Courtney and Jared King Engagement Announcement

Courtney Wood, daughter of Kim McGriff & Victor Wood of New Underwood & Rapid City, has become engaged to Jared King, son of Joni King of Rapid City.

Saturday, May 20th 2017

Proposal

For our 7 year anniversary, Jared told me months in advance to request off a week from work, but wouldn’t give me any information beyond that. Let’s just put it this way…I’m the cat and curiosity killed me. I wanted to know, but I didn’t really want to know because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Soon we were all packed up and headed to the airport where I finally found out where we were going; SEATTLE! I was amazed at the man sitting next to me; so lucky. Our trip was amazing; we explored so much, saw so much, and ate SO MUCH.

We spent our 7 year anniversary and the last full day of the trip up in the quaint town of Snoqualmie, WA! Our first stop was Snoqualmie Falls Park to hike down to the bottom of the 268 ft waterfall, which is where Jared had originally planned on proposing, however, things don’t always go as planned. Heat, hunger and exhaustion had gotten the best of me by the time we made it to the bottom and even though I dreaded the hike back up the hill, I just wanted it to be over with. So when Jared suggested we take a walk down across the river rocks to sit, I quickly said no, not knowing what he had planned. So, we hiked back to the top of the waterfall, got into the car and went to dinner, which was all perfectly set up with roses, wine and dessert! We wanted to watch the sunset from a beautiful spot nearby but when we got to the parking lot, the park was already closed for the night. Undeterred and eager to watch our last Washington sunset, we drove around the corner and found a beautiful meadow-like park where we found an old bench to sit and enjoy the views. As the sun was setting, we decided to grab a few photos and when Jared suggested we stand up to take a few more, you can imagine my gleeful shock to turn around to see him down on one knee! I don’t remember exactly what he said but all I could mutter out was “are you serious?! Are you serious?! Are you serious?!” followed by an obvious YES! <3

How They Met

Jared and I met as everyone seems to meet in Rapid City…through mutual friends! One day I happened to strike up a conversation with a very cute boy and after weeks of talking and 3 failed attempts at meeting up for coffee, the first date had finally arrived. What was supposed to just be a quick afternoon, cup of joe meetup, quickly turned into a 5 hour and 2 latte (each!), amazing date. And while the coffee shop is no longer open, I’ll always remember the creaky wood floors, the old town photographs that hung on the wall, and the feeling I had of falling in love at a coffee shop.