Engagement Anniversary

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2008, I asked CheyAnn to marry me. And if you've ever looked anywhere else on this blog, you'll know that she said yes. It was a wonderful moment in my life, and CheyAnn's life.

Here is the story:

She really had no idea the question was coming, but we'd talked about marriage and we were definitely both very amenable to it. I had made some plans to pop the Q, but they fell through at the last moment, which turned out to be a good thing because they were pretty cheesy plans. I don't want to damage my really cool image by revealing them here.

My family was had flown up to Utah that day for some Spring Break skiing, and had little rented a cabin way up in the mountains at Sundance. A fantastic setting.

So on Monday, I drove around Provo looking for the right flowers for my perfect plan. I don't remember what it was exactly, but no one had enough of what I wanted in the right combination (tons of tulips, I think (must've been out of season)), so I drove all over town, scrambling against the time. I had to pick up the flowers (which I finally found, but wouldn't be ready for several hours), then drive up to the cabin, then drive back to Provo to pick CheyAnn up from work to take her out on a date. A tight itinerary, but very doable.

Until I had a minor accident at an intersection. Yeah, it was my fault. No, no one got hurt. Whatever. Geico can be grateful for the steep premiums I've paid. (I'm now 3 years without a ticket or wreck, so boo-ya.) So, I sat around for two hours, waiting for the stellar Provo PD to arrive, talk to everyone, listen to the radio in their car, talk some more, and I don't know what else they were doing.

The clock was ticking away at my plans, destroying them. Thankfully, my family was there as a great backup. They picked up the flowers and took them up to the cabin and my sisters had the whole place decorated with rose petals quite beautifully.

After thanking the officer, my plan was back in action. I picked up CheyAnn from work on time, and I was a little dressed up, but I used to dress pretty preppy all the time back then. She knew that my family was in town, so I told her that we were going to meet them for dinner at the Foundry Grill at Sundance, which just so happens to be our favorite place. On the way up however, I tricked her by telling her that my whole family had bailed on dinner to go to a movie, and it was just going to be the two of us. She bought it completely.

After a very romantic dinner, I said we could just meet them up at the cabin. But as we drove up, I said, "Hmmm... They must not be back yet." As I led her inside, all of the lights were off. Inside the main room, there was this huge bear sculpture that I had told her all about, so I had her close her eyes to walk in and see the bear. But when she opened her eyes, she was in a room full of flowers, and she started freaking out. "Babe!? What is this?! Baby?" I got down on my knee and handed her a tulip with the ring around the base of the flower.

She said yes. And it has been awesome.