It was Saturday, December 8, 2007. I had to be at work at 7 in the morning because I had been promoted temporarily to a manager position. I had to open the store and it was my first day opening by myself. So it was already an exciting day. I got out of work at 2 and went home and took a shower. I came right over to Scott's because he and I had made plans to go to Green Lakes State Park after work.
He asked me the night before if I had ever been to Green Lakes with snow on the ground. I said I didn't think so and asked him why. He said he thought it would be right up my alley to go see the lake with all the snow everywhere. Then he suggested we go on Saturday to see what it looks like. I said okay and didn't think anything of it.
So I showed up at his house and we headed off to Green Lakes. He was acting a little weird but I just thought he was really excited to go to Green Lakes or something. We were walking around and the scenery was amazing. There was snow everywhere and it was snowing just slightly and it wasn't freezing outside, just chilly. Perfect. We were being goofy singing "Walking in a winter wonderland" while were walking around the lake, having a great time.
He stopped and was like "look at this view...isn't it pretty?" I said yes, and he hugged me. He then held me close and said "I love you". I was thinking "why is he saying that here, thats not like him..." but I said I love you too. He started to say more, but there were people coming up behind us, so he stopped and said "Let's keep walking." My thought was "okay, whats going on? Is he faking me out?" but we kept walking. Eventually we let the people behind us, pass us. He hugged me again and said I love you. I said I love you. Hes like "You know I couldn't live my life without you." when he said that I was kinda like "OOOOHH BOY...." I was getting nervous. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I couldn't believe he had actually purposed. I asked him "Seriously" for a minuet or two before hes like "Will you answer me already?" I'm like "Of course! Do you seriously need me to say it!"
It was amazing and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect proposal.
Planning for the proposal probably started, alebit not very seriously about a month into our relationship, when Nikki wrote "our wedding date" on my calendar. Her inital plan was to have the wedding on September 27th, 2009 (3 years to the day we started dating - it just conveniently fell on a Saturday). As things went on, she obviously changed her mind to have it be a winter wedding. It was this facination with snow, which I recognized back in 2006, which caused me to think that if I were to ever propose, I should do it in the winter - preferably around Christmas time.
As time went on, and I eventually decided that I did want to propose, it quickly became obvious that it would need to be December 2007 - or I would have to wait another year (something I did not want to do). This puts us to about September 2007. Before I bought a ring, I figured I had better get some expert opinion, so I took Nikki ring shopping. This was quite tricky, as I wanted to know what she wanted, but not clue her into what she was actually getting.
Being the procrastinator I am, it wasn't until about early November that I actually went to the store to buy the ring. This was the easy part as (to me at least) it was quite obvious what ring she wanted. After some clever negotiating, I had the ring... but only one problem. After being sized & everything else I wanted done, it wouldn't be ready until early December. Checking a calendar that gave me only 3 Saturday's (a.k.a "attempts" before Christmas).
Now's where things really got interesting. I had always planned to ask Nikki's parents before the proposal... but I knew that as soon as I went to them, the first they would want to do is see the ring. Being that I didn't get the ring until the 6th, and the 8th was quickly becoming my only available date... this didn't leave a lot of room for error. Not to mention that I would be spending the whole evening on the 7th with Nikki, time was getting short. Fortunately Nikki was working the morning of the 8th, which gave me a good window.
The morning of the 8th I went over to Nikki's parents house... and they weren't home. Tried both cell phones... and heard them both ring from in the house. Just as I was leaving, Matt (Nikki's Brother) must have woke up and heard me leave. Just as I was driving away he gave me a call, and I gave him a message to have his parents call me once they got home.
I then spent the rest of the morning scoping out my short list of possible locations. They all looked great, but the snow was the best at Green Lakes... that would be the spot. That is if I ever got to talk to Nikki's parents. I did try calling up to the house once or twice again, but time was quickly running out - Nikki was due back from work in another 30 minutes.
Well... with about 15 minutes to spare, Nikki's parents arrived home. My sense of urgency must've come through to Matt, as I guess he made quite a scene when they arrived - they were on the phone with me within a minute of arriving home. Unfortunately this didn't leave enough time to go up to Nikki's house & back - and if I wasn't home when Nikki came over after work, she would certainly be suspicious. So... I had to ask her parents for permission to marry her... over the phone. Her parents of course played up the situation, but it was actually pretty fun. Especially with Nikki's mom cheering in the background.