Our Engagement Story!

After many tears and after church at my grandmother's house,

we were finally able to take some pictures!

We were planning on going to Bristol, Tenn., with my parents, to visit my grandmother for Christmas. We were supposed to leave Sunday, December 21, 2008, but my uncle had a stroke and on Monday was transferred to UAB. Monday night, we decided to have Christmas with his parents. Robert told me he was only getting me one present this year. Secretly I was hoping for a ring, but I never told him this. He wanted to know if I wanted to open my present with his parents or my parents. I was really stuck, so I finally decided to open it with his parents. When I opened his present, his parents said my face showed disappointment (but I promise it didn’t!). It was the most beautiful diamond necklace I had ever seen. I was gushing over it and was so happy. I told him I could totally understand why he only got me one present.

After much deliberation and stressing, my family finally decided to go to my grandmother’s on Christmas Eve morning. We left at 6 a.m. to make sure we made it in time for Christmas Eve services. It was a very long trip! When we finally got to Bristol around 3 p.m., it was raining and looked miserable outside. All I wanted to do was go inside and rest before church that night. Robert had other plans. He began saying he wanted to go visit my “grandfather’s bridge.”

My grandfather, James A. Street, was an educator mainly in Alabama and Tennessee. He was a highly respected man. When he died three years ago, the Tennessee legislature named a bridge that is about a mile from my grandmother’s house the “James A. Street Memorial Bridge”. It may just be a bridge to some people, but it means so much more to me and my family.

Back to the engagement story… (I told you I get off track!) Robert began nagging and telling me he really wanted to go see the bridge named after my grandfather. I told him no, no, no. He kept trying to get me up and get ready for church. I told him so many reasons why I didn’t want to go - that I didn’t have to be ready for another 3 hours, it was raining, we would go another day, but he would not give up. After an hour of badgering, he decided the best way to get me ready was if he went and got ready. My mom and sister come in at this point and tell me that I am being so mean and that I should feel honored that Robert wants to go see the bridge. They put the total guilt trip on me! I finally got dressed, but I have to admit, I was a little annoyed.

When we were leaving, my parents told us to not be gone to long, we would have to be leaving for church soon. I said, “Don’t worry! It’s raining. We won’t even get out.” I remember hearing my mom say “I don’t know about that,” but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. On the short drive there, Robert was insanely quiet. I was being my normal chatty self and he was sitting with his hands in his pockets, not saying a word. While we were driving, the rain stopped, but of course I didn’t think anything of it at the time.

When we arrived at the bridge, I got out and walked over towards the bridge and said, “Well here it is – the bridge. You want to see anything else?” I turned around and Robert had his back to me. I asked him what he was doing and why he wasn’t even looking at me. He turned around and I will never forget the look on his face. It was a mixture of joy, happiness and nervousness. He looked so scared, but happy at the same time. My voice began to quiver and I asked, “What’s going on? What are you doing?” He walked towards me and grabbed my hands and got down on one knee. At this point, I began to freak out. All I could say was “This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.” Not the most romantic thing to say at this time, huh? After professing his love and him finally telling me “Yes Hailey, this is real. I do want you to be my wife,” I finally said YES! It seemed everything worked out for the happiest moment in our lives – next to our wedding day. Of course when I got back my parents and grandmother were ecstatic. They were in on the whole thing and helped Robert with the planning. We did make it to church, just barely, but we did make it!

The next day on the bridge where he proposed!

How We Met...

Our first ever photo we ever took together...
Wow! How we have both changed since then!!

How we met I consider to be an interesting story and when I tell people they consider it to be a very unique story. Katie (my sister) and Anna (Robert's sister) will tell you in a heartbeat that they were the reason that we met. You can be the judge of that I guess...

It was March 17, 2007. Dallas County High School was hosting their annual beauty review. Let me pause by saying that a beauty review is the same thing as a beauty pageant. I don't know why it's called a beauty review... It's the only thing I have ever known it by.

