First came love (that was on ABC's The Bachelorette in 2002). Then came marriage (ABC again, in a 2003 TV special). Then came—well, at least a little delay. Trista and Ryan Sutter, reality TV's most romantic couple (remember Ryan's tender poems?), tried for about two years to conceive a child but had to settle for "babies with fur," which is what they called their pet dogs Tank and Natasha.

Well, scooch over, pooches—Trista's pregnant! "We are so happy," Trista, 34, a VP designer for B's Purses, tells PEOPLE exclusively. Due this summer, she found out she was expecting after taking a pregnancy test in her Vail, Colo., home last December. "I went about doing laundry and stuff, thinking no way is it going to be positive," says Trista, who had yet to try fertility drugs. "But it was positive and I had a crying spell for at least 20 minutes nonstop!"

One hitch: Ryan, 32, a Vail fireman who started a charitable Web site, mixedmarket.com, was hiking on Argentina's Mount Aconcagua. Trista picked him up at the airport, "pulled him into the baggage claim and told him there. He was totally sunburned so he couldn't move his lips but you could see his reaction in his eyes." Says Ryan, through now-healed lips: "I'm happy to be able to finally be a dad."

He's also been a prince during Trista's "horrendous morning sickness," she says. Not that she's complaining—the baby carriage thing completes their truly storybook romance. "We are," says Trista, "so excited."