Hi everyone! This is Ryan. This is the part of the website Molly has trusted me with. So I hope you enjoy the story of our engagement! To start off, I think it wouldn’t do it justice without telling about the part where I can’t read social cues well and Molly thought I was going to propose. So there we were, in Hawaii. It was May 2024 and the two of us planned a little getaway for a couple of weeks. We stayed across a couple of islands and stayed at nice hotels, living it up on some beaches. Molly got some amazing beach photos booked and we had a nice romantic date at a luau. She looked absolutely beautiful, got her nails done, and me being the dumb guy I am did not read those clues. We take a long walk on the beach at sunset and on the walk back, she confided in me that she thought I was going to propose and was upset about it. What she didn’t know was that I was already looking at rings and couldn’t find the right one just yet. Fast forward a month and my parents were visiting us in Alaska. Molly told them about our trip and me being as emotionally intelligent as a 2x4 block of wood. My mom laughed and told her “Ryan always does things, not when you expect him to”. You are so right Mom. By this time I had the ring picked out (Shoutout to Bishop’s in Fairbanks) and was waiting for it to be finished. By this time I was able to talk to her Dad, Grandpa, and brother Zach for their blessing to have me be a part of the family (Thanks for saying yes by the way guys)

Fast forward one more month and there we were, beautiful Homer Alaska, July 4th weekend. I have the ring, and we are all packed up to drive to the southern coast of Alaska to camp on the Homer spit. So in the fully loaded 4Runner with two dogs, two people, and camping gear for 4 days, was an engagement ring hiding in my backpack. We got so close to her finding it, that one time she was about to open my backpack for chapstick and I almost veered off the road. Just kidding… kind of. Anyways, we make it to Homer and on the Alaskan coastline with members of my flying squadron. I try to think of the best time to do it, and I ended up on July 5th 2024. I tell the rest of the group about my plans and they are the best people of the world with helping setting up cameras to take pictures, watching the dogs, and keeping the secret! On the afternoon of the day I proposed, Molly even made a joke to the group as we were getting gelato that I hadn’t proposed yet (Boy was she ready for a surprise). All of the group laughed and looked at me with a side-eye as I nervously laughed along with an engagement ring now in my jacket pocket. I convince Molly to have our friends watch the dogs and we go on a date down the road to the local pizza place for dinner. Date was awesome, great pizza, great views, but Molly told me later how she recognized I wasn’t as outgoing as I usually am (I wonder why). We finish our dinner, and walk along the beach, looking out over the mountains across the water. We see some sea life and Molly is enamored. She is distracted looking for seals as I look up at our camp site to make sure my buddies are in position to take some pictures. As she is looking out over the water, I pull out the ring and get on one knee. She turns towards me as I start to say: “I love you so much..” Boom!! She form tackles me to the ground like you’re taught about in pee wee football. She didn’t even let me get the question out! As she is screaming “Yes!!” at the top of her lungs, we are covered in dirt and sand as I slip the engagement ring on her pretty little finger. We get back up and she finally lets me ask the question. “Molly Michelle Walton, will you marry me?” To which again, I get another resounding yes. We seal it with a kiss as our friends cheer from the camp spot, running down to meet us with the dogs and their cameras. We get some photos done, even with a cod one of my friends caught earlier that afternoon (I still don’t know why, Molly said it had the “Alaskan Vibe”, so who am I to disagree). We make it back up to the campsite and enjoy the night, calling family and friends. I even pulled out two bottles of champagne from the cooler to celebrate. Overall, it was a great surprise and I am thankful that it went so well. It was truly a beautiful place to get engaged to an even more beautiful girl. Hope you enjoyed my little speech.