Anyways... Katie was only 14 at the time and could not drive. She really wanted to go to the beauty review, but did not have a ride. I was planning on staying at home that night because I had no reason to go the beauty review. My parents did not want to drive into town and take her, so I told her that I would take her. I am pretty sure there was some bargaining that took place... cleaning my room, free trips to Sonic, washing my car, something or anything.

We got to the beauty review late and decided to sit in the back. Within minutes I saw a friend from high school and his girlfriend and we walked up and sat with them. During intermission, Robert walked up to my friend and began talking to him. I noticed him, but I did not pay much attention to him. After a few minutes, my friend introduced me to Robert and explained that they were roommates at Alabama. I also learned that he was there because his sister was in the pageant.

Robert and I ended up sitting three people down from each other and I can remember hearing him tell jokes most of the pageant and thinking he was very funny. I had just gotten out a relationship though so I did not pay much attention to him. After the pageant was over, my friend asked if Robert and I wanted to ride around and hang out for a little bit. I debated it in my head and finally decided it would not harm anything to just hang out with them... it's not like it was a date or anything!

We walked out of the auditorium and Robert and I made small talk and I laughed the whole walk to the car. We rode around for a couple of hours when my friend and his girlfriend decided that they wanted to go home. They dropped us off at Robert's car. He asked me if I was ready to go home or if I wanted to ride around for a little while longer. I was not ready to go home yet, but I was a little nervous about riding around with a guy I had just met 3 hours earlier.

We ended up riding around until after midnight and by the end of the night I was in love. I can remember going to the grocery store the next day with my mom and telling her about this amazing guy I met the night before and how we ended up riding around and hanging out for hours. (Of course she did the whole Mom thing! Do you know him? Who are his parents? Where is he from? Has he been to prison? Does he have tattoos? Ha!)

I honestly did not expect to hear from ever again after that night, but while grocery shopping Robert ended up calling. For the next week we talked every night until 2'o'clock in the morning and within one week we were officially dating... and now we are a little over 10 months from getting married!! :))

Meet Robert and Hailey

So I guess before you hear the whole engagement story, you should probably at least know a little about the both of us. But then again, if you are a family member or a friend, then you already know all that. Oh well! I love to tell stories, so I will begin this post by telling a little about the both of us. (I'm going to skip all the baby stories... That's sound like a post for another time!)

Robert Walker Dolbare is from Valley Grande, Alabama. He graduated from Dallas County High School in 2001. He then attended the University of Alabama, where he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelors of Arts degree in Public Relations and Computer Science. He worked in public relations for a year and a half before returning back to UA to work on his Masters in Secondary Education. He just completed his first year teaching 11th grade U.S. History II back at Dallas County High School and is getting ready to start his second year. (Yay!) He coaches football and golf. (Don't ask specifics... I love sports, but I get confused very easily when he starts talking all the specifics!) He is also attending the University of Montevallo to finish up his Masters degree in Secondary Education.

Hailey Elaine Davis (Me!) is also from Valley Grande. I graduated from Dallas County High School in 2006. I attended Wallace Community College-Selma for one year and then transferred to the University of Montevallo. I am currently working on a Bachelors of Science degree in Elementary Education. I am taking classes this summer and then will begin Block II of my professional studies in the Fall. And, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, I will graduate May 2010. (Yay!!)

So that is a little bit about both of us... Hopefully I didn't bore you too bad!!

My First Post

So today is my first blog post about mine and Robert's upcoming nuptials, so I am going to keep it pretty brief. This is totally new to me and I have no idea what I am doing. I was told that it's "just like writing an email to a friend." I will say that I can be wordy at times, so I apologize if a blog post is long.

I work for The Shelby County Reporter in Columbiana, Ala. We publish a publication called "Bride Guide" in the winter and spring. It features brides from the Shelby County area and gives tips and advices on your wedding celebration. Hopefully this blog can maybe give you a little insight on the joyous time of planning a wedding.

Oh and if you didn't know... Robert and I will be "tying the knot" June 12, 2010 in Selma, Ala. More details about us and the wedding will follow in later posts.