Been wearing an engagement ring for a year now

A year ago today, I was in Las Vegas looking at Brent, my then-boyfriend, who was down on his knee asking me to marry him.

And just as I was about to fall asleep, Brent whispered in my ear that he didn't believe it could happen, but that he loves me more today than he did a year ago.

AWWWWWW!!!

Those of you who don't know the story of how he proposed, I've cut and pasted the story, which is posted on our wedding Web site: www.mywedding.com/brentanderika.

HOW HE PROPOSED:

It was February, 2007, and Brent and I were definitely overdue for a vacation. So we both took a week off and jetted to the city of lights - Las Vegas!

After checking into the Excalibur Hotel on the Las Vegas strip on Feb. 9, we settled in to enjoy a fun-filled long weekend. After wandering around for a bit, we ended up at the Mirage Hotel to see Cirque du Soleil's "Love" which featured music from the Beatles. Great music and great performances equaled the most amazing show that I had ever seen. Brent said afterward that he will never see another cirque show. His loss!

So the next day was his turn to pick our evening activity. We ended up eating dinner at ESPN Zone to watch sports on something like 18 different TVs - heaven for him and tolerable, at best, for me.

But they say opposites attract, which brings me to Feb. 11, 2007. We decided together to head to PF Chang's chinese restaurant for dinner. Since there was a long wait, I decided to try my luck at the nearby big wheel. But since Brent was "helping" me by telling me where to place my chips using logic, I ended up losing $40. Before he wandered over to see how I was doing, I was winning using gut feelings. This is why Brent never gambles.

But after a romantic dinner, Brent suggested that we walk over to the faux Eiffle Tower atop the Paris Hotel because he knows how much I love lights. So we got tickets and rode up the elevator to the top of the tower.

I immediately started snapping photos from every angle while we were in the caged-in platform while Brent waited patiently for me to pay attention to him already!

But after he was sure I was done, he turned to me and took both my hands in his and started telling me about all the major events that had happened in his life over the past several years, and how I was with him through it all.

Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

The tears immediatley started flowing because I was so excited - so excited, in fact, that it took me a minute to notice that he was still on one knee because I hadn't answered him!

But of course, I said yes! And then he told me that I had made all of his dreams come true, and he wanted to make all mine come true starting with the wedding of my dreams. Then he said that he knew that we weren't standing on top of the real Eiffle Tower, so he promised to take me to the real one in Paris on our honeymoon!

So we kissed and hugged, and then, as if on cue, the Fountains of Bellagio lit up and started dancing to Frank Sinatra's "Luck be a Lady."

I may not have had the best of luck on the big wheel that night, but at that moment, I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet. I love you, baby