 years since we began dating. With this in mind, I contacted her grandma and asked her to make a picture frame with the verse written on it. I then wrote Brooke a letter and placed it inside the picture frame. While we were there, I decided that I was going to try to do it on the beach (her favorite place in the world) during the sunset. While we were at dinner Tuesday night, I headed back to the house early, in order to set everything up. I found a spot on the beach and waited there for her to make it back to the house. When her family told me that she was in the house, I called her and told her to meet me on the beach. When she walked out to the beach, I stood up from my hiding spot and helped her down. It was then that I reminded her of our picnic date that we never had. I gave her the picture frame and asked her to read the note aloud. When she began reading, I played our song - "Drunk on You" by Luke Bryan - on my speaker i had hidden in the picnic basket. When she finished reading the note, I asked her to stand up with me, I kissed her, and got down on one knee.