Big News!

A couple of months ago my boyfriend, Dillon, surprised me by telling me he'd arranged for us to spend a week this summer with his family on vacation. For ten seconds, I was thrilled! I adore his parents and brothers, and had a great time on a trip with them last summer. Then Dillon told me the dates...and I quickly went from thrilled to furious.
Somehow, bless his heart, this trip had been scheduled to completely coincide with the Franklin County Field Days. As everyone in Franklin County knows, the annual Field Days are a huge deal- particularly during an election year, particularly for candidates running for State Senate.
I spent weeks trying to get the airline to allow us to affordably change my plane ticket- no luck. I spent days after that trying to justify not going at all... wasting the money that Dillon had so lovingly spent for me to spend time with the family he misses dearly. He made a huge sacrifice to stay in Vermont after graduating from Middlebury College, just to be with me. After a lot of careful thought, I knew I couldn't blow him off because I had a campaign event. Some things are more important than politics. 
That process made me truly learn a hard lesson that all political candidates have to learn, family comes first, no matter how important the election is.

On the last day of our trip, it became very clear why Dillon had so carefully set up this particular vacation.... HE PROPOSED!

In Little Rock, next to the "little rock" the city was named for, Dillon Hupp asked me to marry him. The ring was beautiful (thank you Phillip and Von Bargen's Jeweler's- my Miss Vermont sponsors(!) for your help making that happen!), he had a friend hiding in the bushes to take pictures, and he was wonderful.
As it turned out, his whole family had known for weeks and they were all waiting for him to pop the question- trying desperately to avoid hinting at it! I could not be more thrilled that Dillon's family will soon be my family too- including his soon-to-be stepmom and step siblings. In June Dillon's dad proposed to his girlfriend, and in August Dillon proposed to me. 2013 is going to be a year of weddings for the Hupp family!

Needless to say, I am thrilled that Dillon is now my finace, but we're both agreed that any intense wedding planning will wait until after the election. Right now it's time for me to focus on Franklin County and Alburgh so that we can ensure they have the best representation possible in the Vermont State Senate. I'm happy to be back in Vermont and back on the campaign trail, while wearing the ring that represents the new life we're forging together :)